The Challenge of World-wide Social Conditions

In the fifteen years since World War II, the international community has seen marked progress in prolong ing life, providing education for children, and in increasing the world food supply. Progress in the struggle against pov erty and bad housing is much less notable, and the achieve ments in lessening social tensions, in increasing human dignity, and other qualitative aspects of the standard of living are not measurable by the rough indicators we have at our disposal. The attempt to reach a new synthesis in the economic and social aspects of the development of less-developed countries, the widespread approval of governmental planning for social as well as economic development, the growth of public respon sibility for welfare of the total population, and the attention given to rural as well as urban development are cited as impor tant postwar developments in the philosophy and methods of international co-operation. The concern about extending as sistance in ways which stimulate active participation of the people is a hopeful response to the world social situation. Fi nally, the importance of basing assistance on mutual respect— with every country acting both as donor and recipient—is stressed in this co-operation.