Economic development is necessary to underpin social development but the creation of material wealth does not automatically provide social protection. Indeed many services formally provided by state-owned industries – from clinics to housing and kindergarten to district heating – were lost as companies restructured.

Local governments, often in partnership with the private and NGO sectors, have had to take on an extended role in providing basic services to the population. This has provided the opportunity to introduce new approaches in service delivery, borrowing from best practice in the EU.

As formal unemployment has increased, there has been an increase in the numbers who depend on payments from the state. Social safety nets have often been poorly designed to meet the new needs and have generally been unfunded.

The response has been to target more specifically available resources to the needs of the poorest. And there has been a corresponding shift in pension provision, recognising that providing good quality of life in retirement is a responsibility of the individual shared with the state.

For some groups, marginalisation from mainstream society compounds the economic poverty and lack of access to services. Indeed for some the exclusion has continued for generations – as with Roma communities. In other cases – such as with street children and HIV/ AIDS sufferers, the issue is more recent and sometimes is a product of changes in society.

New approaches to service provision and vigorous campaigns to attack prejudice are part of the solution to this challenge.