This book consists of papers that present the findings of research done by the SMERU Research Institute in Jakarta, Indonesia. Most describe the effects on the poor of the Indonesian economic crisis of 1997-98 and the response of the Indonesian government in the form of a Social Safety Net consisting of poverty mitigation programs. With the gradual recovery of the economy after 2000, the Indonesian government began reducing subsidies for fuel products and has channelled budgetary savings into a new series of targeted social protection and poverty alleviation undertakings that include unconditional cash transfers. The effectiveness of Indonesia's poverty alleviation programs has, however, been reduced by the difficulty of targeting beneficiaries accurately because of a lack of reliable, up-to-date poverty figures. In many instances unsuitable targeting methodology has been compounded by bad governance at the local level, while the introduction of regional autonomy, accompanied by the decentralization of authority to the district level, has formed a further complicating factor.

This book provides a comparative analysis of how communities have developed people-based resilience in response to the global impact of COVID-19. The crisis of the capitalist economy due to border closure, downturn in business, loss of jobs and large-scale destruction of people’s well-being has worsened poverty, and inequality worsened the situation of the already marginalized. At the same time, it has provided the opportunity for indigenous and marginalized communities to innovatively strengthen their social and solidarity economies to respond the unprecedented calamity in a self-empowering and sustainable way. The book explores some of the ways in which local communities have mobilized their cultural resources to strengthen their social solidarity and mitigating mechanisms against the continuing global calamity. It looks at how different communities approach social protection as a way of sustaining their well-being outside the parameters of the ailing market economy and how some of these can provide valuable lessons for strengthening resilience for the future.

This book takes a new approach on understanding causes of extreme poverty and promising actions to address it. Its focus is on marginality being a root cause of poverty and deprivation. “Marginality” is the position of people on the edge, preventing their access to resources, freedom of choices, and the development of capabilities. The book is research based with original empirical analyses at local, national, and local scales; book contributors are leaders in their fields and have backgrounds in different disciplines. An important message of the book is that economic and ecological approaches and institutional innovations need to be integrated to overcome marginality. The book will be a valuable source for development scholars and students, actors that design public policies, and for social innovators in the private sector and non-governmental organizations.​

This book started with an objective to understand the impact of high inflation on poverty and food security in Southeast Asia. However, the global economy moved quickly into recession in 2008. Anticipating that the impact of global recession would be more severe than that of high inflation in Southeast Asia, we re-focused the title of the book to Poverty, Food, and Global Recession in Southeast Asia. By early 2010, people were already optimistic that the global recession was over or would be over soon. However, the evidence was mounting that the poor had suffered and were still suffering from the current global crisis, even if the richer individuals may have recovered. Therefore, an important question arises, Is the crisis really over for the poor? This then became the sub-title of this book. This book aims to contribute a better understanding on poverty and food security in Southeast Asia during the recent global recession considering both recent developments and the previous major crisis of 1997-98.

Typically only a small proportion of the population is chronically poor; many more are not always poor but vulnerable to episodes or seasons of proverty and would be interested inprograms that reduce the risks they face

This publication provides updates on Social Protection Indicators of 24 countries in Asia, with an analysis of 2015 data on social protection programs. It shows progress in expenditure, primarily driven by social insurance and coverage between 2009 and 2015. Spending on women has improved in several countries, yet others continued to favor the nonpoor over the poor, and men over women. The Social Protection Index---now the Social Protection Indicator---was developed by the Asian Development Bank and its partners as the first comprehensive and quantitative measure of social protection systems in Asia and the Pacific.

Social protection is now considered a development milestone and an important tool in combating poverty. Interventions can include, for example, health insurance, public works programs, guaranteed employment schemes, or cash transfers targeting vulnerable populations groups. This innovative volume is designed to develop understanding about the role and contribution of social protection globally and to share innovative practice and policies from around the world. It explores how to cover an entire population effectively, especially those who are at risk or who are already in a situation of deprivation, and in a sustainable manner. Divided into two parts, the book begins by exploring the theoretical underpinnings of social protection, discussing the social work and social development perspectives and concepts that currently shape it. The second part is comprised of case studies from countries implementing successful social protection initiatives, including Brazil, India, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria and Indonesia, and reveals how the impact of a successful social protection intervention on poverty, vulnerability and inequality can be dramatic. This volume is an important reference for advanced students and researchers from a range of disciplines including social policy, social work, development studies, geography, planning, economics, sociology, population health and political science.

This publication examines the need to expand social protection coverage of the informal sector to support working age productivity, reduce vulnerability, and improve economic opportunity. Case studies from Bangladesh, the People's Republic of China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Thailand offer suggestions to close social protection gaps and recommend policy solutions to create equitable and inclusive social protection programs for informal workers.

In 2017, the Royal Government of Cambodia published a new Social Protection Policy Framework (SPPF), providing an ambitious vision for a social protection system in which a comprehensive set of policies and institutions operate in sync with each other to sustainably reduce poverty and vulnerability.The Social Protection System Review of Cambodia prompts and answers a series of questions that are crucial for the implementation ofthe framework : How will emerging trends affect the needs for social protection, now and into the future? To what extent are Cambodia’s social protection instruments able – or likely – to address current and future livelihood challenges? How does fiscal policy affect social protection objectives? This review provides a contribution to the ongoing policy dialogue on social protection, sustainable growth and poverty reduction. It includes four chapters. Chapter 1 is a forward-looking assessment of Cambodia’s social protection needs. Chapter 2 maps the social protection sector and examines its adequacy. An investigation of the distributive impact of social protection and tax policy is undertaken in Chapter 3. The last chapter concludes with recommendations for policy strategies that could support the establishment of an inclusive social protection system in Cambodia, as envisaged by the SPPF.