Social Development and Public Governance > Social Development > Social Inclusion
Sustaining Development for All: Expanding Access to Economic Activity and Social Services
(06/06, SDS/SDS, En, Es)
In a context of high income inequality and modest progress toward reducing poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean, one of the main challenges the region faces today is how to ensure that the benefits of growth reach the excluded populations. In order to contribute to the debate on how to better focus and enhance the Bank's impact on poverty and promote sustainable solutions and truly inclusive development, the Sustainable Development Department has published the book, Sustaining Development for All: Expanding Access to Economic Activity and Social Services.
Sustaining Development for All proposes taking a comprehensive and integrated approach to the problems of poverty and inequality and shows how the private sector can be included to bring profitability objectives and social goals together to address these issues. The book posits that poverty reduction and inclusion require efforts on two fronts: (i) expanding employment and business opportunities for the poor by improving their access to markets, and (ii) enhancing their human capital by improving their access to social services. Sustaining Development for All offers ideas on how to combat the structural roots of poverty to help the poor, the region's majority, to gain access to the mainstream of social, economic and political life in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The book's first section explains how to align the objectives of the private sector with those of development, including a discussion of the importance of creating partnerships between the private sector, the public sector and civic society. It also discusses how socially responsible firms can enhance the well-being of all; how developing entrepreneurship and providing support to micro, small and medium enterprises can contribute to the creation of jobs; how to make financial markets work for all; how to design infrastructure that can support the marginalized and the poor; and how to utilize ecosystems in a responsible fashion. This section ends with a discussion of how to harness the rural potential and the potential inherent in the cultural richness and natural resources of indigenous populations to promote sustainable development for all.
The book's second section discusses what is actually required to help provide access to markets and enhance the buying power of the poor. Because education is a major determinant of equality as well as competitiveness, this section pays particular attention to the need for education and training services to allow the poor to participate in productive processes and gain access to jobs. Another article in this section touches upon the role of local governments in reaching and empowering the poor, pointing out that decentralization is the region's new institutional reality. This section also discusses the measures required to take advantage of the vast potential of women; how to overcome the obstacles posed by violence and crime; how to provide accessible housing solutions; how to make jobs more available to the urban poor, and how to channel market solutions to improve the health of the poor.
The final section of Sustaining Development for All looks at actual measures to improve access to markets and services through a better use of social capital, and discusses issues such as solidarity, trust, civic and ethical values, and information and communications technologies.
The ideas discusses in Sustaining Development for All can help to close the gaps in infrastructure, culture, technology, institutions and human capital that thwart the region's competitiveness.
Last updated: 04/27/07
