UNDP releases outline of the upcoming HD report

UNDP releases outline of the upcoming HD report
published in the News
Monday, July 05, 2010
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=248907
By: Aftab Alam
The year 2010, being the twentieth anniversary of the human development report, offers a prospect to re-evaluate its role in order to meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.

The expectations seem to be met by the Human Development Report titled ‘20 Years On: Pushing the Frontiers of Human Development’ to be published in October.

Since 1990, annual Human Development Reports have been exploring different challenges, including poverty, gender, democracy, human rights, cultural liberty, globalisation, water scarcity, climate change and mobility. This year’s report keeps ‘human’ as the central figure to development, focusing on the implications of the human development approach for development policies and strategies.

The Human Development Report has been a key force in thinking about development, not only by stressing the per capita income as the solitary gauge of a society’s progress, but also by exploring how a people-centred approach affects the way we should think about key challenges.

The reports have covered subjects as diverse as participation, cultural liberty and financing, as well as larger global challenges like cooperation and climate change.

The 2010 report aims to take this role notably further by demonstrating how placing human development at the centre of our priorities changes the ways in which we think about, devise, practice and monitor development policies planned to support empowerment, tackle inequality and deal with sustainability.

“Human development (HD) is about putting people at the centre of development. It is about people realising their potential, increasing their choices and enjoying the freedom to lead lives they value,” is the definition of HD given by UNDP.

The anticipated outline of the report has three parts. First, a methodical appraisal of progress and setbacks in human development since the 1970s, discussing what has been achieved, what seems to work, and what are the key gaps and constraints.

The second part will re-examine the concept of human development — and its measurement, including the Human Development Index — and recommend the improvement needed to help policymakers ensure that people are at the centre of development. The third and final part would emphasise tangible implications for policy and development strategies, sketching recommendations for a new development agenda.

This way the 2010 report will hunt for expressing a schema (an outline of a plan) for transformation to fortify a ‘New Human Development Deal’ that can significantly advance development thinking and policies.

Significant emphasis will be placed on the knowledge that comes from developing countries and regions, reflecting the belief that placing people at the centre of development also implies putting people at the centre of the generation of knowledge about development, and by knowing how communities and local stakeholders understand the practice of development.