Main Messages:
1. Current crises—COVID-19, climate change, rising levels of conflict, and a global slowdown—are exacerbating deep-rooted inequities, with intense social repercussions ranging from polarization and declining levels of trust to social unrest.
2. Ensuring sustainable development and poverty reduction will require greater attention to social sustainability in addition to economic and environmental sustainability.
3. Social sustainability increases when more people feel part of the development process and believe that they and their descendants will benefit from it.
4. Communities and societies that are more socially sustainable are more willing and able to work together to overcome challenges, deliver public goods, and allocate scarce resources in ways perceived to be legitimate and fair so that all people may thrive over time.
5. Social sustainability has four key components: social cohesion, inclusion, resilience, and process legitimacy—the extent to which a community or society accepts who has authority, what goals they pursue, and how policies and programs get implemented.
6. Key priorities to foster social sustainability include
◾understanding the policy arena by identifying the key stakeholders, their objectives, and prevailing norms and values;
◾fostering space in the policy arena for all to provide input and voice concerns, especially those at risk of exclusion; and
◾engaging for the long haul: change can be slow, but staying engaged, deepening relationships, and building trust typically pays off.
7. How development occurs matters greatly: How governments and development organizations manage social change has important implications for achieving and sustaining poverty reduction and inclusive growth