July 2013

sdpcop@adb.org Twitter: @ADBSocial

In this issue
Whats New? ....................................................................................... CoP in Action ....................................................................................... Calendar ....................................................................................... Learning Opportunities ....................................................................................... Knowledge Products ....................................................................................... Web Picks .......................................................................................

Whats New?
Social Spending in Asia: Asias Emerging Welfare States Spread Themselves Thinly This Economist article presents an overview of patterns in social spending across countries observed from ADB's Social Protection Index.

Social Protection Program for Migrant Workers in Sri Lanka Over 1.7 Sri Lankan migrant workers will benefit from a new and comprehensive social protection program jointly organized by the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment, Sri Lanka Red Cross and The Finance Company. The new program will provide financial assistance through loans, as well as training programs on first aid and handling emergencies for migrants and foreign job applicants.

Six Asian Insurance Regulators Unite to Help Low-income Families Representatives of Indonesia, Mongolia, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam have signed the Cebu Declaration on Inclusive Insurance on 24 May in Cebu, Philippines. The declaration recognizes the importance of inclusive insurance as a tool for poverty reduction and social and economic development. It is also designed to show the importance of the insurance industry supervision in fostering inclusive insurance markets.

Additional Measures to be taken for Social Protection of Citizens in Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Republic of Kazakhstan instructed the implementation of additional measures for the social protection of citizens, especially of the pre-retirement age of women. The measures also include providing maternity leave pension payment for working women, as well as the further modernization of the pension system until 2030.

Nepal Plans to Reduce Poverty to 18% in Three Years Nepal's National Planning Commission is finalizing its 13th plan for the fiscal year 2013/14 to 2015/16. The planning body is targeting to reduce the share of the population living below the national poverty line to 18 percent from existing 23.8 percent by July 2016, as well as lift the country into developing nation category (from least developed category) by the year 2022.

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CoP in Action
On 5 June, CoP members gathered to discuss possible contributions to the review of Strategy 2020. Members identified topics to explore and agreed to assemble suggestions regarding methodology and useful references to submit to the review team in SPD. It was also agreed to carry out a survey of the broader CoP membership to solicit suggestions for the review. This was carried out later in June, with the summary results to be submitted shortly. Also on 5 June, the CoP hosted a brownbag with Transport CoP featuring Australias Accessibility Guide for persons with disability. The document provides practical guidance that development practitioners can consider when applying universal design for persons with disability, especially for health, education, transport and rural development projects. On 17 June, Leigh Linden, professor at University of Texas at Austin and Member of the MIT Jameel Poverty Action Lab, answered staff questions on practical concerns of evaluating impact in existing ADB projects. Professor Linden also presented in the afternoon the results of an impact evaluation on mobilizing private companies to increase enrolment in Pakistan. Results showed that there is a significant difference in parents aspirations for the childs future when a child is part of a community that housed the private schools. See the presentation. Both activities with Professor Linden were jointly organized by the Education and Social Development and Poverty CoPs.

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Calendar
Brownbag: Risk Attitude and Vulnerability to Poverty 10 July, 10 a.m., 4120E Hermann Waibel, professor of Development and Agricultural Economics at University of Hannover, will share the results of a survey that examines whether the experience of shocks influences individual risk attitude, compiled from more than 4,000 households in Thailand and Vietnam.

Innovative Ways to Engage NGOs 26 September, 10 a.m., kHub Lainie Thomas, Social Development Specialist (Civil Society and Participation), SERD, will discuss less commonly utilized processes in the bank that may also be opportunities for engaging NGOs in the implementation of projects.

Insight Thursday: CSR Asia Summit 2013 3 October, 8:30 a.m., kHub Marzia Mongiorgi, Principal Portfolio Management Specialist, OSFMD, and SDP CoP Committee Member, will share highlights gathered from the Corporate Social Responsibility Asia Summit 2013, which will focus on how businesses can contribute to growth and innovation as it addresses Asias social and environmental challenges.

Other non-CoP activities of interest Poverty and Social Analysis (PSA) Training 14-16 August, Annex 1 and 2 RSDD is conducting this training for ADB staff, particularly those in operations involved in project design and implementation. The training - which is offered 3 times per year - addresses poverty, social, gender, participation, and social risk aspects involved in preparing the IPSA and SPRSS as a part of project design. The next PSA training will take place in November, and is being organized primarily for Resident Mission staff.

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Learning Opportunities
How can Social Enterprises Contribute to a Sustainable Global Economy? 15-16 July, Berlin, Germany The Asia-Europe Foundations Public Health Network and the British Council will bring in Asia-Europe senior policy influencers for a two-day policy dialogue to share experiences in the Social Enterprise sector in the two regions. The objective of the event is to enhance the capacity of government officials to provide policy support to social enterprises.

International Training Course on Integrating a Value Chain Perspective in Rural Development 23 July - 1 August, Cavite, Philippines This field-based learning course from International Institute on Rural Reconstruction covers value chain assessment and how it feeds into planning for development interventions. Participants may expect practical exercises, market assessments, field visits to agricultural enterprises and the development of an action plan that may be applied to their respective organizations. Course fee: USD 1,800. Email dulce.dominguez@iirr.org for more information.

World Social Security Forum 10 - 15 November, Doha, Qatar This forum will provide over 1,000 social security professionals a venue to share knowledge, good practices and successful strategies for administering excellence in social security that will address major challenges in the context of complex economic, demographic and social realities.

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Knowledge Products
Counting the Poor: Methods, Problems and Solutions Behind the $1.25-a-day Global Poverty Estimates Examines poverty analysis and how to accurately count the number of people living in poverty around the world. Explores weaknesses in data centering on three core problems: the reliability of household surveys; adjustments for prices; and timeliness and frequency issues. Concludes by looking at data solutions and the ways in which the scope of poverty data are changing.

Information Note: Recognizing the Linkages between Social Protection and Agriculture Presents opportunities for synergies and complementarities that strengthen livelihoods of poor rural households, given that social protection and smallholder agricultural interventions often cover the same geographic space and target the same households.

Does Indias Employment Guarantee Scheme Guarantee Employment? Presents data from Indias National Sample Survey for 2009/10 and finds that there is considerable unmet demand for work in all states in the implementation of the 2005 Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Also finds that labor-market responses to the scheme are likely to be weak. The scheme attracts poor women into the workforce, although the local-level rationing processes favor men.

The Future of Global Poverty in a Multi-Speed World: New Estimates of Scale and Location, 20102030 - Working Paper Estimates the possibility of the decrease of the $1.25 and $2 global poverty scale by 2030. Introduces a new model of growth, inequality, and poverty that allows comparison of a wide range of input assumptions. Also recommends that policymakers consider where the poor will reside, as the authors find little compelling evidence that global poverty will be based in low-income fragile states.

Review of Community-based Health Insurance Initiatives in Nepal Analyzes existing community-based health insurance (CBHI) schemes using a number of common standards and indicators (e.g., coverage, resource generation, pooling and purchasing, quality of delivered health services, patient satisfaction). Determines whether or not CBHI schemes improve their members access to health services and the quality of health care, and if these are technically and financially viable.

Measuring Absorptive Capacity Describes absorptive capacity as the amount of foreign aid and attention that recipient communities, institutions, or societies can receive without suffering significant social, economic, or political disruptions. Examines absorptive capacity in foreign assistance to better understand adverse social and economic effects to recipients.

Old Age, Disability and Mental Health: Data Issues for a Post-2015 Framework Points out that inequalities associated with old age, disability and mental health issues did not feature in the MDGs and should be considered salient sources of group-based difference, given the number of people affected, their marginalization and vulnerability, and their relative neglect in international agreements to date.

Food Aid for the 21st Century: Saving More Money, Time, and Lives Looks for solutions to do more with less, since the same amount of aid today buys only half what it did a decade ago. Also recommends the updating of an aid system designed more than half a century ago.

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Web picks
Website: CSIS CSIS scholars provide strategic insights and policy solutions for global development. Website: Project SyndicateGrowth and Development This Project Syndicate subsite provides commentaries on development strategies, fiscal and regulatory policy, trade and corporate governance by esteemed leaders and thinkers from around the world.

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Send your links and announcements for events, papers, articles and slides of best practices/ lessons learned related to social development and poverty reduction to sdpcop@adb.org. If you have colleagues who you think may be interested in joining the CoP, please forward this newsletter to them. The Social Development and Poverty CoP Newsletter is prepared by Kat Olivares for the CoP Secretariat.