This publication provides updates on Social Protection Indicators of 24 countries in Asia, with an analysis of 2015 data on social protection programs. It shows progress in expenditure, primarily driven by social insurance and coverage between 2009 and 2015. Spending on women has improved in several countries, yet others continued to favor the nonpoor over the poor, and men over women. The Social Protection Index---now the Social Protection Indicator---was developed by the Asian Development Bank and its partners as the first comprehensive and quantitative measure of social protection systems in Asia and the Pacific.
"ADB Regional Technical Assistance to construct an internationally comparable Social Protection Index based on a study of social protection activities of six Asian countries [Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Mongolia, Nepal, and Vietnam]."--Verso t.p.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) developed the Social Protection Index (SPI) in 2005–2008 to address the growing recognition that economic growth is insufficient in addressing the needs of the poor and vulnerable. In 2010, it revised the SPI to highlight the impact of expenditures on all beneficiaries. This revised SPI handbook contains the rationale for the revision, comparing the total social protection expenditure across all potential beneficiaries with the poverty line expenditures in each country, and offers guidelines for preparing social protection country assessments. It provides a useful analytical and assessment tool for social protection programs in countries rather than a relative ranking of countries in Asia and the Pacific.
Investments in social protection help to reduce poverty and vulnerability, and promote inclusive growth. This report analyzes comprehensive data on government social protection programs in 35 countries in Asia and the Pacific. The Social Protection Index---developed by the Asian Development Bank---helps to assess the nature and the effectiveness of these programs and to facilitate cross-country comparisons. It provides governments with policy-relevant data and analysis to inform decisions concerning the reform and expansion of social protection programs.
Adaptive social protection (ASP) helps to build the resilience of poor and vulnerable households to the impacts of large, covariate shocks, such as natural disasters, economic crises, pandemics, conflict, and forced displacement. Through the provision of transfers and services directly to these households, ASP supports their capacity to prepare for, cope with, and adapt to the shocks they face—before, during, and after these shocks occur. Over the long term, by supporting these three capacities, ASP can provide a pathway to a more resilient state for households that may otherwise lack the resources to move out of chronically vulnerable situations. Adaptive Social Protection: Building Resilience to Shocks outlines an organizing framework for the design and implementation of ASP, providing insights into the ways in which social protection systems can be made more capable of building household resilience. By way of its four building blocks—programs, information, finance, and institutional arrangements and partnerships—the framework highlights both the elements of existing social protection systems that are the cornerstones for building household resilience, as well as the additional investments that are central to enhancing their ability to generate these outcomes. In this report, the ASP framework and its building blocks have been elaborated primarily in relation to natural disasters and associated climate change. Nevertheless, many of the priorities identified within each building block are also pertinent to the design and implementation of ASP across other types of shocks, providing a foundation for a structured approach to the advancement of this rapidly evolving and complex agenda.
Social protection is central to the goal of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) of achieving the inclusive growth agenda in Asia and the Pacific. The report takes stock of ADB's support for social protection and the progress with implementing ADB's Social Protection Strategy. It presents the institution's social protection interventions from 1996 up to 2013.
This book takes a new approach on understanding causes of extreme poverty and promising actions to address it. Its focus is on marginality being a root cause of poverty and deprivation. “Marginality” is the position of people on the edge, preventing their access to resources, freedom of choices, and the development of capabilities. The book is research based with original empirical analyses at local, national, and local scales; book contributors are leaders in their fields and have backgrounds in different disciplines. An important message of the book is that economic and ecological approaches and institutional innovations need to be integrated to overcome marginality. The book will be a valuable source for development scholars and students, actors that design public policies, and for social innovators in the private sector and non-governmental organizations.
