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Reducing Poverty and Promoting Social Protection:
Social Policy Paper No. 5, 2002
[ST/ESCAP/2168]

This issues of the Social Policy Paper Series presents three papers, the first provides an overview of regional implementation of the Copenhagen Declaration, adopted at the World Summit for Social Development, the Agenda for Action on Social Development in the ESCAP Region, the global review of the Copenhagen Declaration (Copenhagen+5) and their relevance to the present situation in Asia and the Pacific.

Part Two presents a paper on reducing poverty and vulnerability in a globalizing world: regional perspectives and future directions, which describes current approaches in defining the concepts of poverty and vulnerability, particularly in the context of the development assistance programmes and projects initiated by the major bilateral and multilateral agencies to alleviate poverty in the developing countries of the region. It identifies the correlates of poverty and vulnerability and conducts a situation analysis among the major subgroups of countries in the region. On the basis of current poverty trends, the paper assesses the possibility of halving the number of absolute poor by 2015. It also provides some policy options to reduce vulnerability and poverty in the region based on the analysis presented in the paper.

Part Three presents a paper on promoting social protection: some strategic options, which provides a brief description of the current approaches to social protection in the context of reducing poverty and vulnerability. It analyses issues related to targeting, risk management, displacement and financing, on the basis of the current experience in the region. The paper explores the notion of an Asian model of social protection and discusses opportunities for the development of community-based social protection schemes. It uses the relevant lessons learned in coping with the Asian economic crisis, which began in 1997 and provides some policy options to develop and implement effective social protection schemes in the region.