Social protection is central to ESCAP’s vision of a resilient Asia and the Pacific founded on the principles of shared prosperity, social equity and sustainability. Since its establishment in 1947, ESCAP has promoted social protection as part of an overall strategy of reducing inequality, particularly addressing the exclusion of the most vulnerable groups, and offering a path out of poverty and dependence. This report explores the linkages between inequality and social protection. Overall, it argues that inequality, in its multiple forms, is on the rise in Asia and the Pacific, and that this is having an adverse impact on sustainable development. The report provides evidence that social protection is an effective instrument to reduce inequalities, and, by so doing, contributes to the integration of the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. While countries in the region are increasingly. Recognizing the importance of social protection, important coverage gaps still remain. It is encouraging, nevertheless, that substantial steps are being taken to ensure that all individuals have access to income security and health care along the life-course.

The Asia-Pacific region’s impressive economic growth and remarkable achievements in poverty reduction have not succeeded in closing gaps in income between the rich and poor, nor the unequal access to, for example, health care and education among other basic services. These gaps disproportionately affect women and the most vulnerable segments of society. They also hamper inclusive growth, undermine social cohesion and contribute to unsustainable production and consumption patterns. In short, these social development gaps undermine efforts to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Sustainable Social Development in Asia and the Pacific summarizes the social development gaps as countries in the region take steps to achieve the SDGs, and sketches out a broad regional agenda for a people-centred transformation, outlining some of the key priorities and resources needed. The policy simulations reported here clearly indicate that acceleration of economic growth alone would not address the remaining development gaps. Changing the development paradigm to ensure more decent jobs, complemented by broadened coverage of social protection and universal education and health care is critical for eliminating extreme poverty from the region and achieving the other SDGs. Asia and the Pacific is already the most dynamic region in the world. By harnessing the potential of its people, the region can also be at the forefront of a global social transformation for a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable future for all.

This is the sixth in a series of policy primers developed to support policymakers and practitioners in Asia and the Pacific in their efforts to strengthen social protection. This policy primer explains how social protection systems can be designed to recognize and compensate for interruptions in paid work, low earnings and informality that disproportionately impact women.

This is the fifth in a series of policy guides developed to support policymakers and practitioners in Asia and the Pacific in their efforts to strengthen social protection. This policy guide explains why social protection is important for persons with disabilities and introduces key concepts and schemes that are necessary for disability-inclusive social protection.

Transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies in Asia and the Pacific addresses the theme of the 5th Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development and the 2018 session of the high-level political forum on sustainable development and supports national and regional implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

This report takes stock of the changing nature of increasingly complex risks in Asia and the Pacific, and the stresses, shocks that are affecting a diverse region’s prospects for achieving the SDGs. It highlights the effects of selected natural hazards, commodity shocks and pollution shocks on the region’s fundamental human systems and describes efforts being made by citizens, civil society, government and the private sector to build resilience capacities. It urges attention on the need to strengthen our ability to transform our societies through converting risks into opportunities if we are to achieve the SDGs.

The report is a co-publication of the United Nations (ESCAP), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)."

This is the fourth in a series of policy guides developed to support policymakers and practitioners in Asia and the Pacific in their efforts to strengthen social protection. This guide examines ways to finance social protection, with a focus on tax-financed social security schemes. This policy guide will outline the options for countries to increase investment in social protection through general government revenues. The guide will also briefly discuss social insurance schemes financed through contributions. Ideally, countries should build systems that are funded from both sources to ensure minimum income security for all citizens and residents and to smooth consumption levels over the lifecycle.

This is the third in a series of policy guides developed to support policymakers and practitioners in Asia and the Pacific in their efforts to strengthen social protection. This policy guide explains the administrative processes, organizational policies and systems required to implement tax-financed social protection, focusing on schemes providing income support. For social protection schemes to be effective, inclusive and sustainable, the right amount of money needs to be paid to the right person at the right time. This requires institutions and administrative systems that are efficient, account for public resources transparently and ensure good quality service delivery

This is the second in a series of four policy guides developed to support policymakers and practitioners in Asia and the Pacific in their efforts to strengthen social protection. This policy guide explains how to design inclusive and robust social protection systems and focuses on tax-financed income security, mainly through cash transfers.

This policy guide, developed by ESCAP together with Development Pathways, explains the basic principles of social protection and the impact it can have on poverty reduction, social cohesion, economic growth and the environment. It shows how investing in inclusive social protection can accelerate progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda. The guide is the first in a series of four policy guides developed to support policymakers and practitioners in Asia and the Pacific in their efforts to strengthen social protection. The second guide explains how to design inclusive and robust social protection systems and focuses on tax-financed income security; the third will focus on the effective implementation of inclusive social protection schemes and the fourth will discuss options for financing.

The ESCAP Inequality of Opportunity papers place men and women at the heart of sustainable and inclusive development. The papers do so by identifying seven areas where inequality jeopardizes a person’s prospects, namely: education; women’s access to health care; children’s nutrition; decent work; basic water and sanitation; access to clean energy; and financial inclusion. Each of these opportunities are covered by specific commitments outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and addressed in a separate thematic report covering 22 countries throughout Asia and the Pacific. Equitable opportunities for education are a fundamental human right. Article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Articles 13 and 14 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights each enshrine this right. The aim of this policy paper is: i) to outline why it is important to reduce inequality in educational attainment; ii) to introduce a new way of analysing survey data by identifying the shared circumstances of those “furthest behind”; and iii) to analyse observed inequality by the relative contribution of each circumstance.