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This chapter contains sections titled: The Vance Conception of Economic and Social Rights Justifying Economic and Social Rights Implementing Economic and Social Rights The Widespread Acceptance of Economic and Social Rights Note References

There is growing concern surrounding the retraction of disability social provisioning measures across the western world, with state fiscal policy trends foregrounding austerity as a central principle of welfare provisioning. This is occurring within many of the nation-states that have ratified and legislated rights enshrined by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). This article undertakes a critical analysis of disability income retraction in Australia since the early 2000s and examines these changes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians living with disability by focusing on Article 20 of the CRPD, the right to personal mobility, a core right for people with disabilities and Indigenous peoples. Beyond economic inequality, the article illustrates that the various administrative processes attached to welfare retraction have implications for the realisation of mobility practices that are critical for individual cultural identity and wellbeing. Disability austerity has resulted in a new form of Indigenous containment, fixing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disabilities in a cyclical motion of poverty management.

Applying a political economy lens, this article examines the impact of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), within a political context marked by crisis and austerity. Taking the case of Portugal, a country that faced a financial crisis and underwent an austerity plan, the article seeks to understand the impact of the CRPD at domestic level. What has changed, what has remained the same and what has deteriorated? And how has the disability movement responded and resisted to the crisis? This article addresses these questions and discusses the challenges of implementing disability rights in times of ‘enduring’ austerity.

In economic growth the largest differences between developed and developing economies are in innovation performances. Innovation is critical for growth, but it is increasingly important for addressing major development changes, such as those related to inclusion and sustainability. Recognizing this pattern, many countries are promoting innovation and entrepreneurship. Market and government failures and other bottlenecks impede innovation and entrepreneurship, particularly in developing countries. These countries need to build the capacity to find, absorb, and use new technologies and processes as well as foster entrepreneurs who can take risks, look for finance, and bring new products and processes to market. The Independent Evaluation Group reviewed the investment portfolio in innovation and entrepreneurship interventions over the past decade across the World Bank Group. IEG found that this investment is substantial, but its effectiveness can be enhanced through broad, systemic efforts. Urgent action is required to enhance coordination, consultation, and linkages on innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives across networks, sectors, and regions. Another challenge is to develop practical solutions for people who earn less than

Climate change is arguably the most profound challenge facing the international community in the 21st century. It is as much a challenge for poverty reduction, growth and development as it is a global environmental issue. It could undermine or reverse progress in reducing poverty and attaining the Millenium Development Goals, thereby unraveling many of the development gains of recent decades. It already threatens the livelihoods, health and well-being of millions of people worldwide, and of the poorest and most vulnerable groups in particular. And it has potentially far-reaching implications for international relations and for personal, national and regional security. While significant uncertainties still remain, tremendous strides have been made over recent years in improving scientific understanding of the human processes driving global climate change and the likely impacts on world ecosystems. What is much less well understood is how these dynamics in the physical environment will interact with those of socio-economic systems, what the consequences will be for society, and how best to address them. In order to focus attention on these previously neglected and poorly understood social dimensions of climate change, the World Bank convened an international workshop in March, 2008, with the participation of community activists, former heads of state, leaders of Indigenous Peoples, representatives of non-governmental organizations, international researchers, and staff of the World Bank and other international development agencies. This edited volume brings together revised versions of many of the papers presented during that workshop, as an initial step in taking stock of existing knowledge on the social dimensions of climate change. Several new papers were also commissioned for this volume.

All development is ultimately about change, and this requires communication interventions. Communication must be framed in an integral 'two-way' process that involves stakeholders, accounts for their perspectives, and understands their socio-political context. This two-way process constitutes a new communication approach, providing a better understanding of the development context, tailoring development initiatives during design and implementation, and contributing to more sustainable results. This paper presents the methodology used by the Development Communication Division (DevComm) fo the World Bank's External Affairs Vice-Presidency and its clients to improve development outcomes based on a Communication-based Assessment (CBA) approach.

What do we mean when we say participatory communication? What are the practical implications of working with participatory communication strategies in development and social change processes? What experiences exists in practice that documents that participatory communication adds value to a development project or programme? The aim of this user guide on participatory communication is to provide answers to some of these questions. Many communication practitioners and development workers face obstacles and challenges in their practical work. A participatory communication strategy offers a very specific perspective on how to articulate social processes, decision-making processes and any change process for that matter. Participatory approaches are nothing new. However, what is new is the proliferation of institutions, especially governmental but also non-governmental, that seek participatory approaches in their development initiative. This guide seeks to provide perspectives, tools and experiences regarding how to go about it with participatory communication strategies. It is conceived as a guide that hopefully can be of relevance and utility for development workers in the field. It is targeted at both at government and their officials, World Bank staff and at civil society.

The International Comparison Program (ICP) is a large and highly complex worldwide statistical program conducted under the charter of the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC). The ICP is designed to provide globally comparable economic aggregates in national accounts that can be used by individual researchers, analysts, and policy makers at the national and international levels and by international organizations such as the European Union, International Monetary Fund, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations, and World Bank. Over its lifetime, the ICP has become the principal source of data on the purchasing power parities (PPPs) of currencies, measures of real per capita income, and measures of real gross domestic product (GDP) and its main components from the expenditure side, including private consumption, government expenditures, and gross fixed capital formation. Indeed, since its inception in 1970, successive rounds of the ICP have produced valuable data for international economic analyses of economic growth and the catch-up and convergence of incomes among nations; productivity levels and trends; analyses of systematic patterns in national price levels and trends; construction of the Human Development Index by the United Nations; measures of regional and global inequality in incomes and consumption; and estimates of the incidence of absolute poverty using World Bank developed yardsticks such as the US$1 a day and $2 a day poverty lines.

The report outlines the work of the World Bank in addressing client countries with environmental challenges, and, aims to ensure the lending program integrates principles of environmental sustainability. It highlights that the challenge of development assistance lies in working with clients to implement policies, programs, and investments that distribute the gains of development in an equitable manner, by reducing poverty, and avoiding sacrificing the interests of future generations, to meet the needs of the current one, and in addition, it builds on the consensus that natural resources, and environmental assets must be managed sustainably. This environment strategy links environment and development with the qualities of life, growth, and regional and global commons, by enhancing the livelihoods of poor people who are heavily dependent on the productivity of ecosystems, and natural resources; by preventing, and reducing environmental health risks; by supporting policy, regulatory, and institutional frameworks for sustainable environmental management, and, by supporting private sector development, to help improve, and protect the regional, and global environment, i.e., climate change, land degradation, forests, water resources, and biodiversity. The strategy stresses on strengthening analytical, and advisory activities, on country-level environmental analysis, and on strategic sectoral, regional, and policy-focused environmental assessments, through improved project design, performance criteria, and capacity development, while emphasizing on the commitment of countries towards sustainable development.