The ASEAN Secretariat and the World Bank Institute’s East Asia and Pacific Environment and Social Development Sector are jointly organizing an ASEAN-World Bank High Level Conference on Mainstreaming Social Development in the National Development Agenda at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta from 16 to 18 January 2002.

With an aim to produce a long-term regional program for mainstreaming social development into national and regional development agendas, the High Level Conference has the following specific objectives: 

·        Support an intra-regional dialogue amongst ASEAN countries, the ASEAN Secretariat, the World Bank and other development partners, on implementation of selected aspects of the ASEAN Vision 2020 Hanoi Plan of Action, as outlined in the document: ASEAN into the Next Millennium and provide a forum for discussion on steps to be taken to translate the Hanoi Plan of Action into concrete activities, deemed crucial for social development and lasting poverty reduction.

·        Share amongst ASEAN countries relevant experiences already undertaken, and discuss their relative merits and replicability to other countries in the ASEAN region.

·        Provide a start-off point for the establishment of a community of practitioners for continuous sharing of knowledge and ideas, identification of actions to be undertaken, and improving the integration of related activities.

The three-day High Level Conference will bring together a representative mix of senior officials from the relevant ministries and departments dealing with social development and development planning in the ASEAN Member Countries, and resource speakers and experts from ASEAN and the World Bank.  Participants will share experiences and best practices on how mainstreaming social concerns has been addressed in national and regional contexts, with a focus on four important areas of social development, namely, poverty alleviation and social protection; labour and employment; health issues; and gender mainstreaming.  The Conference will prepare and endorse a regional work plan in mainstreaming social development into the national and regional development agendas.    The plan will assist the strengthening of national capacities for mainstreaming social development and establish electronically-linked communities where social policy practitioners can share strategies.

The High Level Conference is part of a program of activities implemented as an ASEAN-World Bank joint initiative, which commenced in June 2001 with the convening of a series of video conferences on social development concerns for national development planning.  The video conferences covered the topics of poverty alleviation, gender mainstreaming and labor and employment concerns.  Additional sessions on targeted social protection,  HIV/AIDS prevention and control, and social welfare issues and concerns will be conducted in 2002.  Papers presented by participating countries in the video-conferences have been posted for information and further discussion at the joint ASEAN-WB website at URL: www1.worldbank.org/gdln/dl.htm.

Links to List of Participants and Program Agenda for the High-Level Conference.