The World Bank in Thailand 44442 Development in Partnership the Wor ld Bank 's ac tivities in Thailand and other news related to development March 2008 WELL COORDINATED YOUTH POLICY COULD HELP THAI YOUTH COPE WITH SOCIAL, ECONOMIC CHALLENGES BANGKOK­Tomeetemergingsocialandeconomicchallenges,Thailandneeds to establish a clear and coherent youth development strategy, as well as encourage young people to contribute to youth policies, a new World Bank report recommended. With young people now forming a smaller portion of the population than in the past, this issue deserves immediate attention, according to Thailand Social Monitor on Youth: Development and the Next Generation, the new World Bank reportonthecountry'syouthaffairsandchallenges.Overthelastdecade,delayed THAILAND SOCIAL MONITOR ON YOUTH: D E V E L O P M E N T A N D T H EN E X TG E N E R A T I O N marriages and lower birth rates have led to a steady decline in growth of the youthpopulationinThailand.Asaresult,thecountry'syoungerlaborforcetoday is smaller than during the three decades of rapid growth up to the late 1990s. The World Bank January 2008 "Thailand is going to face a shortage of youth labor force in Furthermore, young people are starting to have sex at an the next 10 years, while competition in labor-intensive earlier age while only a small percentage of them report industriesfromneighboringcountriesisexpectedtobecome usingcondomsorfemalecontraceptives.Asaresult,early even more intense," said Ian Porter, the World Bank pregnanciesarebecomingmoreprevalent,andHIV/AIDS Country Director for Thailand. infection rates among Thai youth are relatively high. "Tostaycompetitive,theThaiGovernmentwillhavetofocus Recent estimates suggested that people of ages 15-24 moreonenhancingthequality,theknowledge,andtheskills account for half of new HIV cases in Thailand each year, of its young labor force. This requires a well coordinated the Social Monitor reported. youthdevelopmentpolicyandalotofthinkingfromayouth And, while more and more youths enroll in universities perspective." today, a large percentage of them may still face Despite a few brief interruptions, Thailand's social and unemploymentaftergraduating.Thisisbecausetheskills economic development over the past three decades demanded by current industries do not match what they would be envied by many poor countries. Its rapid are learning in school. economicgrowthhasbeenaccompaniedbytremendous improvements in important social indicators, including life expectancy, mother as well as child mortality rates, literacy, and school enrollment. With rapid social and economic change, come new challenges. According to the Social Monitor,Thai youths arefacingdifferenthealthrisksnowthaninpastdecades, thanks to changing lifestyles and habits. Many studies showed that drinking, smoking, and drug abuse have been rising among people of ages 15-24. In addition, the number of overweight children and young people in Thailand is on the rise due to lack of exercise and Concerted strategy for youth development is key to the country's economic unhealthy dietary habits. and social development, said the Thailand Social Monitor 2008 Continue on page 2 Page Continued from page Despite notable success in providing education to the TheThai youth of today will provide the next generation wider population, Thailand is still facing challenges of workers, parents and citizens. Thus, a concerted stemming from poor quality of education, high dropout strategy for youth development is key to the long term rates, and low student achievement levels. RecentWorld economic and social development of the nation. It is also Bank surveys also show that shortages of skilled workers, critical to involve youth in the design of policy to make especially those with language and technology skills, are the programs effective, the Social Monitor a common complaint among Thai industries. As a result, recommended. filling a vacancy for a skilled production worker or a professional in Thailand can take up to six weeks, the "We do have a national youth development agenda, but Social Monitor found. having the agenda does not guarantee that the problems will be solved," said Kanda Vajrabhaya, the Deputy Permanent-SecretaryoftheMinistryofSocialDevelopment andHumanSecurity,oneofthefourministriesresponsible for youth development. "I really think that strengthening coordination between different government agencies can help us achieve better resultsthanwedidinthepast. Wehavetostartrecognizing that youth issues are so complex and involve so many stakeholders. It is a mistake to think that one single agency can address them all." For more information, contact Achariya Kohtbantau, building up technology skills Human Development Program Specialist, tel. (66-2) 686-8347, email: akohtbantau@worldbank.org, Pichaya Fitts, "This issue has become a real constraint to Thailand's Senior Communications Officer, tel. (66-8) 4752-1783, competitiveness," said Luis Benveniste, the coordinator email: pfitts@worldbank.org oftheWorldBank'shumandevelopmentworkinThailand, To download the full report, the executive summary, who led the team that prepared the Social Monitor. and related documents, go to www.worldbank.or.th "Duringourstudy,wealsofoundthatyouthunemployment is a major concern here. This implies that the Government hastolookmorecloselyatitsyouthemploymentpolicyand perhaps place more emphasis on education for employment." FIRST REGIONAL CONFERENCE ON ASSET RECOVERY ORGANIZED BY THAILAND, WORLD BANK, UNODC BANGKOK ­Thailand played host last month to the first regional conference on asset recovery and reaffirmed its commitment to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), as well as to the Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) initiative, launched in 2007 by theWorld Bank and the UN office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC). In his opening remarks, Thai Justice Minister, Sompong Amornvivat,saidtheratificationprocessiswellunderway. The National Legislative Assembly has approved the UNCAC in principle. Many other significant steps have been taken, including a comprehensive assessment of where Thai laws stand vis-ā-vis the Convention. At the moment, the Government is reviewing three pieces of legislation to bring them into compliance with the UNCAC, Mr. Sompong said. DistinguishedguestsattheStARconferenceinBangkok,including(fromleft) "Thailand will be able to ratify the UNCAC once these three Mr. Stuart Gilman, Acting Deputy Director, StAR, Mr. Ian Porter, Mr. Charun proposed draft laws are approved and come into effect,"he Phakdeethanakul,PermanentSecreatary,MinistryofJustice,Mr.AkiraFujino, UNODC Thailand Representative, and Assoc. Prof. Tongthong Chandragsu, confirmed. Deputy Permanent -Secretary, Ministry of Justice Page 2 Launched in 2003, the UNCAC is an international agreement aimed at fighting corruption, the misuse of public resources for personal gain. It provides for the recovery of stolen assets or property and the return of such assets to the rightful owners. More than 100 countries have signed on to this Convention. InSeptemberlastyear,theWorldBankjoinedtheUNODC to launch a joint initiative, the StAR, to help countries acceleratetherecoveryoftheirstolenassets.Inthewords of World Bank President Robert Zoellick, the StAR aims to ensure that "there is no safe haven for those who steal from the poor." Every $100 million of recovered stolen assets could fund full immunizations A background report compiled by the Bank and UNODC for 4 million children shows just how serious the stolen asset problem is. It The StAR Initiative begins from the premise that both reports that cross-border flows of the global proceeds developed and developing countries must work in fromcriminalactivities,corruption,andtaxevasionrange partnership, said Ian Porter, the World Bank Country anywhere from $1 trillion to $1.6 trillion per year. Every Director,Thailand.Developingcountriesneedtoimprove $100 million recovered could fund full immunizations for governance to stop the flow of money out. More of 4millionchildrenandprovidewaterconnectionsforsome developed nations must stop the inflow illegal money by 250,000 households. crackingdownonmoneylaunderingandrelatedfinancial Specifically, the StAR initiative will: crimes. ˇ Build institutional capacity in developing The first step, said Mr. Porter, is for all nations to ratify the countries UN Convention against Corruption, which provides the frameworkforcontrollingillicitflows. OnlyhalftheOECD ˇ Strengthen the integrity of financial markets nations and four of the G-8 countries are parties. ˇ Assist the asset recovery process "AweekagoFridayatameetingoftheStARAdvisoryGroup, ˇ Monitor the use of recovered assets President Zoellick promised to redouble the Bank's efforts to encourage other countries to ratify the Convention," he HavingbecomepartytotheUNCAC,theThaiGovernment told the conference. readily joined the StAR initiative. The Ministry of Justice offered to host the regional conference on "The New "EastAsiannationsmustalsodobetter,"Mr. Porter urged. " Strategic Directions for Controlling Corruption: The WhilepleasedthatthePeople'sRepublicofChina,Cambodia, RecoveryofStolenAssets,"inpartnershipwiththeWorld Indonesia, and the Philippines have all ratified the BankandtheUNODC.Thisknowledge-sharingconference convention, and Thailand is close to doing so, this is not broughttogethermorethan40lawenforcementofficials enough, we also want to encourage the governments of from across the region, as well as legal experts from the theLaoPeople'sRepublic,Malaysia,Singapore,andVietnam UNODC and the World Bank. to join their neighbors in ratifying the convention." The World Bank Development Marketplace Comic Book on Coastal Erosion The World Bank, in partnership with the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR), invite young comic book writers to participate in the Development Marketplace competition for a comic book on coastal erosion.The winning comic books will be used in outreach program over the next three years to encourage young people in the areas affected by coastal erosion to contribute to the solutions. For more information, please visit www.worldbank.or.th. Continue on page 4 Page Continued from page What Went On At the World Bank... The Vice President of the World Bank's Human Development Network, Joy Phumaphi, was inThailand in January to attend the Prince Mahidol Award Conference in Bangkok. The conference was co-organized by the Prince Mahidol AwardFoundation,theMinistryofPublicHealth,Mahidol development experience to other countries in Asia, as University,theWorldHealthOrganization(WHO),andthe well as other regions. Notable successful examples World Bank. include Thailand, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and During her speech on 30 years of primary healthcare, Vietnam . Ms.Phumpahihighlightedtheneedforcountriestolearn "This experience should not stay confined to national from one another in order to find solutions to ongoing borders. Show others what you have done, and the world as well as emerging health issues. Most of the world's will learn from you,"she said. development thinking cascades from wealthy OECD She also visited a hospital in Ayutthaya province, which countries in the North, to countries in the South. So, it is hasbeensuccessfulatintegratingcommunityparticipation especially important that countries which have achieved with a modern health promotion program. breakthroughsinprimaryhealthcareexporttheirpractical basic education, as well as the overall efficiency and flexibility of education systems and institutions. "This is a rare chance for us to share post-basic education experiencesandexchangeideasonhowtoreformourpost- basic education systems," said Dr.Sumate Yamnoon (in photo, second left), the Secretary-General of the Thai Commission on Higher Education. "It also gives us an opportunity to form a regional network of education authoritiesandprofessionals,whowillsupportoneanother as we all carry out these important and difficult reform TheThaiCommissiononHigherEducation,inpartnership initiatives." with the World Bank, hosted a regional conference in Such improvements are aimed at stimulating a country's February on post-basic education systems. Titled engagement with the global knowledge economy "Education for Development and Competitiveness: through improving individual skills and thus boosting Challenges and Opportunities for Post-Basic economiccompetitiveness.Whiletheseminaremphasized Education,"the seminar brought together more than 90 linkages between post-basic education and the labor high-level education officials and administrators from 10 market, and thus economic development, participants Asian countries. The seminar focused on the need for alsodiscussedequityandsocialdevelopmentissues. The improvements in the quality and the relevance of post- six-day seminar ended on March 1. WorldBankCountryDirectorforThailand,IanPorter(left), shook hands with Dr. Ampon Kittiampon, Secretary- General, National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), after signing the Memorandum of Understanding for continuing the knowledge-sharing partnershipbetweentheWorldBankandtheNESDBinto the future. The MOU signing ceremony took place at the NESDB on March 3, 2008 and was presided over by Dr. Panas Simasathien (center), the Chairman of the NESDB Board. Page 4