10 YEARS AFTER THE COPENHAGEN SOCIAL SUMMIT: TIME TO BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN WORDS AND DEEDS

Economic growth is essential for the world to meet the social agenda spelled out 10 years ago in Copenhagen and the objective of reducing global poverty by 50 percent by 2015, writes Steen Jorgensen, Director of Social Development at the World Bank. In this article, Jorgensen writes that growth needs to be socially balanced and therefore development efforts must generate institutions that promote an inclusive approach to economic development, sound governance structures by which authorities are accountable to regular citizens, and a decision-making process that favours consensus-building instead of division and exclusion, which lead to conflict and marginalisation. There is now empirical evidence that social progress is, in many cases, not only a key factor but even a precondition to sustained economic growth. Social investments during good times paid off during crisis and enabled communities to bounce back faster. Decades of development experience have shown that when societies are guided by the key principles of inclusion, cohesion, and accountability, development efforts are more successful and lasting.