The Arab Human Development Report: A Roadmap to Arab Reform, Emancipation and Modernization

1
The Arab Human Development Report A Roadmap to
Arab Reform, Emancipation and Modernization

• Maen Nsour
• Maen.nsour_at_undp.org
• United Nations Development Programme
• UNDP Human Development Training Course
• September 14, 2004

2

• RBAS/UNDP issued thus far two influential Arab
  Human Development Reports in 2002 and 2003 the
  first on creating opportunities for future
  generations and the second on building
  knowledge societies. Work is currently underway
  on the Reports for 2004 and 2005 the first will
  be on governance and freedoms in the Arab world
  and the latter on women empowerment.

3
(No Transcript)
4

• The first and the second reports received wide
  acclaim and unprecedented coverage in the printed
  and broadcast media throughout the world. TIME
  magazine named the first Report as the most
  influential publication in 2002. Coverage of the
  Second Report in the media in the region and
  elsewhere has been extraordinary and still going
  strong at this time - nearly 10 months after its
  launch. Not only are regional TV programs and
  press articles dedicated to the discussion of the
  Reports but there is hardly a program, a
  conference, a testimony or an article on a topic,
  even if remotely related to these Reports, that
  do not refer to them.

5
Spreading the Message

• Interest in the AHDR 2002 was extensive - shown
  by the number of downloads of the document

6
AHDR Elements of Success

• Importance of the Region
• International and Regional Circumstances
• Deepness of the problems
• The Methodology
• The Participants
• The Issues
• The Solutions
• The Advocacy
• The Impact
• The Implementation

7
Importance of the Region
8
The Arab World

• The Arab homeland stretches some 5,000 miles
  nearly twice the distance between New York and
  San Franciscofrom the Atlantic coast of northern
  Africa in the west to the Arabian Sea in the
  east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north
  to Central Africa in the south. It covers an area
  of 5.25 million square miles. By comparison, the
  United States comprises 3.6 million square
  miles.With 72 of its territory in Africa and 28
  percent in Asia, the Arab world straddles two
  continents, a position that has made it one of
  the world's most strategic regions. Long
  coastlines give it access to vital waterways the
  Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, the
  Arabian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden,
  the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.   

9

• The population of the Arab nation approximately
  280 million in 2000 is a youthful one. Almost
  half of the population is under fifteen years of
  age. Given the current annual rate of increase,
  the population will be approximately 400 million
  by the year 2020.
• The GDP of all Arab countries combined (531.2
  billion) is less than that of Spain (595.5bn).

10

• The Arab states, especially Saudi Arabia , will
  become the worlds supplier of oil when wells
  have dried up in other regions of production,
  because the Arab states possess about 60 of the
  worlds recoverable reserves plus other reserves
  that may become recoverable depending on
  technological progress.
• By 2002 proven gas reserves in the Arab countries
  totaled about 52 trillion cubic meters, compared
  with 33 trillion in 1998, and these represented
  over 30 of world natural gas reserves.

11

• The Arab world is the heart land of the
  Arab-Islamic Civilization
  
• The Arab homeland today is a rich composite of
  many diverse influences. Various ethnic,
  linguistic and religious groups inhabit the
  region. Yet, Islam and the Arabic language
  constitute its two predominant cultural features.
  The Arab people, spread over a vast area, enjoy
  common bonds of history and tradition.

12
International and Regional Circumstances
13
International and regional circumstances
14

15
(No Transcript)
16
(No Transcript)
17
Deepness of Regional Problems
18
Symptoms of the Problem

• The combined GDP of the 22 Arab countries is
  less than that of Spain.
  
• Approximately 40 of adult Arabs - 65 million
  people - are illiterate, two thirds of whom are
  women.
  
• Over 50 million young people will enter the
  labor market by 2010, 100 million will enter by
  2020 - a minimum of 6 million new jobs need to be
  created each year to absorb these new entrants.

19
Symptoms

• If current unemployment rates persist, regional
  unemployment will reach 25 million by 2010.
  
• One-third of the region lives on less than two
  dollars a day. To improve standards of living,
  economic growth in the region must more than
  double from below 3 percent currently to at least
  6 percent.
• Only 1.6 percent of the population has access to
  the Internet, a figure lower than that in any
  other region of the world, including sub-Saharan
  Africa.

20
Symptoms

• Women occupy just 3.5 percent of parliamentary
  seats in Arab countries, compared with, for
  example, 8.4 percent in sub-Saharan Africa.
  
• Fifty-one percent of older Arab youths expressed
  a desire to emigrate to other countries,
  according to the 2002 AHDR, with European
  countries the favorite destination.

21
Symptoms

• Over the past twenty years, growth in per capita
  income was the lowest in the world except in
  sub-Saharan Africa.  At a growth rate of 0.5
  annually, if such trends continue in the future,
  it will take the average Arab citizen 140years
  to double his or her income, while other regions
  are set to achieve that level in a matter of less
  than 10 years.

22
Symptoms

• Labor productivity has been low and is
  declining.  In fact Total factory productivity
  declined at an annual average of 0.2
  during1960-1990, while it rapidly accelerated in
  other parts of the world.
• Compared to the Asian Tigers, per capita output
  was higher than average of this group in
  1960. Now it is half that in Korea.

23
Symptoms

• The productivity of Arab industrial labor in
  1960 was 32 that of the North American level. 
  By 1990 it had fallen to 19.
  
• The decline in workers productivity has been
  accompanied by deterioration in real wages, which
  has accentuated poverty.  It is evident that in
  both quantitative and qualitative terms,
• Arab countries have not developed as quickly or
  as fully as other comparable regions.  From a
  human development perspective, the state of human
  development in the Arab world is a cause for
  concern.

24

• These statistics reflect a region that stands at
  a crossroads. The Arab world could continue on
  the same path, adding every year to its
  population of underemployed, undereducated, and
  politically disenfranchised youths.

25

• The three "deficits" identified by the Arab
  authors of the 2002 and 2003 United Nations Arab
  Human Development Reports as having contributed
  to these conditions.
• Freedom and Governance
• Knowledge
• Women's empowerment

26
The Methodology
27
AHDR Process
AHDR Advisory Board (23 members)
Core Team (5 members)
Background Papers from Regional Arab Authors (34
Papers)
28
HDI

• Achievements by the Arab region on the
  Human Development Index (HDI) in the past decade
  were lower than the world average.  Relative to
  other regions, the Arab world does better on
  income indicators.  Thus it can be said that the
  Arab region is richer than it is developed. 
  Although income poverty is low compared to other
  parts of the world, the Arab region is hobbled by
  a different kind of poverty poverty of
  capabilities and poverty ofopportunities.  These
  have their roots in three deficits freedom,
  womens empowerment and knowledge.  Growth alone
  will neither bridge these gaps nor set the region
  on the road to sustainable development.

29
New Methodological Concept

• Whereas the human" development index is based
  on three variables (income average, life
  expectancy at birth, and education levels), the
  AHDR adopted the "humane" development index that
  totally excludes (albeit important) income
  average, adding three additional variables woman
  empowerment, access to the Internet, and
  environmental pollution.
• Replace "human" (b a s h a r i y y a) for
  "humane" (i n s a n i y y a) reflects no
  difference in content, but rather creates better
  understanding of the concept for Arab speakers.
  The choice of a "humane" development has a
  favorite value connotation for
• Arabic readers.

30
The Participants
31
The participants

• From the beginning, a fundamental objective was
  to produce reports by Arabs and for Arabs. This
  was sought to ensure the Reports credibility,
  particularly given the contentious issues they
  were to handle in such a unique region. The
  objective is also pursued in order to secure Arab
  ownership of the Reports to enhance their policy
  impact.

32
Participation

• Participation and contribution from credible Arab
  intellectuals and practitioners representing a
  wide spectrum of academic and professional
  orientations was critical for achieving the dual
  goals of credibility and ownership. We were
  always vigilant to make sure that these Reports
  speak the minds of the best in the Arab world who
  represent various ideological inclinations.

33
The Issues and the solutions
34
AHDR I The Issues

• AHDR I gave an overview of the development
  situation in the Arab world, reflecting on its
  points of strength and points of weakness. Its
  research led to a diagnosis of three deficiencies
  that curb development and slow it down in the
  Arab world, namely, lack of freedom, lack of
  knowledge and lack of the empowerment of Arab
  women.

35
Strategy

• First, the establishment of good governance
  based on coexistence of governmental and popular
  institutions characterized by participation,
  transparency and accountability. Without the
  participation of all sectors of the society in
  the activities of governmental and popular
  institutions, it would be difficult to mobilize
  society forces in support of development
  policies, nor would there be confidence in the
  work of these institutions if they are not
  characterized by transparency and are not subject
  to accountability for their conduct and actions
  before the people.
•   

36
Strategy

• Second, is enabling all people to participate in
  the human development process in a comprehensive,
  equal and balanced manner. The development
  process will not reach its goal if peoples
  participation was governed by racial, religious,
  sectarian, gender and class balances at the
  expense of competence and qualification.
• Comprehensive and equal participation must
  also be accompanied by balance, which gives a
  fair deal to those who had been left behind in
  material and knowledge achievements, not due to
  slackness on their part, but due to the
  prevailing prejudices. This imbalance should be
  rectified by favoring those who were treated
  arbitrarily in the economic, social and political
  circumstances, such as women and the more
  disadvantaged groups.

37
Strategy

• Third, is empowerment of the society and its
  members to acquire knowledge in order to realize
  their humanity and be armed with the means of
  effective participation in the productive
  process.
•  
• Fourth, stimulation of inter-Arab co-operation,
  which is needed to cope with regional challenges
  paused by globalization. Small entities cannot
  individually seize the opportunities presented by
  globalizm nor avoid the difficulties and problems
  posed by it. Even large countries establish
  economic groupings to enhance the benefits of
  their participation in the globalization process.
  Arabs should do the same.

38
AHDR II The Issues

• The second Report comes to focus on one major
  component of development knowledge.
  
• It makes a thorough examination of its aspects,
  tracks its achievements and proposes ways and
  means to develop it in order to enhance the
  humanity of the Arab citizen and prepare him/her
  to participate in the modernization of the Arab
  world.

39
AHDR II

• Virtually all of the indicators of the
  transformation to a knowledge economy forecast
  weak progress in the Arab world. At a time when
  technological innovation is central to boosting
  productivity, Arab investment in research has
  been declining. At a time when learning and
  skills are keys to ensuring that private sector
  has the skilled workers they need to be
  productive, there are troubling signs that the
  Arabs work force is ill-prepared for the
  knowledge economy.

40

• At a time when e-commerce and the Internet are
  growing worldwide, the Arab world needs policies
  that ensure that fully digital economies emerge.
  And at a time when information technology is a
  key to success, many Arab communities and
  individuals are simply unable to take advantage
  of it.

41
Strategic Vision

• The first pillar of this vision involves
  guaranteeing the key freedoms of opinion, speech
  and assembly through good governance bounded by
  the law A climate of freedom is an essential
  prerequisite for the knowledge society.
  Constitutions, laws and administrative procedures
  need to be refined to remove all restrictions on
  freedoms. There should be a clear separation
  between knowledge and politics, supported by a
  reliable and independent judiciary that prevents
  the political and other powers from violating
  these freedoms.
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  

42

• The second embodies disseminating high quality
  education for all, with special attention to both
  ends of the educational spectrum. Arab countries
  need to radically improve the quality of
  education at all stages and make it available to
  all. A new focus on education should center on
  nurturing talents, attitudes and capabilities in
  early childhood ensuring universal basic
  education developing an adult education system
  for lifelong learning with special attention to
  removing illiteracy both alphabetical and
  cultural. New products, services and operations
  in the field of technology must be brought in and
  used in the teaching process.

43

• The third constituent element calls for embedding
  science, research and technological improvement
  in all societal activities in the Arab world,
  building and broadening the capacity for research
  and development and joining the information
  revolution in a firm and decisive manner. Arab
  governments should establish networks linking
  public and private RD actors, intermediaries and
  service institutions, build local scientific
  production capacity and focus technological
  research on national and regional demand. The
  application of information and communication
  technology to development needs to be
  accelerated, within a framework of policies and
  incentives aimed at increasing access to sources
  of information. This strategy entails two tracks
  one that aims at reforming regional situations
  another that stresses the necessity for
  strengthening cooperation among Arab countries
  with a view to coordinating reform policies in
  science and technology.

44

• The fourth component calls for shifting rapidly
  towards knowledge-based production the current
  mode of production as a rentier is based on
  depleting natural resources and makes economic
  growth dependent on external demand rather than
  domestic requirements. This would begin with deep
  reforms in Arab social and economic structures in
  order to lay better foundations for the knowledge
  society. The central goal will be to shift to a
  higher value added structure of production in
  industries and other economic activities.

45

• The fifth dimension in the vision for an Arab
  knowledge society involves developing an
  authentic, broadminded and enlightened Arab
  knowledge model that encourages cognitive
  learning, critical thinking and creativity as
  well as liberal outlook to other cultures.
  Cultural interaction would be strengthened by
  translation from and into other languages
  promoting an intelligent and generous exchange
  with non-Arab cultures and civilizations
  maximizing benefit from regional and
  international organizations and initiating reform
  in the world order through an augmented
  inter-Arab cooperation.

46

• Not only challenges to Arab societies are
  internal in nature. The external challenges to
  Arab development are of critical importance,
  particularly in the aftermath of September 11,
  the ruinous Israeli incursions into
  Palestinian-controlled areas and the US war on
  Iraq had their toll.

47

• The authors of the second Report pay close
  attention to the heavy human and economic costs
  of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands
  not only to Palestinians, but to Arabs living in
  the surrounding states, where the threat of
  Israel is regularly used by governments as a
  pretext to defer economic and political reform in
  the name of national security. Likewise, the
  Report team is keenly aware of the impact of the
  invasion and occupation of Iraq on that countrys
  civilian population and the political mood of the
  Arab-Muslim world.

48
The Advocay
49
The Advocacy
A press kit was prepared before the launch in
Arabic, English, French and German languages. The
kit included ten press releases highlighting key
messages of the report. RBAS planned and conduct
ed a spectacular launch that was very well
covered by Arab and international press. The
launch was perceived by the media outlets in the
region as the most important event of the day.
This was evident the extensive coverage in the
said media. UNDP offices in 17 Arab countries hel
d joint conferences with governments in which the
Report was introduced to the local media and the
public. Assistant Secretary General Dr. Rima Khal
af, Core Team members, and RBAS policy advisers
presented the Report at hundreds of meetings and
conferences held at think tanks and universities
across the globe. Members of the Advisory Group,
Report Authors, RBAS policy Advisers wrote tens
of articles to various media outlets and refereed
journals discussing various aspects of the Report.
50
The Impacts
51
The Impact

• Citing the Report, Arab governments
  introduced significant policy changes that
  respond directly to the recommendations of the
  Report.
• The themes of the Report were prevailing
  during the Arab Summit that was held in Tunisia.
  
  
• The US and Europe introduced initiatives that
  are exclusively based on the findings of the
  Report.
  
• The Report has deepened the establishment of
  UNDP as the potent intellectual leader on matters
  relevant to Arab reform. In many occasion donor
  agencies and countries took the initiative to
  approach UNDP with suggestions to provide
  resources for the implementation of some key
  recommendations of the Report.
• Continuing public debate around the AHDR on
  both sides of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean
  provides further proof of the extraordinary
  reception and potential impact of the AHDR.

52
The Implementation
53

• We at the Arab Bureau at UNDP are active,
  through our regional programs, in tending to some
  of the aspects of the three human development
  deficits identified by the first Report. We are
  active in the fields of quality enhancement of
  higher education, improvement of math and science
  education at primary and middle schools,
  information communication technologies,
  economic productivity and growth, and promoting
  good governance.

54

• THANK YOU