Call to lock development gains
…as UNDP releases Human Development Report
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| UNDP Economist Mr Ojijo Odhiambo |
By Moses Magadza
Countries that have made positive
strides in human development must come up with strategies to safeguard those
gains because success is not automatic and gains not permanent.
This seems to be the critical message
in the latest edition of the Human Development Report (HDR) which the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) recently released.
The 2014 HDR,
entitled “Sustaining Human Progress: Reducing Vulnerabilities and Building
Resilience,” shows that between 2000 and 2013, Sub- Saharan Africa had the
second highest rate of progress in the Human Development Index (HDI), which
combines achievements in income, health
and education. Rwanda and Ethiopia achieved the fastest growth, followed by
Angola, Burundi, Mali, Mozambique, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia.
New focus
 |
| NPC Director General Mr Tom Alweendo |
Speaking at
the launch of the HDR in Namibia recently, Mr Tom Alweendo, the Director
General of the National Planning Commission (NPC) expressed concern over
widespread poverty and income inequality, which continue to afflict many
countries including Namibia.
“Despite a
robust economic growth in Namibia of six percent between 2010 and 2013, an
unacceptably large proportion of our people still live in poverty and are
exposed to various vulnerabilities,” Alweendo said.
He noted that
economic growth in Namibia had been largely jobless, with women and young
people of both sexes bearing the brunt of unemployment, contributing to the
vulnerable within society along with other groups.
He said
Namibia had identified sectors that bear the greatest potential to spur economic
growth while at the same time creating jobs for public investments. Focus, he
said, would shift to logistics, tourism, manufacturing and agricultural sectors
under NDP4. There would be continued investment in other sectors as well especially health
and education.
Not
prescriptive but…
Mr Ojijo Odhiambo is an economic
advisor with UNDP. He explains that each HDR theme is examined to unravel
policy choices that countries have to address pertinent challenges.
“The policy options presented by the
report are not prescriptive. Governments study the report and pick policies
that they feel best suit them or that they can use. Over the years a lot of
governments have used some of the policy proposals to their benefit,” Odhiambo
says.
This year’s report looks at why
particular individuals or societies are vulnerable to, for instance ecological
shocks and economic shocks such as the ones that were experienced during the
global financial crisis of 2008/2009. It looks at why some societies are able
to recover faster than others, as well as who is being left behind in terms of
development.
Types of
vulnerabilities
In this year’s report, the UNDP has
identified two types of vulnerabilities: lifecycle vulnerabilities and structural
vulnerabilities. The former accompany an individual from the time they are born
to when they die. The 2014 HDR has identified four critical stages including
the first 90 to 1 000 days of life where there is need to invest in nutrition,
the transition from educational institutions to the job market and old age.
Policy proposals with respect to interventions that are necessary at every
point have been identified.
With regard to structural
vulnerability, the report shows that some people such as the youth, women, and
some indigenous communities can be left behind in development due to
traditional or subtle norms. It identifies policies that can be used to bring
everybody on board and to eradicate spatial inequality (inequality where space
makes certain sexes or communities worse off than others).
Odhiambo says this can enable
governments to tailor targeted policies that might involve affirmative action.
“This is because equal treatment
might actually result in equal treatment. Equity can be achieved through
policies designed to address the unique challenges of particular individuals or
communities.”
The 2014 HDR identifies the
vulnerable as women, children, and indigenous communities. It postulates that
their vulnerability can be attributed to inherent structural deficiencies that
include societal norms as well as to poor timing of investments. It presents a
lot of proposals. This is the first time that vulnerability and resilience have
been examined with this level of intensity.
Call to lock
gains
The report warns that that progress
in terms of human development can be reversed by shocks such as economic shocks.
The issue of shocks and how much they can undo years of development had never
been examined. Now proposals are being made on how to lock or safeguard
development gains.
For years experts all over the world have
bemoaned a dearth of data regarding measures of development. The 2014 HDR shows that Namibia has
done well. Like most countries in Africa Namibia is on an upward trajectory with
regards to human development as measured by the Human Development Index which
looks at life expectancy, knowledge (years of schooling) and wealth creation as
measured by Gross National Income per capita. However, it notes that the pace
of growth has been slow.
Data from various sources shows that
in 1980 Namibia was at the same level of development with Mauritius and
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). However, the three countries have taken totally
different trajectories in terms of human development. Mauritius has experienced
almost exponential growth, Namibia a somewhat standard growth while the DRC has regressed.
Odhiambo says this begs the question:
what fuels human development?
Beyond
income inequality
Namibia’s problem is not just income
inequality but increasing inequality in access to basic services such as
health, education, water and sanitation. The report also looks at the
multi-dimensional poverty index which includes the conditions under which
people live. On that it shows that Namibia is not doing well. It shows that 20 percent of the people in
Namibia are multi-dimensionally poor. This is compared to four percent in South
Africa.
“It is one thing to be poor but
another to live in a state of want. If the right investments are made, even a poor
person can have access to safe drinking water or a toilet,” Odhiambo says.
On gender, the report notes that Namibia
is doing well.
Key
recommendations
The report challenges countries to
figure out how to improve the conditions of their people and to ensure that
everyone benefits from development. This is because in some countries,
economies have grown but there has not been a correlation between development
and poverty reduction at the grassroots level. The growth has not been broad
based.
“Unless growth can create jobs and
put money in people’s pockets then it does not benefit ordinary people,” says
Odhiambo.
He says although Namibia has invested
mightily in the social sector there is need for improved development outcomes
in terms of health, education and employment creation. The challenge, he says,
is how to bring the poor to the table so they also partake of the fruits of
development.
“This calls for investments in the
sectors in which the poor have access and control over resources such as
agriculture and education.”
The 2014 HDR stresses the need to
make people’s voices heard and to make people participate in the development
process.
Useful guide
The production of HDRs goes back to
the year 1990 when it was realised that there were some serious shortcomings in
the way development was being measured. Development was being measured in terms
of economic growth with no regard to who benefits from that growth, hence the
use of Gross Domestic Product per capita as a measure of development.
The UNDP realised that there was need
to go beyond economic growth as a measure of development to include elements of
human development that are reflective of changes in the livelihoods of people.
That led to the coining of the Human Development Index (HDI). This is a
composite index that looks at three domains: health, education and income. The
HDR, therefore, gives the Human Development Indices of all countries of the
world in which data is available.
Every year the HDR has a different
theme.
Time for
data revolution
Odhiambo says there is need for
countries to deepen their understanding of poverty and deprivation for them to
be able to come up with targeted interventions.
“This calls for a data revolution; to
move beyond national aggregates which say very little. Poverty must be
understood and addressed at the micro level.”
Using econometric modelling
techniques it is now possible to go to the lowest possible level to pin point
pockets of poverty and deprivation as well as to show who is affected. - moses.magadza@gmail.com
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