DO PEOPLE’S CHOICES COUNT IN DEVELOPMENT GOALS?

DO PEOPLE’S CHOICES COUNT IN DEVELOPMENT GOALS?

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Do people’s choices count at all in the setting of development goals, whether these be the broadest compass of change or the typical short-term palliatives by erstwhile technocrats? This is a big question in today’s globalizing context where over 7 billion people are spread out across a rapidly urbanizing planet.

Expanding people’s choices is a matter of human capacitation, just to make this real clear. It isn’t just letting them line up during poll day and choose leaders as well as political parties on the basis of the convincing power of campaign ads and bylines, which is old hat choice-making.

Expanding people’s choices is a matter of increasing individuation, while hauling them to poll stations is a matter of cowherd-reinforcing manipulative behavior. The former is emancipatory in nature, while the latter is encumbering.

Let us review the subject from the reportage of the UNDP below.

[Philippines, 28 November 2011]

Source: http://www.beta.undp.org/undp/en/home/ourperspective/ourperspectivearticles/2011/11/02/ultimate-goal-of-development-expand-peoples-choices.html

Ultimate goal of development? Expand peoples’ choices

02 Nov 2011

Finding ways to make human development progress truly sustainable for the seven billion people who now live on our planet and for generations to come is a central challenge of the 21st century. The international community must find pathways to development which maintain ecosystem balance and reduce inequalities.

This year’s Human Development Report asks whether we can expect the positive trends of the last forty years to continue and improvements to be sustained for the people who will live on this planet over the next four decades. The report warns that some 1.7 billion people in 109 countries are living in ‘multidimensional’ poverty. According to the report, escalating environmental hazards threaten to slow or reverse the notable progress in human development of previous decades.

The impact in the worst case scenario is projected to be worse for countries which are low on the Human Development Index (HDI), leading to widening inequalities between high HDI and low HDI countries.

Key Messages of the Human Development Report

1 The most vulnerable suffer a double burden: They are more affected by environmental degradation and are less resilient towards its resulting threats such as unclean water, indoor air pollution from unhealthy cooking and poor sanitation.

2 Patterns of inequity and unsustainability are shaped by disparities in power at the global and national levels. For example, at the global level the voice of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) must work hard to be heard in climate change negotiations even though they are among the most affected.

3 Financing for environmental and social protection needs to increase. New public financing mechanisms such as a currency transaction tax could generate substantial revenues for development – just 0.005 per cent imposed on currency trading would yield some $40 billion annually.

This year’s Report offers new insights on how to move human development forward and overcome the inequity and unsustainability which currently constrain its advance. It highlights the positive synergies which exist between greater equity and sustainability and which offer win-win-win solutions for achieving both. For example, investments in access to renewable energy, clean water, and improved sanitation will advance equity, sustainability, and human development. Stronger accountability and democratic processes can also improve outcomes. Successful approaches rely on community management of natural resources, inclusive institutions which pay attention to disadvantaged groups, and cross-cutting approaches which co-ordinate budgets and mechanisms across government agencies and development partners.

It also reminds us again that tackling poverty and advancing human development is about more than lifting income.

Talk to us: How can we make human development more sustainable & equal for everyone?

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