changing needs of the labour market; growing urbanization and migration from rural sectors; and the overall changes in the social fabric of communities. These have important ramifications for the roles and responsibilities of different groups and sections in society — be they women, elderly, youth or very young, disabled or infirm. The demographic shift has already signalled increases in the elderly and the younger populations, both of which increase the dependency ratio. Women who have entered formal employment or are working in sectors previously dominated by male workers also encounter a range of new issues including delayed and reduced childbearing and increases in workloads and care responsibilities. Families are slow to adjust to the shifts in traditional roles and responsibilities. Observations on the customary productive and reproductive roles of women from the Viet Nam post-2015 country consultation: “Ede women suffer from a lot of hardships. When pregnant, we still have to work until we deliver, and three days after delivery we have to work again: fetching water, fetching firewood and working in the upland fields, and we have to carry our babies with us. It’s very hard, but if we do not do it, no one will help.” — Female participant, group discussion, Easin commune, Dak Lak province, Viet Nam Shifts in employment structures and technologies — away from more traditional livelihoods — have also had important ramifications. People are less connected to their communities and environment than in the past, and so there was a sense that something valuable from the old ways of doing things may have been lost. Participants in the Indonesian consultation among others call for the inclusion of comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education in the national curriculum. This is one of the strongest themes of the MultiStakeholder Dialogue on Inequalities, and was echoed by the youth leaders of the UNESCO Youth Consultation. The
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The lack of transportation infrastructure and mismanagement of transportation services leads to overwhelming traffic jams in major cities in Indonesia, Jakarta chief among them. Poor planning schemes here lead to traffic, floods, untended garbage and water crises, as well as a rise in poverty levels, environmental pollution and road accidents. Government policies here are often contradictory with cities’ needs, emphasizing more on building inner city highways and land reclamation of coastal areas, which systematically reduces livable areas.
Indonesia Post-2015 Country Consultation Report
general consensus of stakeholder groups working in sexual health, the commercial sex trade, HIV/AIDS, gender, gender identity, public health and other sectors indicates that it is a priority need, not just for Indonesia but also in the post-2015 development agenda. Skills, job training and access to education emerge as central themes. They help to ensure that new entrants to the workforce are equipped with necessary skill sets and are also aware of the social transformations underway in their societies and their role in them. In the Philippines, participants note that countries in or nearing demographic transition (from high to low fertility) are experiencing an increasing rate of population ageing, and the challenge for government is, first, to invest in effective social services to promote successful and healthy ageing; and, second, to provide the older population with the necessary environment for them to significantly contribute towards
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economic development. People consulted ask that explicit policies and programmes for quality medical and social care of older citizens be put in place. Population expansion, energy needs, urbanization and environmental sustainability
Urbanization, migration and the growth of megacities is another emerging issue. This is not only about urban issues and concerns about crumbling infrastructure, the proliferation of slums or the capacity for urban planning. It is also about the deceleration in agricultural growth, the neglect of the rural sector, and disparities between rural and urban areas in terms of public service provision and infrastructure. The debates draw attention to the interconnected topics of rural-to-urban migration (and cross-border migration for employment), the growth of slums, the working poor, and declining investment in the rural and agricultural sector.
A Million Voices: The World We Want | A Sus tain able Fu t ure with Digni t y f o r A l l 77