Human theory

• Human Development


  A process of enlarging people's choices in order to lead a long and healthy life, be educated and to enjoy a decent standard of living, and enjoy political freedom, guaranteed human rights, self-respect and dignity
• The human costs of adjustment policies (recommended by IMF when developing countries need to finance their economic activities) are often a matter of choice not compulsion
• A favorable external environment is vital to support human development strategies, but the outlook is not good as there must be a satisfactory solution to the lingering debt problem
• A participatory approach including the involvement of NGOs is crucial to any strategy for successful human development
• A significant reduction in population growth rates is absolutely essential for visible improvement in human development levels
• Human Development


  Distinguishes between the 'formation' of human capabilities (through investment in people) and the 'use' of those capabilities (through an enabling framework for growth and employment)
• Human Development approach


  • Brings together production and distribution and the expansion and use of human capabilities
  • Focuses on choices, on what people should 'do' and 'have' in order to 'be able' to lead a good life
  • Is concerned not only with basic needs satisfaction but also with human development as participatory and dynamic process
• Core principles of Human Development

  • Equity
  • Efficiency
  • Participation and Empowerment
  • Sustainability
• Functionings


  The essential activities and states that make up people's well-being – such as a healthy body, being safe, being educated
• Capability


  The real opportunity that people have in order to accomplish what they value, including political freedoms, economic facilities, social opportunities, transparency guarantees, and protective security
• Agency


  The ability to pursue goals that one values and has reason to value, including effective power as well as direct control
• Amartya Sen supports 'Ethical Individualism' which postulates that individuals and only individuals are the ultimate units of moral concern
• Measuring resources is very different from measuring functionings, and the capability approach is not about giving the same amount of resources to individuals
• The capability approach is open to many different specifications of valuable capabilities, and Sen advocates that lists of valuable capabilities should be context depending
• Global targets for human development set in the 1990 UNHDR


  • Complete immunization of all children
  • Reduction of the under-five child mortality rate
  • Elimination of severe malnutrition
  • Universal primary enrolment of all children of primary school age
  • Reduction of the adult illiteracy
  • Universal access to safe water
• National plans for human development as specified by the 1990 UNHDR

  • Drawing up an inventory of information about existing human resources and skills, people's health, education and nutrition, their absolute and relative poverty, their employment and underemployment
  • Identifying priorities and comparing existing conditions with objectives to be achieved
  • Ranking priorities according to the people's preferences through participatory development
  • Translating priorities into specific goals for the primary indicators of Human Development (HDI)
• Financing human development involves social expenditures, raising additional resources, and reallocating budgetary resources within and across sectors
• The external environment for human development has been far from favorable, with the net transfer of resources to developing countries turning negative, the enduring problem of debts aggravated, and industrial countries and arms exporters responsible for the rising military expenditures in developing countries
• Human Development Index (HDI)

  Ranks countries based on their performance in the key areas of health, education and access to resources, with a score between 0 to 1 that reflects the level of human development
• Issues and concepts related to Human Development perspective

  • Gender and Development
  • Sustainable Development
  • Good Governance
  • Social Capital
• Perspectives on Gender and Development

  • Women in Development (WID)
  • Women And Development (WAD)
  • Gender And Development (GAD)
• Gender And Development (GAD) Perspective


  • Looked at the totality of social, economic, and political life to understand the location of women in development
  • Identified the ideology of 'Patriarchy' as the basis of women's oppression
  • Saw women as agents of change and stressed their need to organize for more effective political voice
• The Gender And Development (GAD) Perspective occured in the 1980's and finds its roots in socialist feminism (especially from Third World countries)
• GAD Perspective


  • Looked at the totality of social, economic, and political life in order to understand the location of women in development
  • Identified the social construction of production and reproduction as the basis of women oppression
• Patriarchy


  Ideology that operates within and across classes/races/ethnicities to oppress women
• Women


  Agents of change who need to organize for more effective political voice
• GAD Perspective


  • Did not undervalue family and household maintenance work performed by women
  • Gave special attention to the oppression that takes place in this household and entered in the so-called private sphere to explain how it affects the process of development
• GAD Perspective


  • Emphasized the role of the state in promoting women emancipation and empowerment through legislation, provision of social services, and continuous scrutiny of the underlying assumptions of social, economic and political structures
• The UNDR 1995 Global Human Development Report attempted to capture gender inequalities through the Gender Related Development Index (GDI) and the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM)
• Gender Related Development Index (GDI)


  HDI adjusted for gender inequalities, with a GDI of 1 reflecting an absolute equality in the respective attainments of men and women
• Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM)

  Measure of the extent to which men and women are able to actively participate in economic and political decision-making and in the professional/work arena
• Indicators used to determine GEM

  • Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments
  • Percentage of women in economic decision-making positions
  • Female share of income
• Gender inequalities identified in 1995 UNHDP report

  • Natality
  • Mortality
  • Ownership
  • Household
  • Special opportunities
  • Professional ones
• Gender inequality in education and access to resources may hamper the process of reduction of child mortality
• Sustainable Development


  Improving and sustaining a healthy economic, ecological and social system for human development
• Brundtland Commission Report (1987) definition of Sustainable Development


  Development that meets the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
• The Brundtland report engendered the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), known as the Rio Earth Summit, in 1992
• In 2012, 20 years after the first Rio Earth Summit, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) or Rio+ 20 was held
• Conceptual pillars of Sustainable Development

  • Economic sustainability
  • Social sustainability
  • Environmental sustainability
• Economic sustainability


  A system of production that satisfies present consumption levels without compromising future need