There are emerging signs that the global economy is beginning to recover from the COVID‑19 crisis. A wide divergence in the pace of recovery across the world is anticipated. In Asia and the Pacific, the more developed economies are likely to have a faster rebound than those that are less developed. Generally, the poor – and those who fell into poverty because of the crisis – face an uncertain period of hardship.

Social security institutions are an important face of government and serve as important barometers of public opinion for a country’s political leadership. This is one compelling reason that drives administrators to strive for service excellence in the administration of social security programmes.

The region of Asia and the Pacific is home to over 60 per cent of the global population. The COVID‑19 pandemic provoked a crisis that destroyed millions of jobs and livelihoods. Across the region, its impacts and government responses to it have differed widely. While there were 640 million multidimensional poor people in the region in 2019, the pandemic’s socioeconomic impacts may double this figure (ESCAP, ADB and UNDP, 2021). Like in other regions, the pandemc imperils progress towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, in particular by reversing gains in poverty reduction (ILO, 2021a, p. 19).