This report contains the second generation of National Action Plans against poverty and social exclusion which have been prepared by the Member States and constitute a strong political acknowledgement, three years after the Lisbon Summit, of the continuing challenge to ensure social inclusion across the European Union.

Major trends and challenges

Lead firms, development organisations, donors and governments view value chains and voluntary standards as vital instruments for achieving millennium development goals through trade and market-related interventions. The precise foundations for these development strategies, which suggest positive development outcomes from integration of poor actors into value chains, are as yet underdeveloped. The interdisciplinary work in this volume shows how trade is managed and asks theory-driven questions about how value chains relate to locally-rooted development processes. Policy makers and development practitioners are increasingly using value chain analysis to frame pro-poor development interventions. This book offers multiple conceptualizations of development outcomes of inclusion of small producers, firms and workers in value chains. Processes of inclusion at different scales are unpacked in order to identify the terms of participation of small producers, firms and workers. As value chains are embedded, the book further argues that inclusion can be conceptualized as the degree of alignment between value chain logics and the institutions and capacities in the local business system. The combination of inclusive governance and endogenous development informs a grounded debate on roles of development-oriented partnerships. Chapters in this volume draw on multiple strands of economics, sociology, political science, geography and management studies; and for empirical grounding engage in comparative analysis of cases from Latin America, SubSaharan Africa and East and South East Asia. These are combined with processes taking place at a global level, such as the proliferation of standards and the growth of roundtables and multi-stakeholder partnerships. The contributions explore contrasts – between contexts, between industries or commodities/products, and between conceptual frameworks; and the context dependency of development impact necessitates cross-case investigations. This collection will be of interest to scholars in development studies, economics, business studies, as well as to development policy makers.

Recoge: 1. Social inclusion - 2. Key trends and priorities - 3. Strategic approaches adopted in the naps - 4. Promoting employment - 5. Social protection systems - 6. Access to housing and basic services - 7. Access to health care - 8. Access to education - 9. Access to other services - 10. Preventing the risks of exclusion - 11. Helping the most vulnerable - 12. Mobilising all relevant bodies - 13. Gender mainstreaming - 14. Role of structural funds - 15. Identification of examples of good practice.

This study demonstrates the analytical and operational relevance of "measuring social inclusion" as a practical tool with which to assess the impact and monitor the progress of interventions at the local, regional, national and global levels. While thestudy offers examples drawn from around the world, it focuses particularly on the experience of the European Union.--Preface.