SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Social Welfare and Development The 5th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Social Welfare and Development (AMMSWD) was held in December 2004, under the theme Enhancing a Community of Caring Societies. The Ministers reviewed the progress made on implementing the ASEAN Work Programme for Social Welfare, Family and Population, and set priorities for future cooperation in several areas, including capacity building in the social sector and strengthening the family. The contribution of volunteers as well as NGOs and community organisations towards ASEANs goals on social welfare and development role was recognised. The ASEAN Ministers also held their first meeting with counterparts from China, Japan and the ROK in December 2004 and agreed that ASEAN Plus Three cooperation in social welfare and development would focus on promoting a community of caring societies in East Asia, the care of the elderly and the disabled, and human resource development in the social sector. In line with the importance ASEAN places on strong families, ASEAN issued a statement welcoming the Tenth Anniversary of the International Year of the Family. A Regional Family Forum was held on a cost-sharing basis in November 2004 in Singapore. Health Emerging and resurging infectious diseases such as dengue, cholera, tuberculosis and typhoid fever continued to be priority concerns for ASEAN health ministries, alongside the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS. In the past twelve months, ASEAN has taken steps to strengthen cooperation on health issues, both within ASEAN and between ASEAN and Dialogue Partners. Prevention and control of communicable diseases The outbreak of avian influenza in 2004 reiterated the importance of concerted regional action to prevent and control communicable diseases. Health officials in ASEAN drew on the experience of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak of 2003 and the networks that had been established to confront this health threat. With support from the ASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Programme (ADDCP) and close cooperation from the World Health Organisation (WHO), ASEAN implemented the ASEAN Plus Three Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) Programme. The programmes Phase I Work Plan commenced in August 2004 and will conclude in mid-2005. Long-term measures to prevent similar outbreaks escalating into pandemic proportions are being discussed, including the means to facilitate the deployment of multinational ASEAN outbreak response teams. ASEAN bodies dealing with health and agriculture have been working together to address the various aspects of avian influenza affecting ASEAN Member Countries. Several ASEAN forums had been convened to devise cooperative measures for dealing with avian .u under the EID programme and with concerned international organisations. An ASEAN task force on highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was set up by the ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry in October 2004 and met for the first time in December 2004. ASEAN and China are finalising the rules of procedure for an ASEAN-China Fund for Public Health to strengthen cooperation in the area of public health, in particular, on epidemics such as SARS and avian influenza. HIV/AIDS

ASEAN and UN Joint Programme for HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) signed a Letter of Agreement in June 2004 to jointly undertake activities that address the priorities of the ASEAN Work Programme on HIV/ AIDS II (AWPII). These include activities that would mitigate the socio-economic impact of HIV/AIDS, strengthen inter-country activities on the mobile population, and strengthen the network of sharing information and research studies among ASEAN Member Countries, among others. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has prepared a package of proposals addressing AWPII priorities, to be jointly implemented with ASEAN Member Countries, complementing the ASEANUNAIDS cooperative activities. Implementation of AWPII was reviewed by ASEAN during the 12th Meeting of the ASEAN Task Force on AIDS (ATFOA) held in November 2004. UNAIDS is also providing technical assistance to ATFOA to conduct a review of the AWPII that would also include inputs from stakeholder groups (e.g., civil society, national and international NGOs, business sector, and people living with HIV/AIDS) to ensure a bottom-up multi-sectoral process. UNAIDS will also assist ATFOA on preparing a framework for a third ASEAN Work Programme on HIV/AIDS (AWPIII). The ASEAN-Rockefeller Foundation Project on Intellectual Property Laws Review and Capacity Building on IPRs Related to Public Health in the ASEAN Region convened its .nal regional workshop in December 2004. Coordinated by ATFOA and the ASEAN Working Group on Technical Cooperation in Pharmaceuticals (AWGTCP), with technical support from WHO, this project has supported capacity building through a series of in-country workshops held from May to August 2004. The project helped Member Countries thoroughly assess national intellectual property laws, identify available legal options for increasing access to affordable medicines and enhance local legal capacity with regard to intellectual property rights and public health. A regional report on the outcomes of the study was published and disseminated to relevant stakeholders in the region. Rural Development and Poverty Eradication ASEAN Ministers on Rural Development and Poverty Eradication (AMRDPE) adopted a new Framework Action Plan in October 2004 at the 4th Meeting of the AMRDPE. The plan which spans 2004-2010 will address priorities such as globalisation; narrowing the digital divide; social protection; employment and income generation; partnerships, decentralisation, local participation; narrowing the development gap; the exchange of young professionals and volunteers; and information-sharing/exchange. Knowledge-sharing on viable strategies to ensure community participation in rural development and poverty reduction continued under the ASEANWorld Bank Programme on Local Participation and Rural Poverty Reduction. Participating ASEAN country teams prepared country action proposals which focused on initiatives to address the economic viability of rural communities, capacity building to facilitate community participation in rural poverty reduction and strengthening central and local government communication. Progress of each country teams effort was shared throughout several World Bank -facilitated video-conferences (VCs) in 2004. The programme concluded with a .nal regional workshop in October 2004 which involved agencies such as the ADB, FAO, UNDP, ESCAP, JICA, USAID, AusAID and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Participants drew up a list of follow-up learning needs and the Tokyo Development Learning Centre has agreed to work with ASEAN to provide a series of focused VCs to address some of the identified learning needs. Children ASEAN and UNICEF continued their work planning process highlighting child protection and early childcare and development, among other priorities. The two-phase ASEAN-UNICEF joint activity in addressing aspects of early childcare and development practices in the region has been progressing and will conclude in 2005. ASEAN Ministers responsible for social welfare and development also participated at the 7th East Asia and Pacific Ministerial Consultation on Children, organised by the UNICEF and hosted by Cambodia in March 2005 in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Older Persons ASEAN Senior Of.cials on Health Development and the ASEAN Senior Of.cials on Social Welfare and

Development continued to coordinate their efforts in addressing priorities for the elderly. These priorities are set out in the ASEAN Work Programme on Community-Based Care for the Elderly and the Framework ASEAN Work Programme on Social Welfare, Family and Population. ASEAN also worked closely with Dialogue Partners in this area. ASEAN and Japan discussed the development of human resources and the implications of aging societies at the 2nd High-Level Of.cials Meeting on Caring Societies from 29 August to 2 September 2004 in Japan, organised by Japans Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. The focus was on possible collaboration in areas such as professional support in the health and welfare sectors in addressing the needs of the elderly and disabled, as well as skills development and training for the elderly and disabled. The joint ASEAN-ROK project, Home Care for the Older People in ASEAN Member Countries, continued its second year of implementation (having started in October 2003). Both government and NGOs are involved in the project. A partner NGO in each Member Country coordinates the work of project teams which implement homecare pilot projects at the national level. In April 2005, a regional-level training workshop was conducted in Seoul. Youth ASEANs priorities on youth continued to be guided by the Manila Declaration on Strengthening Participation in Sustainable Youth Employment and the ASEAN Work Programme on Preparing ASEAN Youth for Sustainable Employment and Other Challenges of Globalisation. Two projects under the Work Programme were implemented in 2004,namely, the ASEAN Youth Leadership Development Programmes activity on Training of Trainers and the 11th ASEAN Youth Day Meeting held in August 2004 in Brunei Darussalam. In addition, the Youth@ASEAN regional website (www.aseanyouth. org), set up under the work programme, continued to provide information on national and regional activities on youth development. Officials responsible for youth affairs from ASEAN, China, Japan and the ROK convened their first ASEAN Plus Three Senior Of.cials Meeting on Youth (SOMY) meeting in November 2004, following the 2nd SOMY. They agreed on the three areas to guide cooperation on youth development: (i) regional awareness and understanding; (ii) promoting youth employability and entrepreneurship; and (iii) youth leadership development. Specific ASEAN-China cooperation in the area of youth was also strengthened with the signing of the Beijing Declaration on ASEAN-China Cooperation on Youth and the adoption of a joint action plan at the 1st ASEANChina Ministerial Meeting on Youth held in September 2004 in Beijing. Youth exchanges facilitated through the Ship for South East Asia Youth Exchange Programme (Japan) and the ASEAN-ROK Youth Exchange Programme (ROK) continued to be important activities for youth development and networking. Women The Declaration on Elimination of Violence Against Women in the ASEAN Region, initiated by the ASEAN Committee on Women (ACW), was adopted by the ASEAN Foreign Ministers at the 37th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in June 2004. The ACW will now work with UNAIDS to implement relevant priorities of the Declaration. The ACW has prepared a work plan on womens advancement and gender equality, undertaking to address priorities such as gender integration, protecting vulnerable women, promoting employability of women, and preparing women for globalisation over the next five years (from 2005 to 2010). The on-going project on Livelihood Management Training Programmes for ASEAN Women will implement its final two activities in 2005, namely, on ICT Employment Opportunities and Skills Development for Women and Training in Curriculum Development and Teaching and Learning Aid Preparation. Education The activities of the ASEAN Committee on Education (ASCOE) and the ASEAN University Network (AUN) complement ongoing regional initiatives to promote ASEAN awareness, solidarity and identity in education institutions.

ASCOE remained focussed on its mission to promote ASEAN awareness in schools through several recurring projects, for instance, the 5th ASEAN Students Exchange Programme at the Secondary School Level in December 2004 and the ASEAN Mathematics and Science Olympiad in December 2004. Working with ASCOE, the secretariats of ASEAN and the Southeast Asia Ministers of Education Organisation (SEAMEO) have been engaged in close consultations on SEAMEO-ASEAN collaboration, in the context of pursuing the goals in line with the ASCC Plan of Action University Networking The AUN Programme effects networking among its seventeen member universities as well with partner institutions in China, the EU, India, and the ROK. Student and faculty exchanges were carried out through the AUN Educational Forum and the AUN Distinguished Scholars Programme, on a cost-sharing basis among the participating AUN members. To date, seven AUN Educational Forums and three AUN Distinguished Scholars Programmes have been conducted. AUN participating universities also continued to offer scholarships to undergraduate students of AUN/ASEAN universities. In addition, the AUN also organised activities such as the ASEAN Youth Cultural Forum and the ASEAN Young Speakers Contest, which now features as a key activity of AUN Educational Forums. The AUN continues to address quality assurance (QA) in higher education through its AUNQA Network which recently produced a set of guidelines for on AUN-QA practices for reference by the AUN universities. The guidelines include common policies and criteria for quality assurance in universities, benchmarking procedures, and QA assessment tools. Two AUN-facilitated pilot research projects, with financial support from the ASEAN Foundation, were completed in 2004 and two more projects are under preparation. Human Resource Development The ASEAN S&T Ministers signed the Declaration on the Establishment of the ASEAN Virtual Institute of Science and Technology (AVIST) in November 2004. Since the launch of a pilot project of the AVIST in May 2004, three training programmes covering the topics of bioinformatics, ecotourism, and technology and innovation management were developed and successfully tested. These three courses will be offered to public as of October 2005. In the past year, COST and its sub-committees implemented ten training activities, including two activities covering HACCP and Biotechnology HRD that were speci.cally designed for the CLMV.