ESCAP turns 50: working at the grass roots.

The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) celebrates its fiftieth anniversary in 1997. Amid regional challenges and the current financial crisis of the United Nations, two countries asked this year to become new members: Palau, with a population of 17,000, and Turkey, with 63 million people.

The largest of the five United Nations Regional Commissions, ESCAP has undergone many changes since its establishment in 1947. Today, the accent is on action, often at the grass-roots level, with more direct support for cooperation among Governments and a fresh focus on fighting poverty. ESCAP is a unique forum in the huge Asia-Pacific region, bounded by Azerbaijan to the west, Mongolia to the north, Japan and many Pacific island countries to the east, and Australia and New Zealand to the south. ESCAP pursues action-oriented activities to help smooth out the bumps on the often rocky road to development, bridge knowledge gaps, and remove technical obstacles to advancement.

Environmentally sustainable economic growth with social equity poses an enormous challenge in a region burdened with 80 per cent of the world's poor. Urban-biased development efforts in many countries have often led to a rural exodus, growing city slums and other urban problems. In practical terms, ESCAP provides a forum for valuable region-wide consultation on many topics pinpointing potential areas for mutually beneficial cooperation.

The Commission counts 51 members and 9 associate members, representing some 60 per cent of the world's population, or 3.5 billion people. Member countries include highly industrialized nations such as Japan and Australia; dynamic, newly industrialized countries such as the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong, and seven new Republics of Central Asia, which are undergoing rapid economic transition. Thirteen of the world's least developed countries make up one quarter of ESCAP's full members. And 19 small Pacific island developing countries account for over one third of ESCAP's total membership. The smallest member country is Niue, with a population of 2,000, and the largest is China, with over 1.2 billion people.

The winds of change have been blowing through the 15-storey ESCAP headquarters in Bangkok for a couple of years. The Commission has set April 1997 - its anniversary year - as the target date for completion of the strategy for overall reform. In April, ESCAP Executive Secretary Adrianus Mooy said that "our goal is to render ESCAP a cost-effective focussed organization that addresses high priority issues while eliminating outdated programmes and reinvesting in new relevant activities".

The United States told ESCAP "to speed up reform, do more and talk less". Mr. Mooy pointed out that "reform needs money. The statement assumes that there is zero cost to doing everything." In general, ESCAP promised to address the points made by the United States, by moving for fewer meetings and improving the quality of publications. However, information is an essential part of ESCAP's mandate, and meetings and publications are important ways of disseminating information, he underlined.

Eighteen projects have been initiated, including better planning and shortening of Commission meetings, a readership survey of which ESCAP publications are most in demand, and the use of electronic communication to ESCAP members.

Member countries were invited earlier this year to respond to a questionnaire prepared by the ESCAP secretariat on how they view the efficiency of the Commission. It appears that most Asia-Pacific countries want "a stronger focus on regional cooperation in the field of environment and sustainable development", especially with regard to transfer of technologies, and more emphasis on the role of ESCAP as the coordinator of efforts to solve regional environmental problems.

In July 1996, Mr. Mooy invited all staff to attend a seminar to debate inhouse priority-setting for ESCAP's development work. The basis for discussion was the progress report prepared by the Working Group on ESCAP Reform. The process of renewal and reform of ESCAP began in 1992. Under resolution 48/2 - "Restructuring the conference structure of the Commission" - a thematic approach to the deliberations of the Commission on development issues was adopted. Previously, ESCAP relied on six broad development sectors.

The working group's review confirms that the thematic, inter-disciplinary approach is the best in coping with new development challenges. ESCAP is uniquely positioned to help its member States tackle their multi-dimensional and inter-linked economic and social issues and concerns. However, the review revealed that the themes might be too broad as they focus on objectives or means to achieve them rather than identify programming frames.

For conducting business, meetings are a necessary ingredient, but ESCAP does far more than serve as a regional meeting place. The focus is on helping the members in tackling their national problems or on providing technical assistance in virtually any aspect of development: from helping to increase foreign trade or develop natural resources or improve statistical capabilities. More and more action is on ways to bring the 800 million of the region's poor into mainstream development. With its staff of dedicated local and international civil servants, ESCAP sends experts on trouble-shooting missions to deliver on-the-spot specific technical know-how in a wide variety of areas.

The Chairperson of the fifty-second Commission session, Mrs. Lina Laigo of the Philippines, summed up the Asia-Pacific regional commitment this way: "While our policy priorities may vary and our policy prescriptions differ, the common theme of the need for sustained and sustainable economic growth, coupled with significant attention to poverty eradication, binds us together."

The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) was founded in 1947 by 10 United Nations Member States - France, the Netherlands, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, China, India, the Philippines and Thailand - in a bid to help the region develop and progress. Based in Shanghai, the then Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) was conceived as the United Nations arm for Asian post-war construction. Funding proved to be inadequate for a massive recovery effort hoped to be on the scale of the Marshall Plan for Europe. By 1951, with a broader mandate from the Economic and Social Council, ECAFE became a platform for regional cooperation. Among the widely acclaimed inter-country projects were the development of the Mekong River Basin and the 65,000 kilometre Asian highway concept, both in the late 1950s, and the now autonomous Asian Development Bank (ADB) a decade later. To reflect the geographical scope of its activities, ECAFE changed to ESCAP in 1974 and took on new responsibilities in the field of social development. The Commission's mandate was broadened in 1977, following the adoption of General Assembly resolution 32/197.

The role of ESCAP as an inter-governmental forum is particularly significant in the absence of any other region-wide assembly of Governments, either in Asia or in Asia and the Pacific combined. In this part of the world, the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other groupings function only on a sub-regional basis. The other Regional Commissions - in Africa, Europe, West Asia and South America - operate side by side with regional governmental groupings, such as the Organization of African Unity and the Organization of American States. The long-time membership of five non-regional developed countries in ESCAP ensures an additional channel of "north-south" dialogue.