Social Development and Public Governance > Social Development
Social Development - February 2005
From the Division Chief:
This issue of the SOC newsletter picks up on some of the main social concerns of governments and reflects them in the IDB's work in social development. The preoccupation with expanding opportunities for the poor and excluded in the region translates into support for Afrodescendents in Colombia, innovative planning with indigenous peoples in Venezuela, a special focus on Afrodescendent and indigenous women who experience a combined discrimination based on gender, social class and race or ethnicity, and the social inclusion of people who live and work on the streets in São Paulo, Brazil. This same preoccupation guides a number of IDB strategy documents currently under preparation and consultation.
These are the Strategic Framework and Operational Policy for Indigenous Peoples, The Strategic Outlook on Gender Operational Policy on Gender, the Education Strategy and the Health Strategy. Another issue very much at the center of concern of both governments and the IDB is effective governance for and implementation of social policy.
This issue introduces work we have commissioned on best practices in cross-cutting issues in the management of metropolitan areas. An opinion piece argues for the need for a central social authority in government and there is a review of trends in health expenditures. A key, enduring question is the efficiency and distributive impact of public and social expenditures. We hope to do additional work in this area and to encourage a dialogue between Ministers of Finance and Ministers of Social Development on financing the Millennium Development Goals, in the context of the Bank's forthcoming annual meetings this April in Okinawa, Japan.
Please contact us for more information on all these topics.
Mayra Buvinic
Last updated: 06/01/07
