Global Cooperation March 2007
In this issue
UNESCO takes on Social Development at the World Social Forum
New From UNRISD
Human Rights in South Asia
International Poverty Centre UNDP
Coming Events
UNESCO at the World Social Forum Nairobi Kenya
From research to policy to action
Global and regional leaders of ICSW were invited by UNESCO to the meeting ofgovernment ministers, researchers, policy makers and civil society. The meeting waslinked to the UNESCO initiative of regional forums of ministers for social development.
There have been four regional forums of ministers with the 5th to be held in Morocco inApril 2007 and the 6th in Latin America in May.
One of the outcomes of the Nairobi meeting was the move to an interregional meeting ofsocial development ministers.
The participants were asked to reflect on three ideas:• Social science can contribute decisively to social development policies• No one has a monopoly on knowledge in the social sciences• Greater dynamism in the research – mobilisation – government action nexus isabove all a matter of innovative mechanisms.
The following is not a record of the meeting in Nairobi but an attempt to capture some of
the most interesting discussion.
Southern Africa
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) recognises that their agenda isbroader than trade liberalisation. Social policy is critical and includes social exclusion,
HIV/Aids, poverty etc. SADC has initiated a forum of social development ministers
within its region. In November 2006 social development ministers met in Johannesburg
to discuss concerns and the slowness in dealing with social challenges. They recognised
they needed comprehensive policies in a variety of areas.

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The outcome was a commitment to develop a social policy framework for the region andfind ways to implement social policy. Social challenges include housing, cross borderhealth, water, gender, education and specific groups eg ageing.
Ministers recognised they need the cooperation of international organisations to take thesocial development agenda forward.
World Bank
As would be expected there was discussion of the World Bank. The Bank has moved
through stages of project support, structural adjustment and more recently budget support.
But the structural adjustment phase introduced powerful new actors at national level.
These new actors are corporations either national or international. They became active aspart of the World Bank privatisation agenda. Corporations are increasingly influential
with governments particularly in economic and fiscal policy. Civil society has notmatched this and therefore social development and public-goods policy plays a small partin government policy.
At global level this policy dominance is replicated with economic and fiscal policy being
tightly controlled in the Bretton Woods institutions. In contrast social policy is spread
across a myriad of disjointed agencies. To add to the confusion civil society organisations
are plentiful resulting in international agencies not knowing who to talk to. The UN
review of relations with civil society was a lost opportunity. The Economic and SocialCouncil (ECOSOC) has created an impossible situation by recognising nearly two
thousand civil society organisations. The UN has no idea how to work with such aplethora of organisations. It has enough difficulty reaching consensus with a few hundred
member states let alone two thousand NGOs.
Returning to the World Bank. Policies have consequences long after implementation. TheWorld Bank has probably conducted the best analyses of their own mistakes. It isdisappointing that they do not use the accumulated knowledge from previous errors.
Evidence and knowledge in policy making
What counts as “evidence” for the purposes of policy assessment? Rather than “evidencebased” policies it is more accurate to speak of “evidence-aware” policies. Policies always
need competing evidence and alternative interpretations, including those of target anduser groups. In the face of complexity and uncertainty, evidence can only be persuasive,not conclusive.
The use of knowledge became a main area of debate at the UNESCO meeting. There
seemed to be a consensus that knowledge exists but it is not used by politicians. This led
to a debate on how policy priorities are set in social development. Priorities are primarily
set through a political process. Policies are set by pressure from international financialorganizations but this has been less than in the last decade. States have more autonomy
than a decade ago. In part this is due to a less clear global agenda.
Increasingly, however, perception of threat from global poverty and inequality is pushingan alternative global agenda. Litigation is having a bearing on the development of thesocial agenda when social rights are constitutionally entrenched2

Civil Society
The discussion moved on to civil society.
What kinds of knowledge can non-government organisations (NGOs) produce? How cansuch knowledge be made available to the policy process? To what extent can NGOs takeresponsibility for service delivery?
To whom are NGOs accountable? To whom should they be?
In the discussion there was a perceived need to reconsider the phrase “non-governmentorganisation” which does not capture all aspects of organized civil society.
Accountability to donors is not enough. There is a need for accountability in respect ofuse of public money. Excessively strict accountability demands are likely to exclude civilsociety. Civil society cannot be accountable to government – but can civil society
organisations challenge the state?
Conclusion
ICSW congratulates UNESCO for their very useful innovation of bringing together not
only ministers for social development but also researchers, policy makers and civilsociety. This dialogue is producing good thinking and excellent interchange of ideas andpractices. The dialogue is increasing understanding between sectors.
Much more could be said on the World Social Forum. If you want to read more on theWorld Social Forum there are many reports in the Civil Society Observer Volume 4,Issue 1 January - February 2007 Special Section: World Social Forum 2007
http://www.un-ngls.org/
New From UNRISD
Political and Social Economy of Care
This project is undertaking comparative research on the multiple institutions of care, theirgender composition and dynamics and their implications for poverty and social rights ofcitizenship. The research spans across eight countries drawn from four different regions:
Argentina and Nicaragua; South Africa and Tanzania; South Korea and India;
Switzerland and Spain.
http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BF3C2/setLanguageCookie?OpenAgent&langcode=en&url=/80256B3C005BB128/search/37BD128E275F1F8BC1257296003210EC?Open
Document
The Return to Social Policy and the Persistent Neglect of Unpaid Care
The failure of orthodox economic policies to generate growth and eradicate poverty has
led to renewed interest in social policies. The return to ‘the social’ has seen contending
conceptualizations of social policy, premised on different values, priorities andunderstandings of state responsibility, vying for influence. This article argues that thecurrently dominant agenda of social sector restructuring is likely to entrench genderinequalities in access to social services and income supports because of its failure torecognize the structures that underpin those inequalities, which are pervasive acrosslabour markets and the unpaid care economy.

3http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BF3C2/setLanguageCookie?OpenAgent&langcode=en&url=/80256B3C005BCCF9/search/2B95647C94106E7EC125729E00498759?OpenDocument
Human Rights in South Asia
The Asian Centre for Human Rights has released its SAARC Human Rights Report 2006.
This is the first such report prepared by any organization or institution in South Asia.
SAARC Human Rights Report 2006 ranks members of South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation based on the incidents and patterns of human rights violations.
According to the SAARC Human Rights Violators Index 2006, Bangladesh is ranked No.
1 violator of human rights, followed by Bhutan (No. 2), Nepal (No. 3), Maldives (No. 4),
Pakistan (No.5), Sri Lanka (No.6) and India (No.7).
http://www.achrweb.org/reports/saarcar2006/main.htm
International Poverty Centre UNDPThe International Poverty Centre has announced a new issue of our One Pagers: OnePager # 26: What is Poverty? Good Question by Terry McKinley.
Available online as PDF at: http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/pub/IPCOnePager26.pdf
The Center invites readers to post their comments on this publication at the IPC Open
Forum: http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/forum.htm
All publications are available for downloading from the IPC webpage: http://www.undppovertycentre.org/Coming events
ICSW - European Region International Expert Seminar on Social investment and social
protection as productive factors. The role of decent work and social integration for an
economically successful and socially cohesive society
To be held in Madrid (Spain), 25th to 27th May 2007
Hosted by the Comité Espagñol para el Bienestar Social (CEBS)
secretaria@cebs-es.org http://www.cebs-es.org/cebs/default.asp
Partnership for People-centred Development: Challenges and Responses in a Globalising
WorldTheInternationalAssociationforCommunityDevelopment(IACD)
http://www.iacdglobal.org/ biennial conference will be held at the City University ofHong Kong, China on 24-27 June, 2007.
(http://ssteach1.cityu.edu.hk/~iacd/IACD_brochure.pdf).
Editor of Global Cooperation: Denys Correll
Website: www.icsw.org
Email icsw@icsw.org
International Council on Social Welfare
C/O MOVISIE Netherlands Centre for Social Development
P.O. Box 19129 DC Utrecht
The Netherlands
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