Special Evaluation Study: Asian Development Bank: Social Protection Strategy (Complete Report)

Abstract

The Asia and Pacific region has accounted for more than half the world’s gross domestic product growth over the last 10 years, yet rising inequality, unequal access to opportunities, and recurrent economic crises and natural disasters threaten to undermine the achievement of inclusive growth, one of the key pillars of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Strategy 2020. High economic growth in the region generates new opportunities as well as new risks. The ability of individuals and households to benefit from new opportunities can be quickly reversed through unemployment, disability, illness, natural disasters, or economic and political crises. Social protection policies are designed to help individuals and society to build resilience to these risks and to access productive opportunities, especially jobs. However, the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997, and the more recent food, fuel, economic, and financial crises revealed that most countries in the region have inadequate systems for social protection, particularly safety nets targeted at the poor. Despite growing needs, public expenditure on social protection in Asia and the Pacific is lower than in any part of the developing world except sub-Saharan Africa. In this context, the objective of this study is to assess ADB’s experience with social protection in Asia and the Pacific, more specifically how ADB responded to the Social Protection Strategy (the Strategy) approved by the Board of Directors in 2001 and what more needs to be done to take this agenda forward. As ADB experience in developing social protection systems has been limited, and impact evaluation in the region is thin, the study’s key findings and conclusions build on a larger body of worldwide evidence, which shows that well-designed social protection interventions can reduce poverty and contribute to a wider range of development outcomes related to human capital and inclusive growth.