Human Development Index (HDI)

Definition

HDI is an acronym which stands for human development index. HDI is a merged data of living, education and income index in arranging a country’s level of human development. The main spheres of human development are health, literacy rate and standard of living. The HDI is immensely used in academia, the media and in policy making to measure and compare progress in human development between Nations.

The aim of Human development report is to make it possible to track changes in development levels over time and to compare development levels in different countries and splits countries into four development categories: Very High Human Development, High Human Development, Medium Human Development and Low Human Development. The purpose of Human development report is to arouse the transnational policy discussions on challenges that are relevant to human development. The statistics in the report needs the highest standards of data quality and authenticity.

Beginning of HDI

 It was a discourse initiated by the economists, Amartya Sen and Mahbubul Haq in 1990. The beginning of HDI is found in the United Nations Development Programme. The main purpose of this statistical measure is “to shift the focus of development economics from National Income accounting to people centered policies”. Mahbub ul Haq worked with a number of development economists like Gustaw Ranis, Keith Griffin, and Francis Stewart. The Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen’s work on capabilities and functioning that presented the base conceptual framework. Mahbub ul Haq was sure that a simple composite measure of human development was needed in order to convince the public, academics and policy makers that they can and should evaluate development not only by economic advances but also improvements in human well being. Sen initially opposed this idea, but he went on to help Haq develop the index. Sen was worried that it was tough to capture full complexity of human capabilities in a single index but Haq persuaded him that only a single number would shift the attention of policy makers from concentration on economic to human well being.

HDI objectives and Process

In keeping with its objectives, the HDI projects go through three stages of project implementation. All of these steps are undertaken in collaboration with community members.

1.      Participatory needs assessments

2.      Collective community analysis, discussion and agreement of needs and ways of agreement of needs and ways of addressing them.

3.      Capacity/skills building

4.      Implementation of activities

Project activities begin with meetings with target communities to determine what they feel are their most pressing needs in terms of their livelihoods and well being.

            Once needs have been identified and agreement reached upon the most urgent ones, project staff discuss with communities possible ways of addressing them. More values is attached by communities to those assets in which they have made a personal investment, as opposite to those which were provided without discussion with them, and in which they have had no stake. Furthermore, such community investment is more likely to be maintained by the community.

            Thus, communities discuss and agree upon ways and means by which they can contribute towards collaborative activities to improve community assets, such as necessary renovation or the reclamation of a village pond, as well as income generating opportunities that will improve their livelihood in a sustainable manner. The experience of the HDI has been that communities are willing to play their part in such collaboration, particularly for such basic assets as a clean supply of water or for a village school, which is also a source of pride and hope for communities.