Human Development Concept And

Approach

byDr. K Seeta Prabhu

Senior Advisor, UNDP India

PMRDF Training ProgrammeTISS, Hyderabad

30 April 2012

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Understand reasons for emergence of HD approach

Define Human Development

HD, Human Rights and Human Security

HD and Economic Growth

HD and other approaches-HRD, Basic Needs

Characteristics and Principles of HD

MDGs and HD

Operationalising HD

DEFINING DEVELOPMENT

How do we define development?

Identify three defining characteristics

Film on Evolution of HD Approach

DEFINING HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

"The basic purpose of development is to enlarge people's choices. In principle, these choices can be infinite and can change over time. The objective of development is to create an enabling environment for people to enjoy long, healthy and creative lives.“ Mahbub ul Haq

Human achievements – key indicators of progress - not merely per capita income which is not a reliable indicator –

People may value non-income parameters like peace and security, gender equality, satisfying leisure hours, sense of participation

FUNCTIONINGS AND CAPABILITIES

Capabilities and functionings form conceptual foundations of the HD Approach

Functionings - valuable ‘beings and doings’ of people Elementary functionings –being healthy and nourished

Complex functionings – ability to contribute to community

life, achieving self respect, ability to ‘appear in publik

without shame’

Developmental Goal: to enhance people’s potential ‘to be & to do’

Combination of functionings – capabilities One more way of looking at these concepts

Potential ‘beings and doings’ are capabilities Actual ‘beings and doings’ are functionings

DEVELOPMENT AS FREEDOM

Freedom to choose functionings is crucial

People as ‘Agents’ – not recipients of welfare and benefits

Amartya Sen - Development as Freedom Freedom has intrinsic value

valuable in itself Freedom has instrumental value

as a means to other thingsFreedom ‘from’ is as important as

freedom ‘to’

HD AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Both guarantee basic freedoms Compatible and complementary – both

required to enhance well being

Emphasis in HD enhancement of choices & capabilities -

focus on duty bearers and public policies –

Emphasis in HR entitlements of claim holders – emphasis on

legal change, social movements to generate demand

Human Rights initially viewed as political rights- now includes social, cultural and economic rights

HD AND HUMAN SECURITY

Human Development Report 1994 defined human security as ‘Freedom from Want and Freedom from Fear’

Human Security concept goes beyond concerns of national security and threats of conflicts to focus on the individual

Not merely physical security but ability to secure minimum requirements

7 components of human security Economic Food Health Environmental Personal Community Political

Acts as a bridge between concepts of human rights and human development

ECONOMIC GROWTH AND HD

Growth advocates believe:

Expanding income is an end in itself

Growth does trickle down

HD advocates believe: income a means- end

is enhancing people’s capabilities

Simultaneous expansion of choices in dimensions other than economic– social, cultural, political,environmental

No automatic link –trickle down cannot be relied upon

HD IS ABOUT…

People- “how” and for “whom” -not just “what” to do

Emphasis from “are we doing things right” to -“are we doing the right

things”

Go beyond income to ensure growth is not jobless, voiceless, rootless, ruthless, futureless

-1996 Global HDR

WHAT HD IS NOT….

HD and Human Resource Development Evolved in 1960s from Schultz’s concept of human capital Powerful implications – human beings resources/inputs in

production process – not ends in themselves Education and health means of enhancing human capital Rates of return important

Basic Needs Approach Evolved in 1970s from ILO focus on providing basic needs for

poor – food, shelter, clothing, health care, water etc Focus on provision of goods Ignores choices and underplays freedom Ignores ‘agency’ aspect of individuals – people treated more as

beneficiaries

` Human Development

Economic Growth

Human Resource Development

Basic Needs Approach

People Instrumental and intrinsic value-agency

Instrumental

Factor of Production - instrumental

Beneficiaries

End-goals Formation of human capabilities and use of acquired capabilities

Creation of wealth

Maximizing human productivity

Welfare

Indicators Human liberty and choices

GDP per capita

Labor productivity

Eradication of Poverty

Orientation

Ethical Economic Utilitarian Protectionist

COMPARING APPROACHES

CHARACTERISTICS OF HD

Under Construction

Multidimensional

Inter-disciplinary

Pragmatic

FOUR PILLARS OF HD

Equity

Efficiency

Participation

Sustainability

MILLENNIUM DECLARATION AND MDG

Millennium Summit of United Nations General Assembly in September 2000- 189 member States adopted the Millennium Declaration and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

Declaration reaffirms values including equality, mutual respect, and shared responsibility for the condition of all peoples

8 Goals – 21 Targets and 60 indicators to be achieved by 2015

Lends specificity to HD approach

Roadmap to ensure Human Development

MDG GOALS AND TARGETS

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Target 1: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day Target 2: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

Target 3: Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

Target 4: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005 and to all levels of education no later than 2015

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality

Target 5: Reduce by two thirds, the under five mortality rate

Goal 5: Improve maternal health

Target 6: Reduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Target 7: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS Target 8: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

Target 9: Integrate the principles of sustainable and reverse the loss of development into country policies and programmes environmental resources Target 10: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water Target 11 By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers

MDG GOALS AND TARGETS

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

Target 12: Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system

Target 13: Address the special needs of the least developed countries

Target 14: Address the special needs of landlocked countries and small island developing States

Target 15: Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long term

Target 16: In co-operation with developing countries, develop and implement strategies for decent and productive work for youth

Target 17: In co-operation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable, essential drugs in developing countries

Target 18: In co-operation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications

MDG GOALS AND TARGETS

WHY MEASURE HD?

Measuring HD important for

assessment of HD situation in country

monitoring of HD situation

evidence based policy making

HD multi-dimensional – quantitative and

qualitative data on various dimensions

MDGs have lent specificity to HD – the indicators

are measurable and can be monitored at

disaggregated level

NEED FOR HDI

HDI arose out of need to evolve suitable alternative to per capita GDP as an indicator

Needed an index that was Simple to compute Measures both economic and social dimensions Enables national and international comparisons

HDI measures achievements in Longevity Knowledge Decent standard of living

CALCULATING THE HDI

Human Development Index used as an important composite measure of HD - combined index of three choices reflected in indicators

Long lasting and healthy life Life Expectancy at Birth

Access to knowledge Adult Literacy Rate, Combined Enrolment Ratio

Resources for a decent life GDP per capita

Refined methodology since 2010 – same dimensions but better specified indicators and methodology

Concept of HD is much broader than HDI

Includes both economic and social choices

HDI uses limited indicators to keep index simple

HD AND MDGs

Key Capabilities for HD

Corresponding MDG

Living a long and healthy life Goals 4 ,5, 6 reducing child mortality improving maternal health and combating major diseases

Being educated Goals 2 and 3: Achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality

Having a decent standard of living

Goal 1,7: Reducing poverty and hunger and ensuring environmental sustainability

Enjoying political and civil freedoms to participate in the life of one’s community

Not a goal but an important global objective included in the Millennium Declaration

INEQUALITY ADJUSTED HDI

IHDI introduced in 2010 HDR - calculated for each dimension separately and when aggregated indicates loss in HDI value due to inequality

• Addresses criticism that HDI looks only at average achievements and does not take into account inequlaity

GENDER INEQUALITY INDEX

Three dimensions, five indicators

Methodology: Focus on gender inequality – replaces the Gender

related Development Index (GDI) and the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM)

Combines indicators of development and empowerment

MULTIDIMENSIONAL POVERTY INDEX

UNDERSTANDING THE MPI

Interpretation Identifies the share of the population suffers

multiple deprivations at the same time, adjusted by the intensity of the deprivations suffered

Value added

Uses data from the same survey and thus identifying people who are poor in multiple dimensions at the same time

Can be decomposed to show extent to which different groups suffer multidimensional poverty and each deprivation

INDIA- HUMAN DEVELOPMENT STATUS

In 2011- India’s HDI value 0.547

Rank 134 among 187 countries – middle HD

country

India’s 2011 HDI value lower than the 1990 HDI

value of - Brazil, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Thailand

and South Africa

China’s life expectancy in 1990 – 68.3 years

India’s life expectancy in 2011 – 65.4 years

INDIA- IHDI AND GII

Aggregate human development status masks

pervasive inequalities in India

IHDI value- 0.392 - India loses 28.7% of its HDI

value on account of inequalities

Highest loss is in education dimension - 40.6%

followed by health 27.1% and income 14.7%

India ranks 129 on GII out of 146 countries

India ranks lower than all South Asian countries

on the GII except Afghanistan

MULTIDIMENTIONAL POVERTY IN INDIA

MPI value- 0.283

612 million or 53.7% of India’s

population is multidimensionally poor

28.6% of the population severely poor

India has the largest concentration of

multidimensional poor people in the

world

DIMENSIONS OF DEPRIVATION

Given India’s size, dimensions of deprivation huge

Number of income poor – 407 million –equal to total population of Brazil 185 million and Japan 127 million

Population of poor in India’s 8 poorest States equal to population of 26 African States

233 million undernourished = total population of Indonesia 216 million + Ghana 20 million

India’s performance will have impact on MDGs globally

DISAGGREGATING THE HDI - THE NEED

Need to assess and monitor human development at disaggregated level

Disaggregated HDIs helps highlight significant disparities and gaps and redirect policy/budget

Can be used for local communities as pressure tool, for participatory planning, accountability, etc.

Used in several countries for studying disparities across regions and social groups

PROGRAMMES FOR HD

Must enlarge ‘range of people’s choices’

Must improve equity, efficiency, participation simultaneously to ensure sustainability

HD is development ‘by the people for the people’

THANK YOU!