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Social Development Briefs |
A shared history of exclusion and discrimination based on identity has led to higher levels of poverty and disadvantage among many ethnic minority and indigenous groups than among dominant ethnic groups. While recent years have witnessed improvement in the situation of many ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples, others continue to be left behind.
Read our Social Development Brief on “Social protection for indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities: Overcoming discrimination and geographic isolation”
Social Development Briefs |
Migration is an integral part of the global development process. The lives of millions of people and whole societies have been transformed, mostly for the better, through international migration. Despite the important contributions that migrants make to the economies of both their host and home countries, many migrants lack basic social protection coverage in their countries of destination. This social development brief examines gaps in migrants’ access to social protection and discusses ways to improve their coverage. The brief summarizes findings from the Report on the World Social Situation 2018 (“Promoting Social Inclusion through Social Protection”).
Read our Social Development Brief…
Social Development Briefs |
Social protection is a potent policy tool to protect people from poverty throughout the life cycle. It can also reduce inequality and social exclusion. However, as the Report on the World Social Situation 2018 (United Nations, forthcoming) makes clear, access to social protection varies significantly depending on a person’s background or identity, including their age, race, and gender. This can limit its potential to promote inclusion.
In 2015, young people aged 15 to 24 years accounted for 1.2 billion, or 16 per cent, of the world’s population (United Nations, 2017). Creating a social and economic environment that enables these young people to…
Social Development Briefs |
Societies continue to make distinctions based on ethnicity, race, sex or gender and other characteristics that should have no bearing on people’s achievements or on their well-being. The Report on the World Social Situation 2016 argued that discrimination is one of the key drivers of social exclusion (United Nations, 2016).
Discrimination remains a fundamental problem in the world today. Based on existing literature, the Report found that discriminatory norms and behaviours remain widespread and continue to drive social exclusion. Yet while formal institutional barriers faced by marginalized groups are easy to detect, informal barriers are frequently more…
Social Development Briefs |
An important step towards meeting the 2030 Agenda’s aspiration of leaving no one behind is to identify who is being left behind and from what. Hoping to contribute to this discussion, the recently released Report on the World Social Situation 2016 (United Nations, 2016) examines group-based inequalities, with the focus being mainly on the disadvantages faced by youth, older persons, persons with disabilities, racial and ethnic minorities and migrants. The report’s analysis shows that disparities in access to education, health care, infrastructure and employment as well as inequalities in political participation are pervasive and symptomatic of…
Social Development Briefs |
With its central pledge to leave no one behind, the historic and ambitious 2030 Agenda recognizes that development will only be sustainable if it is inclusive. Promoting inclusion is fundamental to achieving a socially, economically and environmentally sustainable future.
No single set of policies or strategies is applicable across all countries and in all contexts to tackle exclusion and promote inclusion. Instead, Governments should bring a stronger equity lens to policy-making. Successful examples point to several imperatives to address the structural causes of exclusion and social injustice.
A universal approach to social policy, complemented by special or targeted measures The…
Social Development Briefs |
The 2030 Agenda’s pledge to leave no one behind demands that progress towards the Agenda’s goals and targets be faster among the most disadvantaged social groups. Without quicker improvements among those who are lagging further behind, the systematic disparities described in the Report on the World Social Situation 2016 (United Nations, 2016) will not decline. While the data needed to monitor progress in all goals and targets for each group that is disadvantaged or at risk are not systematically available, the existing data illustrate the complexity of establishing whether some people are being left behind. Much depends on contexts and on the indicators used to…