Social Development - Topic Brief

Social development matters. A review of over 4,000 World Bank projects during the past 30 years showed that about 40 percent of projects addressed some social dimension of development, such as empowering women and communities, including previously marginalized groups in the development process, and strengthening civil society. Addressing relevant social development themes was found to be positively correlated with successful project outcomes. Moreover, the more social development themes a project addressed, the greater was its impact on sustainability and institutional development.

The social development agenda in the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) Region is aligned with this established consensus. The agenda aims to enhance economic development and social stability by supporting shared and sustainable growth. It is built around three strategic priorities: (i) integrating considerations for socially inclusive, accountable and cohesive institutions into country strategies and policies; (ii) improving the Bank's investment portfolio by increasing attention to social issues and expanding on past successes; and (iii) strengthening the foundation of knowledge, capacity and partnership.

Much of the EAP’s Social Development operational work is focused on CDD projects that seek to enhance participation of and to give control of decisions and development resources to community groups and local governments. Three prominent examples of this work in the region are the Kecamatan Development Program (KDP) in Indonesia, the KALAHI project in the Philippines, and the Northern Mountains Poverty Reduction Program (NMPRP) in Vietnam.

The KDP is one of the largest World Bank financed CDD projects and is aimed at alleviating poverty in rural communities and improving local governance. It provides block grants directly to Kecamatan (sub-districts) and villages for small scale infrastructure, social, and economic activities. The aim is to alleviate poverty by raising rural incomes and providing increased economic opportunities, strengthen local government and community institutions, and build public infrastructure.

The KALAHI (Linking Arms against Poverty) Project provides funding to villagers for the development of public services that improve communities' standards of living. Using a competitive process, villagers select projects from an open menu and prioritize them for funding. KALAHI has trained thousands of villagers in project planning, technical design, and financial management and procurement, thus building a cadre of future leaders at the local level. A high degree of local commitment to the investments is demonstrated by the significant levels of local contributions raised from villages and local governments.

Fragility and violent conflict persist in a number of countries in the East Asia and Pacific region. These range from long-standing sub-national insurgencies (e.g., Southern Thailand, Myanmar, Mindanao/Philippines) and ongoing peace-building processes (e.g., Aceh/Indonesia, Bougainville/Papua New Guinea) to overall state fragility (e.g., Cambodia, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste). Crime and other forms of social violence are an increasing concern in some urban centers (e.g., Port Moresby, Manila, Honiara). Sources of conflict and violence in the Region include:

Weak and/or ineffective government or poor leadership;
Weak and/or ineffective institutions hampering service delivery; limited mechanisms for peaceful participation and conflict resolution, and lack of effective systems that can serve as checks or balances to authoritarian government;
Severe inequalities in resources and power (or the perception of these inequalities) with marginalized groups having limited access to the means necessary to improve their condition; and
Exploitation of ethnic and other differences and/or acute discrimination (based on ethnicity, religion, etc.).

Gender issues in the East Asia and Pacific Region are multi-faceted and progress varies widely depending on context. In middle income and emerging middle income countries such as Vietnam, China, Thailand, Philippines, and to a somewhat lesser extent, Indonesia, women are significantly integrated into the workforce. Their contributions to growth, especially in the manufacturing sector have been considerable; and women have benefited from growth and development in terms of reduced gender gaps in health and education. Here, gender related challenges tend to be related to economic empowerment, employment, and workplace issues, for example related to informal sector workers, feminization of migration flows, work place conditions, and long term social security.

The World Bank's environmental and social safeguard policies are a cornerstone of its support to sustainable poverty reduction. The objective of these policies is to prevent and mitigate undue harm to people and their environment in the development process.

The number of children and youth under the age of 24 in the East Asia and Pacific region (dominated by China) are close to 790 million, making up for 38% of the region's population. The EAP region's youth programs are tailored to the particular youth issues faced by each country and therefore vary considerably in scope, ranging from communications and outreach functions to operationalizing the youth agenda through lending and analytical work. Focus areas include skills development and training, employment, community development, social and political empowerment, capacity building for youth organizations. Each country program is being implemented in close collaboration with youth organizations and associations, government agencies, local universities and a range of civil society partners.

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