Objective
“Reducing Inequality in FEALAC Member Countries” aims to strengthen public and private capacities to design and implement policies and initiatives that effectively reduce inequality.
Components
The project will develop the following analytical products:
- An interactive online tool that assesses the trends and drivers of multidimensional inequality in all FEALAC member countries for which data is available by using a classification tree methodology.
- In-depth studies of two national policies in the social sector that have proven to effectively reduce inequality;
- In-depth studies of two private sector initiatives that have proven to effectively reduce inequality;
- A database of good practices, including policies at the national, subnational and local levels as well as private sector initiatives that have reduced multidimensional inequality;
- A network of experts and organizations within FEALAC member countries that work on inequality.
Timeline
The project runs from June 2018 to December 2021.
Public Sector
Tackling high levels of multidimensional inequality requires sufficient public investment in the social sector coupled with labour market policies, strong legislative frameworks as well as an effective tax system to support these investments. Importantly, social policies need to be well designed and implemented.
Research on inequality-reducing social policies
To support peer learning and knowledge exchange among FEALAC member countries on inequality-reducing social policies, the project is conducting in-depth studies of four policies – two in Latin America and the Caribbean and two in Asia and the Pacific – that have effectively reduced inequality.
Through a multi-stage, mixed methods approach, the research study seeks to achieve the following:
- Identify and analyze the success factors and challenges of the selected national policy, both in terms of design and implementation;
- Recommend policy options to further enhance policy effectiveness as well as improved sustainability and scale up (where relevant);
- Showcase the selected policy as a good practice for peer learning, knowledge transfer and south-south cooperation among FEALAC and Asia-Pacific countries.
The social policies will be selected and assessed according to the following criteria:
Policy purpose
Was the policy designed with the purpose of tackling inequality?
Impact
To what extent has there been a measurable impact of inequality reduction among target beneficiaries?
How do the beneficiaries perceive and respond towards the policy?
Sustainability and replicability
Is the initiative financially sustainable?
Is there any opportunity to replicate or scale up the initiative?
Join the FEALAC project!
Has your country implemented a policy that has reduced inequality?
Would your country like to be part of the research study on inequality-reducing policies?
Private Sector
Inequality is a collective challenge! Given the multidimensional nature of inequality and its negative impact on the whole society, private businesses play a key role in promoting equal opportunities for all.
The project is thus collecting information private initiatives that businesses have established to reduce inequality in FEALAC member countries, through:
Initiatives implemented at the workplace, including, among others, scholarships for employees’ children, wage caps for CEOs or senior management, equitable benefit distribution (e.g. bonuses, health insurance or other) and childcare facilities
Initiatives benefitting communities, including, among others, businesses that source materials from local producers, build infrastructure and run programmes to increase community access to education, health and other basic services
Businesses can engage with the project in two ways:
Survey of good practices: companies that have adopted an inequality-reducing initiative are invited to fill in a short online survey describing their initiative, including details on motivation, impact, challenges and sustainability. Selected initiatives will be developed into case briefs published on the project’s online portal.
In-depth case studies: of the good practices collected through the online surveys, four of the most impactful, sustainable and replicable private initiatives - two in Latin America and the Caribbean and two in Asia and the Pacific - will be selected for a closer study, using a multi-stage, mixed-method. These initiatives will be featured in United Nations publications, in accordance with the Guidelines on Cooperation between the United Nations and the Business Sector.
Join the FEALAC project!
Has your company adopted any inequality-reducing initiatives?
Funding and Management
This project is financed by a multi-donor trust fund of the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC), an inter-regional multilateral forum of 36 member countries from East Asia and Latin America.
The project is managed by experts in social development from the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC):
- In Asia and the Pacific, the Sustainable Socioeconomic Transformation Section of ESCAP’s Social Development Division is responsible for project implementation. The section works on the cross-cutting issues of inequality and social protection: its research on inequality has a strong focus on inequality of opportunities in access to basic services, while its products on social protection emphasize the need for a universal approach to social protection and its effectiveness as a policy response to poverty, inequality, other social development challenges and the achievement of all Sustainable Development Goals.
- In Latin America and the Caribbean, ECLAC’s Social Development Division is responsible for project implementation in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Further queries
For more information on the project, please contact: escap-sdd@un.org.