Without required investment in social development and crisis response, vulnerable communities in different parts of the world are becoming more vulnerable to the impacts and stressors put on by multiple crises. This scenario, caused by climate vulnerability and also lack of funds in a world suffering from inflation due to conflicts. It is affecting social development and also casting long shadows on the serious quest for poverty reduction.
Social development in a global context has indicated not only a risk through a downward trend but also the danger of trending downwards for countries and not recovering very soon. Socio-economists in this context have also observed that no developing country should minimize the long-term impacts of multiple crises. Instead, the time has arrived for everyone, including international organizations and international financial institutions to work together for enhancing resilience. This will require national political will as well as global cooperation for it to be possible.
In this context, analyst Naureen Hossain analyst has referred to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) launching the 2024 edition of the “World Social Report 2024: Social Development in Times of Converging Crises: A Call for Global Action.” on October 17. Yang Wenyan (right), Chief of Global Dialogue for Social Development Branch of the Division for Inclusive Social Development of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and Shantanu Mukherjee, Director of Economic Analysis and Policy Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) later briefed the media on the different dimensions of this Report.
The Report deliberates the effects of multiple crises and shocks on countries’ social development and their capacity to handle those shocks through social protections or lack thereof. It postulates that while there has been an upward trajectory in development and economic growth in some parts of the world despite the terrible effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, many developing countries are still struggling to reach their development goals or to reduce the rate of extreme poverty to even pre-pandemic levels.
Overlapping crises, especially those caused by extreme weather, appear to have also increased in frequency and intensity. The shocks from these disasters will be, or are being felt across the world rather than contained within one country or region as a result of the networks that connect countries and systems. The DESA report also observes that global warming has many difficult dimensions. There is also the denotation that every region might experience changes in their national climate systems. The increasing risk of extreme weather such as hurricanes and prolonged droughts will then not only impact countries directly affected, but also pose a threat to agricultural production and food security.
The Report however, suggests that although there is a better understanding of the impacts of these crises, preparedness has not yet caught up. Information on early warning and preventative systems is also not consistently made available and sometimes, it is also unclear on how effective they are.
The Report discloses that only 47 percent of the world’s
population has access to at least one social protection
benefit. This means that nearly half the world’s population
of 8.1 billion can not easily get the required social protections.
We all know that in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries bolstered their social protections. Nevertheless, gaps remain and that undermines social development in times of crisis.
The Report discloses that only 47 percent of the world’s population has access to at least one social protection benefit. This means that nearly half the world’s population of 8.1 billion can not easily get the required social protections. Such inequality, according to the Report, is not so in higher-income countries - where 85 percent of the population is covered, while in lower-income countries, it is only 13 percent.
It has also been noticed in another Report -that refers to gender empowerment- prepared by the UN, that 2 billion women and girls globally do not have access to social protections. That is indeed unacceptable. N. Hossain has correctly observed that- “we need to understand that continued crises and shocks to social development disproportionately affect vulnerable communities as they face increased risks of poverty, food insecurity, wealth inequality and education loss, which are only exacerbated with the limited reach or lack of access to social protections”.
Other observers have also indicated that there is another dimension that needs to be carefully monitored and measures taken to resolve the different connotations. In this context, reference is made to unemployment rates- which have only increased over time. The employment gap has increased from 20 percent in 2018 to 21 percent in 2023. In 2022, the poorest half of the global population owned only 2 percent of the world’s health. These are indicators of the increase in existing income and wealth inequalities, especially in developing countries with pre-existing high levels of inequality.
For countries to build resilience is now more critical than ever, which the Report argues can be achieved more fully through international cooperation. Otherwise, actions taken at the national level will be limited. Shantanu Mukherjee has consequently been correct in pointing out that “I think in most countries, governments’ priorities are actually to reduce poverty and improve people’s lives. It’s just that in order to do so, they need to achieve a particular level of growth. So often it becomes a question of which is going to come first. What we are seeing in this Report is that this is too narrow-minded of a view.” In this context, S. Mukherjee has reminded us that “you can invest in people in order to get higher growth in the future because you’re improving resilience. You are improving their capacity to actually contribute in the future.”
The report concludes with recommendations that countries could adopt to reinvigorate national actions for social development- such as expanding and strengthening social protections and accelerating work towards the Sustainable Development Goals. It has also been noted that global cooperation can be strengthened through establishing cross-country collaborative solutions and a knowledge base for risk governance.
Making improvements towards global financing is also one of the proposed recommendations from the Report. Easing debt restrictions on developing countries, for instance, would ensure the flow of money. It must be remembered that they usually end up spending far more on paying off their debts than paying towards social development. According to Mukherjee, this has been achieved before, and lately there are conversations among major creditors to take measures to ease debt restrictions.
However, in the present day, not only are the challenges more complex- now, more parties are involved. In addition to countries and financing institutions such as the World Bank and international development banks, the private sector can also be involved as countries can raise funds on the international market, which need to be paid back.
Muhammad Zamir, a former Ambassador, is an analyst
specialized in foreign affairs, right to information and good governance, can be reached at <muhammadzamir0@gmail.com>
