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Human Development

Human Development

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Aslam Chajhu
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4 views

Human Development

Human Development

Uploaded by

Aslam Chajhu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Human development grew out of global discussions on the links between economic growth and
development during the second half of the 20th Century. By the early 1960s there were
increasingly loud calls to “dethrone” GDP: economic growth had emerged as both a leading
objective, and indicator, of national progress in many countries i, even though GDP was never
intended to be used as a measure of wellbeing ii. In the 1970s and 80s development debate
considered using alternative focuses to go beyond GDP, including putting greater emphasis on
employment, followed by redistribution with growth, and then whether people had their basic
needs met.

These ideas helped pave the way for the human development approach, which is about expanding
the richness of human life, rather than simply the richness of the economy in which human beings
live. It is an approach that is focused on creating fair opportunities and choices for all people. So
how do these ideas come together in the human development approach?

• People: the human development approach focuses on improving the lives people lead
rather than assuming that economic growth will lead, automatically, to greater
opportunities for all. Income growth is an important means to development, rather than an
end in itself.

• Opportunities: human development is about giving people more freedom and


opportunities to live lives they value. In effect this means developing people’s abilities and
giving them a chance to use them. For example, educating a girl would build her skills, but
it is of little use if she is denied access to jobs, or does not have the skills for the local
labour market. The diagram below looks at aspects of human development that are
foundational (that is they are a fundamental part of human development); and aspects that
are more contextual (that is they help to create the conditions that allow people to flourish).
Three foundations for human development are to live a healthy and creative life, to be
knowledgeable, and to have access to resources needed for a decent standard of living.
Many other aspects are important too, especially in helping to create the right conditions
for human development, such as environmental sustainability or equality between men and
women.

Human Development
Salman Azam Joiya
Once the basics of human development are achieved, they open up opportunities for
progress in other aspects of life.

• Choices: human development is, fundamentally, about more choice. It is about providing
people with opportunities, not insisting that they make use of them. No one can guarantee
human happiness, and the choices people make are their own concern. The process of
development – human development - should at least create an environment for people,
individually and collectively, to develop to their full potential and to have a reasonable
chance of leading productive and creative lives that they value.

The human development approach, developed by the economist Mahbub Ul Haq, is anchored in
Amartya Sen’s work on human capabilities, often framed in terms of whether people are able to
“be” and “do” desirable things in life iii. Examples include

Beings: well fed, sheltered, healthy

Doings: work, education, voting, participating in community life.

Freedom of choice is central: someone choosing to be hungry (during a religious fast say) is quite
different to someone who is hungry because they cannot afford to buy food.

As the international community seeks to define a new development agenda post-2015, the human
development approach remains useful to articulating the objectives of development and improving
people’s well-being by ensuring an equitable, sustainable and stable planet.

Human Development
Salman Azam Joiya
MEASURING HDI

One of the more important achievements of the human development approach, as embodied in
successive HDRs, has been to ensure a growing acceptance of the fact that monetary measures,
such as GDP per capita, are inadequate proxies of development. The first Human Development
Report introduced the Human Development Index (HDI) as a measure of achievement in the basic
dimensions of human development across countries.

This somewhat crude measure of human development remains a simple unweighted average of a
nation’s longevity, education and income and is widely accepted in development discourse. Over
the years, however, some modifications and refinements have been made to the index. Indeed, the
critics of the HDI and their concerns have stimulated – and continue to stimulate - adjustments to
the index and the development of companion indices which help paint a broader picture of global
human development.

Human Development
Salman Azam Joiya

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