Last week the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) released the 2013 human development report titled The Rise of the South: Progress in a Diverse World. The report details “the evolving geopolitics of our times, examining emerging issues and trends and also the new actors which are shaping the development landscape,” Human Development Report 2013.
According to the report, all the countries have witnessed accelerated development achievements in education, health and income dimensions – all these measured in terms of the Human Development Index (HDI) – to an extent that no country for which data was available had a lower HDI in 2012 than in 2000.It provides that, “as faster progress was recorded in lower HDI countries during this period, there was notable convergence in HDI values globally, although progress was uneven within and between regions.” In explaining this trend, the report posits that the progress in human development is attributable to the striking transformation of a large number of developing countries into dynamic major economies with growing political influence.
The report projects that by 2020, the combined economic output of the leading economies of the South – Brazil, China and India – will surpass the aggregate production of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States. It further attributes such expansion in economic growth to new trade and South-South technological partnership.
However, the report like all the other Human Development Reports published since 1990 underscores the fact that economic growth alone does not automatically translate to human development progress. It prescribes pro-poor policies as well as significant investment in people’s capabilities as the gateway to sustained progress; hinged on decent work/employment. It further suggests that in light of growing complexity of the global development challenges, coordination is very essential in tackling such challenges be they climate change, poverty eradication or peace and security.
The UNDP’s 2013 Human Development Report also “identifies four specific areas of focus for sustainable development momentum: enhancing equity, including on gender dimension; enabling greater voice and participation of citizens, including youth; confronting environmental pressures; and managing demographic change.”
As a way forward, the report calls for the establishment of new institutions that will help with harnessing the wealth of knowledge, expertise and development thinking in the South by way of facilitating regional integration and South-South cooperation. According to UNDP Administrator Helen Clark, “emerging partners in the developing world are already sources of innovative social and economic policies and are major trade, investment and increasingly development cooperation partners for other developing countries.”
