The Committee on Social Development was established pursuant to the Seventeenth Commission session resolution 198 (XVII) of 31 May 1994, with the aim of promoting regional cooperation through the effective participation of relevant parties in member countries in planning and implementing the ESCWA programme of work in the field of social development.  
The aim of the current session is to provide an official forum to discuss proposals and recommendations related to the formulation of the ESCWA programme of work in the field of social development and ways to improve the programme and its activities. The session also aims at reviewing achievements of ESCWA Social Development Division (SDD) and its reports on the priority issues in the field of social development.  

The information contained in the documents and reports, presented to the Committee on Social Development at its ninth session, constitute the basis for discussions, experience sharing and submission of proposals. In this context, the secretariat hopes that this session will lead to concrete approaches and proposals on maximizing the benefit derived from the activities and services of ESCWA programme of work for the biennium 2014-2015 in the field of social development.