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Ogawa T.
A new perspective on ageing: social quality and its potential role for public policy
making in Asia and the Pacific
Introduction. This paper looks at the social development goal set by the United Nations and several approaches to have had a particular resonance for the developing world. It also describes the concept of Social Quality and its approach in Social Policy and Development in a wider context. This discussion will be followed by the argument to what extent the Millennium Development Goals, Human Security and Social Quality issues can be interacted each other as new perspectives on social development.
The main aim of this paper is: to explain 1) the concept of social quality, and to show
2) some discussions of the role of social quality on the key determinants that influence different social, economic, and cultural policies (including media and telecommunication), and examining the extent to which citizens are able to participate in the social and economic life of their communities under conditions, which enhance their well-being and individual potential. The presentation also shows 3) a potential of social quality in Asia, explains 4) in what way the Social Quality approach presents new tools for comparative research and contribute to our knowledge about the differences between the various societal and social models in Asian countries, and shows that 5) this will be a condition sine qua non for public policies with which to stimulate economic sustainability, well-being and social justice.
Social quality is a comprehensive conception of the quality of people's daily lives. It is a function of the constant tension between individual self-realisation and participation in the various collective identities that constitute everyday life, which takes place within a social context comprising two well-known fields of action. On the one hand, there is the contrast between biographical and societal development (agency and social structure) and, on the other hand, there is the contrast between the world of organisations and the one comprising informal relationships (system and life world). Social quality is proposed as a goal not only of social policy, but also of economic, environmental and other relevant policies for ensuring human well-being and happiness. Therefore, social quality is seen very much as a humanistic antidote to the utilitarian and ubiquitous practice of equating quality of life with income or wealth. In short, the Social Quality approach creates a new point of reference for policies based on a coherent theoretical model that transcends the familiar fragmentation between scientific disciplines and policy areas; and, thus, can provide a basis for participation in Asian countries. This can be done through, for example, enabling governments (national and local) to employ a common framework for policy development and implementation and also to respond to the increasing demands from citizens to play a responsible role in the creation of social well-being and social quality.
1. The United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The UN and OECD Setting of international targets began in 1945 with the preamble to the Charter of the UN, which states:
We the peoples of the United Nations determined: to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom. The idea of social progress and better standards of living came to be known as ‘development’. This term, as we understand it today, has its roots in the decolonization of the 1950s and 1960s. Under this concept nations could be divided into those
that were ‘developed’ and those that were ‘under-‘ or ‘less’ developed. It was assumed the ‘less’ developed nations aspired to achieve the quality of life and material status of ‘developed’ countries (Addison, p. 392).
At the turn of the century (18 September 2000), the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were adopted by the UN General Assembly. Tellingly, the second paragraph of the resolution states: ‘We recognize that, in addition to our separate responsibilities to our individual societies, we have a collective responsibility to uphold the principles of human dignity, equality and equity at the global level. As leaders we have a duty therefore to all over the world, especially the most vulnerable and, in particular, the children of the world, to whom the future belongs. (UN, 2000)’ The Millennium Declaration then goes on to say, with regard to development and poverty eradication: We will spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected. We are committed to making the right to development a reality for everyone and to freeing the entire human race from want. We resolve therefore to create an environment at the national and global levels alike which is conducive to development and to the elimination of poverty. There are eight goals and 18 targets. It is necessary to consider the first seven goals, which relate to life conditions in the resource-poor world. Goal 8 is about the partnership for development.
The eight goals are: Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; Target 1. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than USD 1 a day, Target 2. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger; Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education, Target 3. Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling; Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women, Target 4. Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015; Goal 4: Reduce child mortality, Target 5. Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate; Goal 5: Improve maternal health, Target 6. Reduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio; Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases, Target 7. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS, Target 8. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases; Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability, Target 9. Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and reverse the loss of environmental resources, Target 10. Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, Target 11 Have achieved by 2020 a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers (UN, 2000).
Recently there have been a number of important international meetings and reports which make reference to the MDGs. At the Gleneagles summit (Scotland, July 2005), G8 leaders, the presidents and prime ministers of Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa, and the heads of the major international organizations met to discuss a number of issues, including development in Africa and how to accelerate progress towards the Millennium Goals.9 The G8 leaders agreed to a comprehensive approach to support these objectives, including the provision of substantial additional resources, some of which would be used for ‘investment in health and education, and to take action to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB and other killer diseases’. Aid for Africa should be doubled by 2010 (involving an increase of at least $25 billion per year by that year), with innovative financing mechanisms to deliver and bring forward this financing (the World Bank would have a key coordinating role). The G8 agreed to cancel all debts owed by eligible heavily indebted poor countries to the IDA, the IMF and the African Development Fund. The summit concluded that poor countries must ‘decide and lead their own development strategies and economic policies’. The assembled leaders stated: ‘we know this is only the beginning. We must build on the progress we have
made today. We must take this spirit forward to the United Nations Millennium Review Summit in New York in September, and ensure a successful conclusion to the Doha Development Agenda.’ There have been a number of UN reports on progress towards the MDGs.
2. Human Security. The concept of Human Security has been interpreted as an important perspective in the recent years, by which many countries have undertaken many initiatives - Japan’s establishment of the UN Trust Fund for Human Security - with the aim of attaining a ‘human-centred twenty-first century’.
It is true that universal values such as freedom and democracy are gaining broad acceptance in the international community, but at the same time, ethnic and religious conflicts continue to break out in many corners of the world, resulting in such problems as flows of refugees, human rights violations and other threats to the life and dignity of individuals. Moreover, technological advances are triggering problems, including global warming, that transcend national borders; with the globalization of the world economy, disparities in wealth are becoming wider and organized crime is increasing. Given this situation, it is now more essential than ever before that the international community needs to address these human security issues from the perspective of ensuring that individuals be able to enjoy peaceful and prosperous lives. In fact, it was in response to the appeal which Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori made at the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000 that the Commission on Human Security was established. This achievement was coincided with the occasion of the Commission's first meeting, co-chaired by Mrs. Sadako Ogata and Professor Amartya Sen to a process of serious consideration and discussion for further development of the concept of human security (MOFA, 2006). In response to this concept, the international community needs to propose a concrete and practical programme to address critical and pervasive threats to human security.
One of the programmes implemented into practice is an Assistance Programme for ‘Human Security for the Development of Women and Children in Peru’ Project (2006). Japan and the United Nations decided to extend assistance totaling USD 2,062,344, through the Trust Fund for Human Security to a project entitled ‘Human Security for the Development of Women and Children in Peru’, which will be implemented by the World Health Organization (WHO)/the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in the Republic of Peru.
3. Social Quality. Social Quality is a comprehensive conception of the quality of people's daily lives. It is a function of the constant tension between individual self-realisation and participation in the various collective identities that constitute everyday life, which takes place within a social context comprising two well-known fields of action. On the one hand there is the contrast between biographical and societal development (agency and social structure) and, on the other hand, there is the contrast between the world of organisations and the one comprising informal relationships (system and life world). Social Quality is proposed as a goal not only of social policy but of economic, environmental and other relevant policies as well.
The idea of Social Quality was developed in the mid-1990s following a series of scientific and policy-oriented meetings in Europe. It was created as a reaction to (and possible antidote for) the longstanding subordination of social policy to economic policy. In the 1990s this conflict was highly visible in the European Union (EU) as the convergence criteria for economic and monetary union resulting in reductions in social spending and increases in unemployment. The failure of social policy to counteract these developments, because of its unequal relationship with economic policy, called for a new approach aimed at establishing a balance between economic and social development.
Thus Social Quality was proposed as a standard by which to measure the extent to which people's daily lives have attained an acceptable level. It has been focused mainly on the
EU but is being applied to other regions. It is defined as the extent to which people are able to participate in social, economic and cultural life and development of their communities under conditions which enhance their well-being and individual potential. Although Social Quality is a product of social relations and a feature of societies it is experienced at the individual level and, therefore, must be measured there. Because Social Quality is rooted in social relations people must be constituted as actors with the capacity for both self-realisation and participation in collective identities. How are they so constituted? There are four factors that, in combination, open up the possibility for Social Quality: social recognition (or respect); the rule of law, human rights and social justice; social responsiveness (the openness of society); and the individual's own capacity to engage. These ‘constitutional’ factors are theoretically derived from the tensions and fields identified.
Once constituted four conditional factors determine the opportunities for the achievement of Social Quality. Social structures may be more or less enabling and supportive (social empowerment); institutions and groups may be more or less accessible (social inclusion); people will have variable access to the material, environmental and other resources necessary for participation (socio-economic security); and their society and communities will be characterised by different forms and levels of cohesion (social cohesion). It is assumed that these four 'conditional' factors can be measured by indicators and then combined into a composite index of Social Quality. This assumption is currently being tested in exploratory research, the results of which will require empirical testing.
It is obvious that there were twin engines driving the origins of Social Quality: scientific and political. It also embodies a strong ethical dimension. For example selfrealisation may imply autonomy or egocentrism while collective identities may be open and liberating or closed and authoritarian. Therefore ethical guidelines or criteria are required to distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable outcomes. In the Social Quality approach this ethical dimension is encapsulated in the Amsterdam Declaration on The Social Quality of Europe which calls for a respect for human dignity and which has been signed by more than 1,000 scientists and presented to the European Parliament.
Social Quality differs from quality of life in that it has a highly developed theoretical basis and is not simply a collection of domains. Moreover, with regard to measurement, it is assumed that Social Quality domains, sub-domains and indicators will be linked to the theory underlying it. In terms of policy application Social Quality claims wide relevance partly because of its grounded nature and partly because it refers to all policies relevant to everyday life and all parts of the policy process. Its ambition is to provide a vision for policy makers and citizens alike as well as a practical measuring rod. This ambition has begun to be realised by the adoption of Social Quality by the Dutch Ministry for Health, Welfare and Sport and by the European Commission in its Social Agenda. In terms of policy application, Social Quality claims wide relevance partly because of its grounded nature and partly because it refers to all policies relevant to everyday life and all parts of the policy process under the coherency of a social well-being concept, policy and practice with theory-grounded socio-economic indicators. Its ambition is to provide a vision for policy makers and citizens alike as well as a practical measuring rod.
This ambition has begun to be realised by the adoption of Social Quality by the European Commission in its Social Agenda, and it has been considered to implement under several policy frames such as the United Nations Programme on Ageing in the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, as outcome indicators to measure the effectiveness of social development policy. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has also held several research seminars on this subject to find out an applicability of this concept for its AID strategy. This concept and its movement are based upon the core parts of the Report of United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Expert Group Meeting on setting the Agenda of the High-level Meeting of the Regional
Review of the Implementation of the Shanghai Implementation Strategy for the Madrid and Macao Plans of Action on Ageing held in Shanghai, China, in July 2006 (UNESCAP, 2006). Therefore, the concept of Social Quality is very relevant to the evaluation and improvement of quality of life issues for all ages in Asia and the Pacific.
This also covers and considers all the pillars of cohort groups namely: 1) populations or groups of those vulnerable to ageing with negative consequences such as poor adult women, and low birth weight infants who have low mental and functional capacity when they are adults; 2) health through the concept of healthy lifestyle behaviour early in life; 3) economics to provide older people with financial support to live a sustainable livelihood in the future, and 4) social aspects as elaborated by the Social Quality concept. The United Nations Programme on Ageing (UNDESA) tries to disseminate this concept for further research development in each region, and to emphasise that governments need develop and test Social Quality Indictors (SQI) for the domains relevant to its four components: socio-economic security, social inclusion, social cohesion and social empowerment, to sustain the quality of life for all ages. This contribution is based upon some primary outcomes of the introduction of Social Quality Approach (SQA) and research in 14 EU Member States and 11 Societies in the Asian and Pacific region. This also needs to contribute to further the debates of Social Quality in the Asian and Pacific countries. These comparisons deliver really a new understanding of the nature of daily life in cities and region, and the difference between this nature, which is of high importance for the future of population and social integration issues and research under the New Dynamics of Ageing, a UK Cross Research Council Programme.
3.1. Social Quality Indicators (SQI). From October 2001 until 2005 the EFSQ coordinated the European Thematic Network on Indicators of Social Quality (ENIQ). This Network project was funded by the Fifth Framework Programme of DG Research of the European Commission. The Network consisted of university partners of fourteen countries: Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and two international NGO-partners: the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW) and the European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN). As a result of the efforts and commitment of the participants, the Network was able to deliver substantial additional outputs beyond those originally envisaged. These include major explorations of the four conditional factors of Social Quality - socio-economic security, social cohesion, social inclusion and social empowerment - all of which are key concepts for European policy; important theoretical development of the concept of Social Quality; and fourteen national surveys of the current trends in Social Quality. Although much of the work of the Network was concerned with the detailed and laborious examination of specific indicators the policy implications of its work are highly significant. In contrast to previous attempts to measure living standards, social exclusion or, more generally, quality of life, the Network has provided the basis for a holistic and theoretically grounded approach to both understanding and measuring the quality of social life as lived, day to day, by citizens in all European countries. This movement has been transferred to the Asian and Pacific region by the initiative of Chiba University and the European Foundation on Social Quality.
3.2. A Socio-philosophical approach of Social Quality. As one of the results of the theoretical work the EFSQ, in co-operation with the University of Tilburg and the University of Humanistics, is developing a project on the socio-philosophical approach of Social Quality. This project aims at developing a broader concept of a communicative life world, which can help to bridge the gap between social theory, social policy and empirical research. To this end a paradigmatic ambivalence within the Social Quality approach, manifesting an analogous ambivalence in Habermas' theory is analysed and remedied by reinterpreting and broadening his analysis of the constitution of the social life world. Firstly, the project aims at a reinterpretation of anthropological theories about the bodily infrastructure of human life, its fragility and its finitude in the context of a social life world. Secondly, contemporary theories
about the narrative constitution of identities and the cultural encoding of social life-worlds will be used. They will relate widely diverging individual articulations of Social Quality to broadly shared moral themes and existential dilemmas. Along these lines, Habermas's rather formal and procedural conception of inter-subjectivity is given more 'social body', leading to a better interrelation of social theory, social policy and empirical research, which presents the main ambition of the Social Quality Approach. This project is supported by the Dutch Scientific Fund (NWO). The results of this project will be published in the European Journal of Social Quality, Volume 7, Issue 1 (2007).
3.3. Empirical Research Projects.
1) Urban development and local governance: empirical testing of the Social Quality theory: the case of the city of the Hague.
The start. In April 2004 the municipality of the City of the Hague involved the EFSQ in the discussion about the city's development. The question was how Social Quality can lead to new ideas of urban development. The City of the Hague is coping with the consequences of demographic changes (multi-culturality), economic changes (interrelationships with European processes), changes in local governance (i.e. as a result of privatisation and a retreating government) and its growing role at the international level (i.e. its role for the United Nations). However, these challenges are not unique for the Hague, many cities in the Netherlands and other European countries find themselves confronted with changes asking for new forms of local governance. Forthcoming is a research paper how to apply some principles of the Social Quality approach to urban issues.
First exploration. In 2005 the Foundation was invited by the City of the Hague to hold in-depth-interviews with fifteen directors of crucial not-for-profit organisations in the area of education, healthcare, social housing etc. on their ideas about actual urban changes and challenges of the city. The four conditional factors of Social Quality (socio-economic security, social cohesion, social inclusion and social empowerment as explained in the research paper) played a central role in this exploration, published in the beginning of 2006. The general conclusions were that: (i) as a result of recent forms of privatisation all of these crucial organisations contributing to the living conditions of citizens have become more and more independent from the municipality, although at the same time, (ii) effective forms of collaboration for guiding the urban developments are lacking, and (iii) the political-administrative systems at the level of the municipality is not addressing the consequences of this increasing independence. The result is that modernisation of local governance involving the political-administrative system, the not-for-profit organisations as well as the organised citizens is seriously hindered and that frictions are caused between the municipality, civil society and its citizens. It became clear from the interviews that this had serious consequences for the socio-economic security of citizens, the social cohesion between citizens, the nature of social inclusion and the possibilities for social empowerment. These conclusions call for the design of new forms of local governance in order to support the sustainability of this city in the near future. In the past months, the lack of vision and the absence of methods for the modernisation of collaboration between the important actors of the city were debated. The municipality invited the University of Leiden (located near the City of the Hague) to assist the process of communication between the not-for-profit organisations themselves and between these organisations and the political-administrative system for creating new concepts and practices of local governance. The EFSQ was invited to assist by introducing the Social Quality Approach. With the help of this approach new ideas about urban sustainability can be developed and connected with ideas for modern local governance. This project, in cooperation with twenty not-for-profit organisations, the municipality of the Hague and the University of Leiden can be regarded as an example for Europe as well as Asia how to apply the outcomes of the EFSQ's project on ‘Indicators of Social Quality’ in an urban context. Second exploration. In cooperation with the stakeholders (public organisations and private
organisations) in City of the Hague and the University of Leiden a strategy was developed to start a process of urban development according to the principles of Social Quality. According to this approach 'urban development' refers to changes in physical aspects of the City and changes of its infrastructure (education, cultural provisions, welfare provision, health and social care, housing, sport, labour conditions etc). Not only it concerns the collaboration between social actors of these domains, it supposes a change in the way schools or health provisions are functioning in the City. The revolution of information, communication and technologies (ICT) will challenge the representatives of these domains to rethink how the four conditional factors of Social Quality should be addressed under modern circumstances. Therefore preparations are currently being made for the creation of three local urban practices (experiments) in the Hague how to introduce new forms of education, health care etc and related changes of physical forms. In a traditional sense, all provisions are like islands in the extended neighbourhood. By addressing four conditional factors of Social Quality the representatives need to change their minds, their aims and their budgets. These urban practices will function as source of inspiration for renewing the vision about the urban development of the Hague as such. Practices and the comprehensive vision will be developed in a reciprocal way. To start the Urban Practice of Laak Noord the stakeholders have been interviewed on their activities and ideas concerning this area.
2) Modern Public Health.
Network of Cities for Modern Public Health: An innovative European project. Providers of health and social care, local governments as well as the health and welfare insurance bodies in cities all over Europe are experiencing serious difficulties in assuring conditions for health and social well being in daily life and appropriate services of health and social care for citizens and customers. The world around us is changing rapidly and we have not yet been able to develop appropriate approaches matching current needs and life styles.
The Social Quality Approach addresses individuals in relation to formal structures and social networks in such a way that citizens are empowered to cope with aspects of daily life that matter for health. What seems to be missing at the moment is an overall adequate modern theory and related approaches, instruments and infrastructures to define and realise effective health and social policies. Notions like quality of life, empowerment, inclusion, social cohesion and social capital are widely used seductive policy concepts. But these concepts are usually either theoretically not elaborated or not interconnected. In the Social Quality theory these concepts are well-defined and interconnected. Therefore policies built on this theory will be more coherent and oriented to be supportive for the daily life of citizens. Intuitively in our cities various good practices of modern public health are being developed. They are strongly related to these same notions. With the new theory we have new ideas to analyse, further develop and debate those good practices of modern public health. In cooperation with the Bureau of Public Health of the Municipality of the Hague several contacts have been established with potential partners who are interested in the application of the theory of Social Quality to the area of public health. In this respect a thematic issue of the European Journal of Social Quality is forthcoming, under guest editorship of Dr. Paul Ward of the University of Sheffield, Department of Public Health. Currently the EFSQ is working on the operationalisation of this domain in the cities the Hague and Amsterdam. The municipality of the Hague has commissioned the European Foundation to study some experimental health care settings.
3) Employment and Labour Market. In April 2002 the EFSQ finished the first project that addressed the policy field of employment from the Social Quality perspective. This project was financed by the DG Employment and Social Affairs. The first step to studying this field was already made in a special issue of the European Journal of Social Quality (Volume 2, issue 2 (2000), Social Quality of Employment). The main thrust of the research concerned the underdeveloped - so-called 'adaptability-pillar' of the European employment
objectives. The objective was to develop and apply the concept of adaptability to Europe's labour markets and especially assess the tension between flexibility in working time and employment security. The second objective was to expose how employment affects the Social Quality of the daily circumstances of citizens. To this purpose a theoretical connection was made between flexicurity and inclusion, one of the components of Social Quality. The nature of flexicurity was measured by indicators on (i) income security, (ii) employment relations, (iii) working time and (iv) forms of care and leave. The countries covered in this comparative project were Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. Some important conclusions could be drawn from this research. High quality employment relations are of prime importance to the future social and economic health of the EU. Few countries meet the standards for a high degree of flexicurity of employees with respect to working time, for instance Belgium and Denmark. An increasing number of people become confronted with the problem of a discontinuous work-biography in general. Systems of social security in most countries are not really prepared to cope with this problem. With regard to forms of care and leave, Finland and Denmark lead the pack, and this only underscores the viability of the Nordic social-democratic welfare state. The main surprise is, undoubtedly, Portugal. It plans with small means for large ambitions and surpasses wealthy countries like the Netherlands, Germany and the UK. In general, this approach has shown problems related to mostly hidden propositions with regard to the position of men and women in the labour market by highlighting the distinction between paid and unpaid work.
4. Conclusion. The UN Millennium Project, investing in development: a practical plan to achieve development goals has an overview (New York: UNDP, 2005; UN Department of Public Information, 2005), extreme poverty was approved in full. Although promises by developed countries to achieve the 0.7 per cent target for official development assistance were not required but welcomed, no pressure or deadlines were placed on them to reach this target, which the majority of DAC countries have never attained yet. Similarly, although the Secretary General had, in the light of the Doha trade negotiations, asked for duty-free and quota-free market access for all exports from least-developed countries as a first step, it was agreed only that countries would ‘work towards’ implementing Doha and these measures. Reactions to the outcome have been mixed, with descriptions ranging from ‘historic’ to ‘outrageous’. Part of the criticism derives from the fact that the summit was supposed to concentrate on MDGs, but instead ranged over a number of other issues such as UN reform and terrorism. However, in a press statement of September 2005 Kofi Annan said that the summit had achieved important results, especially regarding the measures needed to reach the MDGs by 2015. Annan stated that ‘the document is still a remarkable expression of world unity on a wide range of issues.’
Demographic events of death and orphaning; however, as with all the international goals concerning resource-poor countries this goal is unlikely to be met. Sadly, we can discount it. Development is about more than just economic growth, which has been emphasised by the Social Quality Approach (SQA). This was recognized by the UNDP in its first Human Development Report, published in 1990. This opened with the statement: ‘The real wealth of a nation is its people. And the purpose of development is to create an enabling environment for people to enjoy long, healthy and creative lives.’ Obviously, being alive is a precondition for enjoying the benefits of development. But AID means that this simple prerequisite is not the case for many. The Human Development Index (HD I) introduced in 1990 was designed to capture as many aspects of human development as possible in one simple composite index, producing a ranking of human development achievements. It is constructed from three indices: life expectancy, which is a proxy indicator for longevity; educational attainment, which is measured by literacy and enrolment rates; standard of living, which is measured by real GDP per capita.
The international community is at the cross-roads towards the MDGs and international social development. Those charged with measuring ‘social well-being and development’ need to analyse the relationship between the several goals and their prospective outcomes precisely. Many socio-economic indicators also do not pick up the impact of social development policy, because they are based on less empirical data and take no account of current and future impact. Even with existing data it is still not clear what is and is not included; and those who prepare the data do not compare with-and-without-policy intervention. This is a long-wave event. The impacts are complex and possibly self-reinforcing. The international community needs to understand the goals of social development with more innovative and holistic approaches.
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Appendix 1: Five Pillars of the EFSQ and Chiba University ReCPA
European Foundation on Social Quality
(b) (c ) (d)
Methodological work Application of a+b for Application a+b+c to
for empirical research analysing Policy areas Scientific themes
f
Amsterdam Declaration
on Social Quality
(1997) J L
exploration policy
outcomes concerning:
ageing, employment,
public health, urban
development
(1997 -2000)
r
У r
Network Indicators
Social Quality (ENIQ) Studies urban policies,
* indicators socio -ec. studies public health,
security study employment
* indicators social (for DG Employment)
cohesion study ageing
* indicators social (2000 -2005)
inclusion
* indicators social у
empowerment
(0ct’2001 -April’2005) \
\ 4 r
Л r
Governance,
Projec t Dutch urban Social security,
development Social protection,
r (October 2004) Sustainable Welfare
preparation project States,
labour market, Education systems in
Network indicators employment and knowledge based
andpr ofiles as welfare states and society,
successor of ENIQ ageing ( 2006 - 2007) Community developm.,
(2006) preparation project Multiculturalism ,
public health (2006 - EU constitution,
2007 ) Economic growth and
environment
(2006 - 2010)
\ f r 1
(a)
Theoretical research
I
First book
(June 1997)
Project theorising social quality — second stage And explorations socio -economic security and social cohesion (1999 -2001)
Second book
(January 2001)
Project theorising social quality — third stage (2002 — 2005)
i
Third book
(December 2005)
1
Project — fourth stage Social philosophical elaboration of social quality (2006)
(e)
Contribution to Public debates
Conference European Parliament on SQ (2000)
start project Voice of Civil Europe in
Netherlands as experiment
public deba Dec ’ 2000 public deba Dec’2001 public deba Dec ’ 2002 Public deba Decc’2003. public deba June’2004
I
Briefing European Commission: its Round Table on Sustainable Development (2003)
European Journal of Social Quality in cooperation Kingston University (1998
2005)
Master Social Quality in cooperation University of Milan
Development Asian Foundation on Social Quality ( a +b + c+ d) in collaboration Chiba University ReCPA
e
e
e
e
e
Appendix 2: Social Quality Index (EU version)
No. Indicator
1 Part of household income spent on health, clothing, food and housing (in lower and median household incomes)
2 How certain biographical events affect the risk of poverty on household level
3 Proportion of total population living in households receiving entitlement transfers (means-tested, cash and in-kind transfers) that allow them to live above EU poverty level
4 Proportion of people who have certainty of keeping their home
5 Proportion of hidden families (i.e. several families within the same household)
6 Number of square metres per household member
7 Proportion of population living in houses with lack of functioning basic amenities (water, sanitation and energy)
8 People affected by criminal offences per 10,000 inhabitants
9 Proportion living in households that are situated in neighbourhoods with aboveaverage pollution rate (water, air and noise)
10 Proportion of people covered by compulsory/voluntary health insurance (including qualitative exploration of what is and what is not covered by insurance system)
11 Number of medical doctors per 10,000 inhabitants
12 Average distance to hospital, measure in minutes, not in metres
13 Average response time of medical ambulance
14 Average number of hours spent on care differentiated by pain and unpaid
15 Length of notice before employer can change terms and conditions of labour relation/contract
16 Length of notice before termination of labour contract
17 Proportion employed workforce with temporary, non-permanent, job contract
18 Proportion of workforce that is illegal
19 Number of employees that reduce work time because of interruption (parental leave, medical assistance of relative, palliative leave) as a proportion of the employees who are entitled to these kinds of work time reductions
20 Number of accidents (fatal/non-fatal) at work per 100,000 employed persons (if possible: per sector)
21 Number of hours a full-time employee typically works a week (actual working week)
22 Proportion of pupils leaving education without finishing compulsory education (early school leavers)
23 Study fees as proportion of national mean net wage
24 Proportion of students who, within a year of leaving school with or without certificate, are able to find employment
25 Extent to which 'most people can be trusted'
26 Trust in: government; elected representatives; political parties; armed forces; legal system; the media; trade unions; police; religious institutions; civil service; economic transactions
27 Number of cases being referred to European Court of Law
28 Importance of: family; friends; leisure; politics; respecting parents; parent's duty to children
29 Volunteering: number of hours per week
30 Blood donation
31 Views on immigration, pluralism and multiculturalism
32 Tolerance of other people's self-identity, beliefs, behaviour and lifestyle preferences
33 Beliefs on causes of poverty: individual or structural
34 Willingness to pay more taxes if you were sure that it would improve the situation of
the poor
35 Intergenerational: willingness to pay 1 per cent more taxes in order to improve the situation of elderly people in your country
36 Willingness to actually do something practical for the people in your community/neibourhood, like: picking up litter, doing some shopping for elderly/disabled/sick people in your neighbourhood, assisting neighbours/community members with filling out (tax/municipal/etc.) forms, cleaning the street/porch/doorway
37 Division of household tasks between men and women: Do you have an understanding with hour husband/spouse about the division of household tasks, raising the children, and gaining household income?
38 Membership (active or inactive) of political, voluntary, charitable organizations or sport clubs
39 Support received from family, neighbours and friends
40 Frequency of contact with friends and colleagues
41 Sense of national pride
42 Identification with national symbols and European symbols
43 Sense of regional/community/local identity
44 Sense of belonging to family and kinship network
45 Proportion of residents with citizenship
46 Proportion having right to vote in local elections and proportion exercising it
47 Proportion with right to a public pension (i.e. a pension organized or regulated by the government)
48 Women's pay as a proportion of men's
49 Proportion with right to free legal advice
50 Proportion experiencing discrimination
51 Proportion of ethnic minority groups elected or appointed to parliament, boards of private companies an foundations
52 Proportion of women elected or appointed to parliament, boards of private companies and foundations
53 Long-term unemployment (12+ months)
54 Involuntary part-time or temporary employment
55 Proportions with entitlement to and using public primary health care
56 Proportion homeless, sleeping rough
57 Average waiting time for social housing
58 School participation rates and higher education participation rates
59 Proportion of people in need receiving care services
60 Average waiting time for care services (including child care)
61 Proportion denied credit differentiated by income groups
62 Access to financial assistance/advice in care of need
63 Proportion of population who have access to public transport system
64 Density of public transport system and road density
65 Number of public sport facilities per 10,000 inhabitants
66 Number of public and private civic and cultural facilities (e.g. cinema, theatre, concerts) per 10,000 inhabitants
67 Proportion in regular contact with neighbours
68 Proportion in regular contact with friends
69 Proportion feeling lonely/isolated
70 Duration of contact with relatives (cohabitating and non-cohabitating)
71 Informal (non-monetary) assistance received by different types of family
72 Extent to which social mobility is knowledge-based (formal qualifications)
73 Percentage of population literate and numerate
74 Availability of free media
75 Access to internet
76 Provision of information in multiple languages on social services
77 Availability of free advocacy, advice and guidance centres
78 Percentage of labour force that is member of a trade union (differentiated to public and private employees)
79 Percentage of labour force covered by a collective agreement (differentiated by public and private employees)
80 Percentage of employed labour force receiving work-based training
81 Percentage of labour force availing of publicly provided training (not only skills based) (Please outline costs of such training if any)
82 Percentage of labour force participating any 'back to work scheme'
83 Percentage of organizations operating work life balance policies
84 Percentage of employed labour force actually making use of work/life balance measures (see indicator above)
85 Existence of processes of consultation and direct democracy (e.g. referenda)
86 Number of instances of public involvement in major economic decision-making (e.g. public hearings about company relocation, inward investment and plant closure)
87 Percentage of organizations/institutions with work councils
88 Percentage of the national and local public budget that is reserved for voluntary, not-for-profit citizenship initiatives
89 Marches and demonstrations banned in the past 12 months as proportion of total marches and demonstrations (held and banned)
90 Proportion of local and national budget allocated to all cultural activities
91 Number of self-organized cultural groups and events
92 Proportion of people experiencing different forms of personal enrichment on a regular basis
93 Percentage of national and local budgets devoted to disabled people (physical and mental)
94 Level of pre ad post-school child care
95 Extent of inclusiveness of housing and environmental design (e.g. places, lighting, layout)
