How can DFID improve its strategy to address social exclusion in its planning, partnerships and programmes? This DFID working paper is part of the preparation for the evaluation of progress that will take place in 2007-2008. It develops a framework for assessing progress on social exclusion against the commitments in the implementation plan, and lays the ground for a fuller evaluation of the results of DFID’s work in the future.
Social exclusion is a process by which certain groups are systematically disadvantaged because they are discriminated against on the basis of factors such as ethnicity, race and religion. It is often a cause of poverty, conflict and insecurity, and makes poverty reduction more difficult. In September 2005, DFID published Reducing poverty by tackling social exclusion, which set out its social exclusion strategy and an implementation plan. DFID needs to take action to ensure that there is adequate data for the 2007-08 review. Furthermore, social exclusion policy must be incorporated into DFID plans and accountability frameworks.
There are a number of technical and institutional challenges to embedding and tracking the social exclusion policy by 2007-08:
- Within DFID: The implementation plan is ambitious and the commitments are not yet fully disseminated and understood. Work on social exclusion spending and programming is not systematically tracked. Data availability is a problem, though monitoring and performance management systems are being improved.
- At country level: There is considerable variation in available information and important contextual differences in terms of the nature of exclusion and if/how the concept is understood. National level census and survey data and poverty monitoring do not offer much information on excluded groups. For small excluded groups, local level information will be needed.
- Institutional challenges: It will take time and effort to embed a social exclusion approach across DFID, a large and decentralised organisation. There is a need for clarity on who has the mandate to enforce policy implementation in the context of country-led approaches. There is a risk to DFID’s reputation if it does not fully support social exclusion commitments.
The focus of recommendations is on ensuring that there is adequate data for the 2007-08 review. Social exclusion must also be incorporated into DFID plans and accountability frameworks. More needs to be done to:
- Disseminate and embed social exclusion policy within DFID. Regional Directors, for example, should determine regional priorities for social exclusion work in the Director’s Delivery Plans.
- Improve understanding of social exclusion. Guidance on defining, monitoring and tracking social exclusion policy should be included in guidance notes produced by DFID and support given to country offices.
- Strengthen the links between the social exclusion evaluation framework and related work on indicators For the social exclusion evaluation, a short summary could be written outlining how new work on indicator development within DFID relates to social exclusion.
- Revisit current corporate tracking systems to consider how to track programming on social exclusion for monitoring and evaluating policy implementation plans.
