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Access to Social Services by the Poor and Disadvantaged in Asia and the Pacific: Major Trends and Issues
Social Policy Paper No. 11, 2002
ST/ESCAP/2240

The publication provides an overview of social services in Asia and the Pacific, focusing on the analysis of access to social services by the poor and disadvantaged groups as target users. It also discusses the need for social services, barriers to access to services, the quality, delivery and financing of services in the region. Throughout the study, the experiences of countries and areas in the region and lessons learned are highlighted. The publication is divided into seven chapters. The first chapter reviews conceptual and
major issues regarding social services in the region. The second chapter discusses the identification of target users of social services while the third chapter examines the question of needs for social services. Chapter four reviews barriers to access to social services and chapter five discusses issues concerning the quality and delivery of social services. Chapter six examines the various options regarding the financing of social services as well as the implementation of the 20/20 Initiative. The final chapter provides concluding remarks on key issues on improving access to social services by the poor and disadvantaged people in Asia and the Pacific.

The publication has been issued by the Emerging Social Issues Division of the UNESCAP secretariat. The substantive contribution to the preparation of the study and publication by Mr. David Phillips, Chair Professor of Social Policy and Head, Department of Politics and Sociology, and Mr. Alfred Chan Cheung Ming, Professor, Department of Politics and Sociology, and Director, Asia-Pacific Institute on Ageing, Lingnan University, Hong Kong, China, is hereby acknowledged. The generous financial support of the Government of the Netherlands towards this publication is gratefully acknowledged.