At a Glance · Social development promotes inclusion, cohesion, resilience and accountability as the operational principles that define socially sustainable development. · Mainstreaming social sustainability involves addressing a comprehensive range of social opportunities, risks, and impacts that will ensure the social sustainability of Bank’s development assistance. · Social development includes the poor and excluded in the development process, and translates the complex relationships between societies, states and communities into operations. · Social Development staff work with governments, communities, civil society, and the private sector to help promote a state that is accessible, responsive and accountable to citizens. Approach Social development “puts people first” and stands for the bottom-up approach to development that brings the voices of the poor and underprivileged into the otherwise top-down development process. Poverty is about more than low income; it is also about vulnerability, exclusion, isolation, violence, unaccountable institutions, and powerlessness. Overcoming poverty is not just about getting economic policies right, it is also about promoting social development that empowers people by creating more inclusive, cohesive, resilient, and accountable institutions and societies. Social development’s integrative approach is critical to some of the most challenging development questions: How can development contribute to a more stable society? How can societies recuperate from, and build resilience to, violent conflict and natural disasters? How can societies proactively adapt to climate change? How can inclusive societies be promoted that enable the vulnerable and marginalized segments (Indigenous Peoples, ethnic minorities, youth, and women) to become equal partners in defining their development paths? How can development promote government-citizen accountability? Social Development is striving to address these complex issues. Results In parallel with the 2011 World Development Report on “Conflict, Security and Development”, the Bank’s Social Development department (SDV) has recently completed a flagship study titled "Societal Dynamics and Fragility: Engaging Societies in Responding to Fragile situations". The study explores in-depth some important themes such as the centrality of the relations between state and society and the importance of implementing social cohesion policies. It takes the view that fragility cannot be explained by the state's inability to provide services alone, and that it should also consider societal dynamics that contribute to fragility and resilience. The focus is on five cases: Yemen, Central African Republic (CAR), Liberia, Haiti and Aceh in Indonesia. Following the political and social analysis done for the flagship study, SDV is supporting a re-engagement strategy in Yemen, a social mapping exercise in Egypt, and a CDD program in Iraq, and requests for further in-depth analysis have been received from Liberia, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, CAR, Madagascar, Comoros, and Haiti. Looking Ahead In 2011 the World Bank completed an update of its 2005 Social Development Strategy after five years of implementation. The Mid Cycle Implementation Progress Report (MCIPR) concluded that the vision and framework of the 2005 strategy remains valid. However, the key changes in the strategy going forward are: (i) inclusion of social resilience in the conceptual and operational framework for social sustainability, alongside the operational principles of inclusion, cohesion and accountability, as critical for reducing vulnerability and confronting trends and shocks; and (ii) strengthened efforts to mainstream social sustainability in the Bank’s development assistance. The Social development principles of inclusion, cohesion, resilience and accountability will continue to be integrated across the institution: at the country level – through diagnostics and programming work; across the Bank portfolio – in its development policy and investment lending alike; and through analytical work exploring key social sustainability challenges. Social development specialists across the Bank Group are involved in key corporate initiatives that address social sustainability across the institution. These include supporting the update and consolidation of the Bank’s policy framework for social sustainability and safeguards, as well as preparing a companion piece on Demand for Good Governance to the Bank Group’s redesigned Governance and Anticorruption Phase II Strategy. The work program on social dimensions of climate change has built on the growing knowledge base that has been developed over the past few years and the social dimensions of climate change are now being addressed through a growing number of Bank operations, often in combination with dedicated climate finance instruments such as carbon finance and climate investment funds. Despite the consolidation and growth in the Bank’s work and emphasis on social development, several challenges remain and many opportunities exist to further strengthen this work. Going forward, social development will continue its support to ensure that the World Bank can respond effectively to the needs of its client countries and help strengthen their institutions to be inclusive, cohesive, resilient, and accountable so that development can remain socially sustainable. Related Links www.worldbank.org/socialdevelopment Contacts: Karolina Ordon: (202) 458-5971, kordon@worldbank.org Updated March 2012 |
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