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How Does the Global Economic Slowdown Affect Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Growth in Asia and the Pacific?
 Asia is currently affected by the world's most serious economic slowdown since the 1930's. Although there are signs that the Asian economies are less affected, the region cannot decouple from the global crisis. Furthermore negative impacts in the real economy and labor markets, as well as social and poverty implications, are more long-lasting and less easy to revert.
The current crisis is different from the 1998 Asian financial crisis in many ways: It affects mainly the vulnerable poor (i.e., urban educated youth) living on $2-$3 a day; existing rescue packages do not focus much on social safety nets but on growth promoting fiscal stimulus; and social budgets may be influenced in the longer run. Coupled with the food and fuel price spikes of 2008, the faltering remittances from migration, and other factors, the crisis has a major impact on poverty, poor people's health, education, and social protection. ADB estimates that by 2010 up to 60-100 million people in the Asia-Pacific region will remain in poverty because of the economic slowdown.
The impact of the global economic slowdown on the poor and vulnerable and sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific will be the focus of discussion at the high-level conference that will be held in Hanoi, Viet Nam on 28-30 September 2009. The conference aims at developing key policy recommendations for the ASEAN Summit on how social and environmental dimensions of the current economic crisis can be addressed by governments in the region. The crisis also affects the environments of the poor, a topic which is separately dealt with in a special seminar during the conference. For more information, please visit the conference website.
The conference will be in conjunction with the 3rd China-ASEAN* Forum on Social Development and Poverty Reduction, and the 4th ASEAN+3* high-level Seminar on Poverty Reduction. It is jointly organized by ASEAN*, ADB, The Government of Vietnam, and the Government of the People's Republic of China. Other development partners -- such as ADBI, German Development Cooperation (BMZ/GTZ/KfW), DFID, ILO, and WHO -- will also provide inputs.
At the recent ADB Annual Meeting in May in Bali, Indonesia, ADB President Kuroda shared a paper on ADB's response to the global economic crisis. The conference is seen in light of this work.
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PROJECTS
More Jobs for Cambodia's Youth through Technical Education
Despite high growth, poverty incidence in Cambodia remains high over 30%, especially in rural areas. At the same time, an estimated 2 million young people are unable to continue schooling or undergo vocational training, mainly because of financial constraints.
A US$2 million grant from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR) pilots a program to train 3000 agricultural producers (including at least 1500 women) in post-harvest food handling, storage and processing techniques. It will also fund skills training for jobless and out-of-school youth.
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CONTACT US
For suggestions and questions, please contact the Poverty Unit in ADB's Regional and Sustainable Development Department
Email: Poverty-Matters@adb.org |
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The skills bridging component will target about 700 young people who have never enrolled in secondary school or who have little formal education, and give them access to training and employment opportunities through the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) certificate-level program.
Funds will be given to community-based groups, non-government organizations (NGOs) and public and private skills providers to draw up the training program.
Old Southeast Asia Combat Zone Gives Way to Burgeoning Trade Corridor
Ten years ago, Laos, Thailand and Viet Nam made a pact to ease cross-border traffic rules. Today, it has become a reality. Where, formerly, shipments needed to be unloaded and re-loaded in Lao territory, now commercial trucks from Thailand and Viet Nam are able to enter each others' territory to deliver and pick up goods. This is made possible through a formal exchange of traffic rights and the introduction of a regional customs transit system among the two countries and Lao People's Democratic Republic. Overland shipments between Thailand and Viet Nam along the East-West Economic Corridor can now proceed directly to their final destination.
ADB President Calls on Governments, Private Sector to Do More to Address Sanitation Issue
ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda has called for regional governments and the private sector to do more to help the 1.8 billion people in Asia who lack access to adequate sanitation, saying that this issue "poses enormous challenges to Asia's environment and public health." In response, ADB has earmarked 20% of its Water Financing Partnership Facility to sanitation, which will help provide 200 million people with sustainable access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation.
Clean Water for Women Affected by the Tsunami and Earthquake in Indonesia
The 2004 tsunami and 2005 earthquake devastated Indonesia's Aceh and North Sumatra provinces water and sanitation systems. These caused numerous cases of skin disease and frequent bouts of diarrhea, and engaged the women with the laborious task of fetching water over steep and craggy terrain. Through a US$294 million ADB assistance, these areas will benefit from infrastructure and livelihood restoration as well as capacity building.
Fusing Cultural Preservation with Disaster Relief
The earthquake in March 2005 in the Indonesian island of Nias destroyed 127,000 houses, displacing more than 400,000 people, and caused an estimated $1.4 billion in damages. With $73 million funding from ADB's Earthquake and Tsunami Emergency Support Project, 7,000 homes were constructed and repaired, and essential municipal and economic infrastructure rehabilitated. Instead of targeting relief efforts on the accessible land areas, ADB's exploratory team selected the most isolated and worst-affected villages, where many villages reside. The project not only aims to rehabilitate physical infrastructure but also focused on preserving the communities' culture.
'Business As Usual' Approach to Health Failing Women and Children in Asia
A recent publication, titled Investing in Maternal, Newborn and Child Health: The Case for Asia and the Pacific, notes that 14 of 43 countries in the region are currently unlikely to achieve Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4, which requires nations to cut the child and maternal mortality rate by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015. It recommends that the governments in the region reconsider not only how much they spend for health care but, more importantly, how they spend it, scaling up essential investments for women, infants and children.
ADB, PRC Help Mekong Countries Address Human Resource Development Concerns
ADB and the People's Republic of China are helping countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) address human resource development issues such as skills development, labor migration, the prevention of trafficking of women and children, and the surveillance and control of communicable diseases. Through a US$750,000 grant from ADB's Regional Cooperation and Integration Fund, groups overseeing human resource development in the GMS countries will undergo restructuring and capacity building to carry out social assessments on the impact of increased physical and economic integration on vulnerable groups including women and ethnic minority groups.
Other recently approved projects:
KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT
 The Global Economic Crisis: Challenges for Developing Asia and ADB's Response
This technical assistance was set up to fund a total of 22 activities (e.g., studies, conferences, and meetings) on policies that support poverty reduction in the PRC. The coverage areas of funded activities ranged from public policies and poverty alleviation in rural areas, which includes rural education, health services, social security, and taxation reforms; management of poverty alleviation loan capitals; labor transfer research; poverty and the environment; development of industries in the poor areas; role of NGOs and public welfare organizations the poverty reduction; and poverty analysis.
Sustainability Report 2009
According to the report, ADB is continuing a shift in its emphasis and resources toward reducing poverty and, simultaneously, promoting environmentally sustainable growth in the Asia and Pacific region.
This update of ADB's first Sustainability Report, published in 2007, provides information on ADB's efforts towards integrating environmental management, improved governance, and social inclusiveness into its development programs, with the aim of reducing the environmental impact of the organization's corporate operations.
The appendix links the indicators of the Global Reporting Initiative with the text of the report and other pertinent sources.
 Institutionalizing Gender Equality: The Experience of the Bangladesh Resident Mission
ADB has helped advance gender equality and development over the past 10 years across Asia and the Pacific. It is increasingly recognized that adding gender specialists to the staff of selected resident missions (including in Bangladesh) results in more projects tackling gender issues and strengthens the capacity of executing agency staff to bridge gender disparities.
This report shows how gender has been integrated successfully into some aspects of Bangladesh policies, strategies, and programming. It also shows what challenges remain. The report aims to identify the success factors that ADB might replicate or strengthen elsewhere.
Informal Employment in Bangladesh
An ADB working paper presented a methodology for classifying workers into formal and informal employment using the 2005 Bangladesh Labor Force Survey (LFS). About 88% of the workers in Bangladesh (and 92% in rural areas) are under informal employment.
Informal employment is mostly in agriculture; hunting and forestry; wholesale and retail trade; manufacturing; and transport, storage, and communications sectors. Formal workers are primarily employed by the government. Self-employed and unpaid workers comprise a little over 20 million of informal workers. Women (91.3%) are more likely to be engaged in informal employment than men (86.6%), mostly as unpaid family workers and in the private household sector. There are significant wage differentials between formal and informal workers.
Nature and Nurture: Poverty and Environment in Asia and the Pacific (Regional)
 Overcoming environmental degradation is necessary if we are to reduce poverty. This is especially true in Asia and the Pacific, where two thirds of the world's poor live. Environmental degradation in the region is pervasive and it is accelerating. This publication provides an overview of poverty-environment interactions and presents case studies that show how poor communities in Asia and the Pacific have sought to break out of poverty through local actions that improved their environment or made them less vulnerable to environmental stress.
Is Flood Insurance Feasible? Experiences from the People's Republic of China
By creating communities more resilient to the impact of major hazards, disaster management is an important component of sustainable development. Flood insurance for property is available in the People's Republic of China through normal insurance channels, but the number of policies purchased is small and 80% of the policies are purchased by large and medium-sized enterprises. It is barely used by the poor due to high cost and high risk tolerance. Under an ADB loan, the Hunan provincial government has embarked on a major upgrading of flood defense systems. The study presents its findings and recommendations.
Asia Must Preserve MDG Gains, Include Poor in Future Growth
The current year is past the halfway mark to 2015, the target year for accomplishing the eight MDGs. Despite strong progress by many Asian countries, the economic crisis threatens to slow down the pace of further poverty reduction. According to a recent ADB report, GDP growth in 2009 for developing Asia will be 6 percentage points lower than in 2007 and 3 percentage points lower than in 2008. As a result, says the Asian Development Outlook 2009, around 60 million people who would have escaped poverty this year if growth had remained strong will be stuck below the $1.25 poverty line. This scenario strongly calls for fiscal and policy reforms that would make poverty reduction more inclusive.
Access to Justice for the Urban Poor: Workshop on a Regional Technical Assistance Project Financed by ADB
ADB recently hosted a workshop on a regional technical assistance project on "Access to Justice for the Urban Poor". The workshop discussed the key findings on informal dispute and grievance resolution mechanisms used by the urban poor in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines, and Thailand in handling issues over urban assets, in particular land, housing, water, electricity, education, and health.
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TOOLS AND PARTNERSHIPS
ADB LOOKS FOR POVERTY CONSULTANT
ADB has just approved its technical assistance for knowledge networks on poverty reduction and inclusive growth. The project will facilitate working papers and policy briefs, seminars and conferences, and the development of an Asian website on Poverty Reduction and Inclusive Growth, linking up to 70 think tank institutions in the region. In this context, we are looking for an eminent adviser (or team) on poverty reduction (working from home office) to manage and coordinate this project. Interested colleagues may contact: abauer@adb.org. |
 Social Analysis in ADB Private Sector Projects
A recent ADB publication provides a step-by-step guide to address social dimensions in private sector projects. Its aims to facilitate the inclusion of social analysis in ADB's private sector activities, covering the areas of participation, gender, and other social risks and vulnerabilities. It complements the Handbook on Social Analysis, which provides general guidance on incorporating social dimensions into ADB operations.
 Interacting with Workers' Organizations: A Primer for ADB Staff
This primer provides a practical guide to ADB staff and others on how consultation with relevant stakeholders, in particular, workers' organizations, may be incorporated into the program and project cycle. It provides introductory information, summary of relevant ADB policies and strategies, and links to useful information and tools.
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LOOKING AHEAD
High-Level Regional Workshop on Social Assistance and Conditional Cash Transfer (23-24 July 2009, Manila)
The regional workshop will serve as a venue for sharing ideas, experiences, and information on social assistance and conditional cash transfers (CCT) interventions in Asia and the Pacific. The workshop will help (a) identify relevant gaps in designing, targeting, and monitoring CCT in selected projects and countries, (b) facilitate sharing of experiences among stakeholders in implementing CCT in selected countries, and (c) develop recommendations for improving the design, targeting, and impact assessment of CCT.
The workshop is the first in a series of 3 major social protection events of the ADB this year, the second one to be in mid October 2009 and the final conference in December.
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