FOREWORD
In every country, certain groups—whether illegal immigrants, indigenous people, or other minorities—confront barriers that prevent them from fully participating in their nation’s political, economic, and social life. These groups are branded by stereotypes, stigmas, and superstitions. They often live with insecurity. And such disadvantages not only preclude them from capitalizing on opportunities to lead a better life, they also rob them of dignity. In many countries, excluded people have organized to right a lifetime of wrongs. These newly active citizens include victims of violence who are demanding justice, or members of growing middle classes demanding greater voice in their countries’ political processes. They come armed or simply angry, protesting in Brazil or India, and occupying Wall Street or Tahrir Square. Taken together, their outrage demonstrates a global crisis of inclusion. At the World Bank Group, we have realized that confronting the need for social inclusion will prove vital if we are to meet our goal of building shared prosperity for all people. While great strides have been made in reducing extreme poverty, in country after country, groups remain excluded from development gains. A rising tide does not necessarily lift all boats. Acknowledging this, in May 2013, the United Nations (UN) SecretaryGeneral’s High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda called for designing development goals that focus on reaching excluded groups. “Leave no one behind,” they urged the Secretary-General, adding, “We should ensure that no person—regardless of ethnicity, gender, geography, disability, race, or status—is denied universal human rights and basic economic opportunities.” Including the excluded is a complex challenge. At the World Bank Group, we begin where we always do: by surveying, sifting, and analyzing the evidence. The result of that work is this evidence-based study of xv