Human Development Approach: Concepts and Evolution

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Human Development Approach Concepts and Evolution

• Prof. S. Mahendra Dev
• Chairman, Commission for Agricultural Costs and
  Prices (CACP), Govt. of India

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Contents

• Human development (HD) approach
• How is it different compared to other
  approaches? GDP, human capital, social
  development, living standards
• Capability approach, human rights approaches
• Evolution of HD approach over time
• Inclusive growth, social security etc. in human
  development perspective
• Critique or problems in HD approach

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Human Development Approach

• Human development concept is not a new one.
• Evolution of Human development concept can be
  traced from the writings of renowned thinkers and
  philosophers of ancient times.
• Aristotle, argued that wealth is evidently not
  the good we are seeking, for it is merely useful
  and for the sake of something else.
• Another great philosopher, Immanuel Kant argues
  that human beings are ends in themselves, rather
  than the means to other ends.
• Adam Smith , Malthus, Karl Marx, J. S. Mill and
  many other modern economists have also come
  forward with the similar idea of treating human
  beings as the real end of all activities.

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Human Development Approach

• The idea of human development has in recent years
  strongly influenced evaluations, development
  debates and policies
• Human development is a process of enlarging
  peoples choices and strengthening human
  capabilities.
• The term human development has been seen as
  expansion of human capabilities, a widening of
  choices, an enhancement of freedoms and a
  fulfillment of human rights.
• Such a perspective shifts policy attention from
  mechanically expanding incomes to fruitfully
  ensuring that higher incomes translate into
  greater freedoms to people women, children and
  men
• The most critical of these wide-ranging choices
  are to live

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Human Development Approach

• a long and healthy life, to be educated and to
  have resource access for a decent standard of
  living. These three basic choices reflected in
  HDI
• But many additional choices are valued by people.
  
• They range from political, social, economic and
  cultural freedoms to opportunities for being
  productive and creative, self respect and human
  rights.
• Human freedom is vital for human development.
• Putting people at the Centre
• The HD concept is inspired by Amartya Sens
  capability approach. We will discuss this later.
• The HD approach will be more clear when we
  compare with other concepts like economic
  growth, human capital, social development etc.

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Economic Growth and Human Development

• The difference between economic growth and the
  human development is that the first focuses
  exclusively on the expansion of only one choice
  i.e. income
• While HD approach embraces the enlargement of all
  human choices whether economic, social,
  cultural or political.
• Economic growth in the HD approach is seen as the
  means and not the ends of development.
• Data across countries show that the association
  between GNP per capita on the one hand and
  health, nutrition, morbidity and mortality is far
  from simple.

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Economic Growth and Human Development

• South Africa, Brazil, Oman with much higher GNP
  per head of China and Sri Lanka has much lower
  life expectancy and higher infant mortality
• Here we find that the economic prosperity of
  these countries have not acquired a human
  context.
• Unless societies recognize that their real wealth
  is their people, an excessive obsession with
  creating material wealth can obscure the goal of
  enriching human lives.
• It is, however, wrong to suggest that economic
  growth is unnecessary for human development. No
  sustained improvement in human well being is
  possible without growth .

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Economic growth and Human Development

• It is also wrong to suggest that high economic
  growth automatically translate into higher levels
  of HD
• Thus, the connections between growth and human
  development are neither obvious nor automatic.
• Five types of policy failure that occur when the
  links are broken
• --Jobless growth ----Ruthless growth only few
  benefit
• --Voiceless growth no democracy
• --Rootless growth cultural identity
• --Futureless growth sustainable problems
• But, when links are strong, growth and HD are
  mutually reinforcing.

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How is HD approach differ from other approaches

• Inspite of broad and complex nature of human
  development, most people tend to mistake human
  development for social development and to
  associate solely with investments in health,
  education and nutrition
• While others mistakenly equate human development
  with human resource development.
• In other words, it is wrongly assumed that HD
  approach adds little to concepts of human capital
  and basic needs.
• Human development is motivated by the search for
  freedom, well-being and the dignity of
  individuals in all societies, concerns that are
  absent from concepts of social development, human
  capital and basic needs

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How is HD approach differ from other approaches

• In the HD approach, development is about peoples
  well being and the expansion of their
  capabilities and functionings. Expansion of
  material output is treated as a means and not an
  end
• The ends-means relationship is reversed in
  theories of human capital formation or human
  resource development, in which human beings are
  treated as a means to economic growth
• HD approach views investment in education and
  health as intrinsic value (for human lives) and
  instrumental value (for promoting economic
  growth)
• The human capital or HRD approach stresses how
  education and health enhance productivity, and
  have important value for promoting economic growth

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How is HD approach differ from other approaches

• The basic needs approach focuses on access to
  social services to meet basic material needs for
  a decent life.
• This approach does not elaborate on the reasons
  why certain needs are important.
• In the absence of such considerations, the basic
  needs approach ends up emphasizing the supply of
  materials rather than what these material goods
  allow people to do.
• HD approach is also broader than living
  standards approach. Living standards relate to
  specifically to the richness of the persons own
  life, whereas a person may value his or her
  capability also to be socially useful (going
  beyond her own living standa.)

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HD Approach

• HD approach differ from other approaches in three
  important ways
• -- definition of ends and means
• --concern with human freedoms and dignity
• --concern with human agency i.e. the role of
  people in development
• There are several implications in adopting HD
  approach and framework as compared to other
  approaches
• -- The focus of policy can not be based merely on
  the generation of more and more income. How
  additional income is used, and the degree to
  which it improves the quality of peoples lives
  must be given equal weight.

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HD approach

• Second, as a corollary, growth in incomes can not
  be the dominant criterion for judging how
  societies are faring. The HD approach generates
  new set of evaluative questions.
• --Are people enjoying an expansion in their
  capabilities
• --has there been a significant improvement in the
  quality of peoples lives?
• --Do they have more of what they cherish?
• -- How free are they? How equal?
• Third, focusing on human lives as the goal of
  development results in the articulation of very
  different policy concerns.

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HD Approach

• Thus, in the HD framework, discussions on
  globalization go beyond examining the impact on
  trade, capital flows and economic growth, to
  consider the changing opportunities and new
  insecurities in peoples lives.
• Fourth, HD is motivated by a concern for freedom,
  well-being and the dignity of individuals in
  society, issues that are not central to policy
  formulation.
• It emphasizes political and social freedoms
  through enhanced participation and inclusive
  democracy as fundamental to the realization and
  sustainability of social and economic goals.

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Capabilities Approach

• Human Development Approach has been profoundly
  inspired by Amartya Sens capability approach.
• While Sens works cover an extremely wide range
  of topics, his capability approach has led to a
  critical evolution in the field of economics and
  in social sciences in general. Again the roots go
  back to Aristotle, Adam Smith and Karl Marx.
• The basic idea of the capability approach is that
  social arrangements should aim to expand peoples
  capabilities their freedom to promote or
  achieve valuable beings and doings.
• An essential test of progress, development, or
  poverty reduction, is whether people have greater
  freedoms.

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Capabilities Approach

• The central items in the capability approach are
• (a) Functionings (2) Capabilities (3) Agency
• Functionings are the valuable activities and
  states that make up peoples well being such as
  a healthy body, being safe, being calm, an
  educated mind, a good job.
• Functionings may relate to goods and income but
  they describe what a person is able to do or be
  as a result. (beings and doings). When popels
  basic need for food (a commodity) is met, they
  enjoy the functioning of being well nourished

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Capabilities Approach

• Some functionings may be very basic (being
  nourished, literate, clothed) and others might be
  quite complex (being able to play a virtuoso drum
  solo)
• Capabilities are the alternative combinations
  of functionings that are feasible for ( a person)
  to achieve. Put differently, they are the
  substantive freedoms she or he enjoys to lead the
  kind of life he or she has reason to value.
• Capabilities are a kind of opportunity freedom.
  Just like a person with much money in her pocket
  can buy many different things, a person with many
  capabilities could enjoy many different
  activities, pursue different life paths.

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Capabilities Approach

• Activities or states that people do not value or
  have reason to value could not be called
  capabilities.
• The difference between functioning and capability
  can be clarified with an example.
• Sens classic illustration of two persons who
  both dont eat enough to enable the functioning
  of being well nourished.
• The first person is a victim of famine in
  Ethiopia, while the second person decided to go
  on a hunger strike in front of Chinese embassy in
  Washington to protest against the occupation of
  tibet.

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Capability Approach

• Although both persons lack the functionings of
  being well nourished, the freedom they had to
  avoid being hungry is crucial. The second person
  has the capability to avoid under-nourishment.
• Agency Agency refers to a persons ability to
  pursue and realize goals that he or she values
  and has reason to value. An agent is someone who
  acts and brings about change.
• Agency expands the horizons of concern beyond a
  persons own well being. In this perspective,
  people are viewed to be active, creative, and
  able to act on behalf of their aspirations.
  Participation, public debate, democratic
  practice, and empowerment.

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Capability Approach

• A bicycle provides a good example for better
  understanding of terms. A person may own or be
  able to use a bicycle (resource). By riding the
  bicycle, the person moves around the town and we
  assume, values this mobility (functioning).
• However, if the person is unable to ride the
  bicycle (because, perhaps,she has no balance),
  then having a bicycle would not infact result in
  this functioning.
• In this case, the access to resource coupled with
  the persons characteristics (balance), creates
  the capability for the person to move around the
  town when she wishes.

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Capability Approach

• Let us suppose that the person having this
  capability to leap upon a bicycle and pedal over
  to a friends house for lunch- thus having a
  capability that contributes to happiness or
  utility.
• Resource Functioning Capability Utility
• Bicycle - Mobility - To cycle -
  Pleasure
• Thus bicycle example illustrates how the various
  concept are related to one another when they
  coincide nicely.
• But the question is which concept should we focus
  on? Which will be distorted most often? The
  capability approach argues that utility can be
  distorted by personality or adaptive preferences

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Capability Approach

• functioning can be enjoyed in a stifled
  environment and a bicycle can be useless if you
  cannot balance, so capability represents the most
  accurate space in which to investigate and
  advance the various forms of human well being.
• However, Martha Nussabam argues that Sens
  Capability Approach is incomplete.
• Since what people consider to be valuable and
  relevant can often be the product of structures
  of inequality and discrimination and because not
  all human freedom are equally valuable for
  example, the freedom to pollute is not of equal
  value to the freedom to care for the environment-
  she argues that one needs to go beyond this
  incompleteness so that respect equal freedom

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Capability Approach

• She has proposed a list of central human
  capabilities for evaluative space for public
  policy.
• Her list is Life bodily health bodily
  integrity senses, imagination, thought
  emotions practical reason affiliation other
  species play control over ones environment
  (political and material).
• To conclude, Capability approach advocates for
  removal of obstacles in peoples lives,
  increasing their freedom to achieve functioning
  that they value.
• Sen summarizes role of human capabilities as
• -- their direct relevance to the well being and
  freedom
• -- their indirect role to economic production
• --their indirect role through influencing social
  change

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Human Rights Approach

• Another influential idea in policy circles in
  tune with the core principles of human
  development and Capability Approach was Human
  Rights paradigm. Human rights evolved as a
  response to post war narratives.
• The HDR (2000) puts Human Rights and Human
  Development share a common vision and a common
  purpose to secure freedom, well being and
  dignity of all people everywhere.
• The Universal Declaration on Human Rights (1948)
  sets out fundamental freedoms and human rights to
  which all people everywhere are entitled equally
  on the basis of non-discrimination.
• These include the human rights to fundamental
  benefits including food, health, housing, an
  adequate

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Human Rights Approach

• standard of living, education, protection of the
  family, democracy, participation, rule of law,
  and protection against enslavement, torture,
  cruel or inhuman or degrading treatment or
  punishment.
• Subsequent human rights conventions have
  translated these human rights into legally
  binding form (under human rights international
  law).
• First generation rights (civil, political),
  second generation economic, social, cultural
• Legally binding international treaties provide
  more specific protection to particular groups
  (e.g. women and children) and in relation to
  particular violations (e.g. slavery and racial
  discrimination)

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Human Rights Approach

• Internationally recognized human rights are
  generally viewed in terms of three basic
  principles Universal (to all), Equal (equality
  and non-discrimination), inalienable (can not be
  transferred)
• Also the principle of indivisibility and
  interdependence of human rights
• Who is responsible for upholding human rights?
  The assignment of responsibility is central to
  human rights approach. Who should be doing or
  whom? Human right holders and Obligation-holders
  or duty-holders
• Although human rights are a moral concept, they
  have also developed into specific legal tools
  with established institutional mechanisms for
  monitoring, accountability and enforcement.

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Human Rights Approach

• The primary burden for upholding human rights is
  assigned to nationa-states or governments.
• Coordination with othersNGOs,national
  institutions, other countries, international
  organizations
• What are the obligations of nation states? More
  than 150 countries have promised to defend the
  core civil, political rights and social,
  cultural, economic rights recognized in
  international human rights law.
• Three types of obligations (a) to respect human
  rights (b) to protect human rights (c) to
  promote human rights
• International recognition of individual and
  collective obligations was underlined by the
  adoption of the Declaration on the Right to
  Development by the UN General Assembly in 1986

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Human Rights and Human Development

• How do human rights and the human development and
  capability approaches relate to one another?
• They have much in common. They reflect the maxim
  that individuals should not be treated as a means
  to an end, but should be treated as ends.
• Human rights suggest that all people have claims
  to social and economic arrangements that protect
  them from the worst abuses and deprivations, and
  that enable them to enjoy their security and
  dignity as human beings.
• Human development, in turn, is a process of
  expanding valuable human freedoms the range of
  valuable things that a person can do and be

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Human rights and Human Development

• What human rights add to HD? To have a particular
  right is to have a claim on other people or
  institutions that they should help or collaborate
  in ensuring access to some freedom.
• This insistence on a claim on others takes us
  beyond the idea of human development.
• In the HD approach, the normative connection
  between laudable goals and reason for action does
  not yield specific duties on the part of other
  individuals, collectives or social institutions
  to bring about human development.
• This is where human rights approach offers useful
  additional perspective for HD approach

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Human Rights and Human Development

• What HD adds to human rights? Just as human
  rights contribute to HD, so HD helps to augment
  the reach of human rights approach.
• The tradition of articulation and definiteness in
  the analysis of human development which can add
  something to the literature on human rights.
• By attending to the process of HD, human rights
  analysis can get a fuller assessment of what is
  feasible given the resource and institutional
  constraints that prevail within a society, and a
  clear understanding of the ways and means of
  making a more attractive set of policy choices
  feasible.
• Thus, when HD and human rights advance together,
  they reinforce each other.

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Evolution of Human Development Approach

• Two things here.
• (a)Evolution from economic growth to human
  development
• (b) How HDRs tackled the problem of ends and
  means in its reports over time?
• Evolution over time
• --Economic growth
• --Redistribution with growth
• --Human capital approach
• --Basic Needs approach, Physical quality of life
  index
• -- Amartya Sens capability approach
• --Human Development Approach

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HOW HDRs tackled the problem of ends and means

• HDRs different from growth approach
• In embracing HD approach, the HDRs have
  highlighted two central messages
• (a) defining well being as the purpose of
  development and treating economic growth as a
  means (b) this ends-means relationships has been
  developed in new concepts and measures, and in
  articulating policy priorities.
• Successive reports have shown that countries with
  similar GNPs have shown different levels of
  human development levels.

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HOW HDRs tackled the problem of ends and means

• With focus on ends, HDRs have defined deprivation
  and inequality in non-income terms. HDR 1997 made
  a conceptual breakthrough on poverty by
  introducing the concept of human poverty.
• This defines poverty as deprivation in lives and
  choices rather income.
• On globalization, HDR 1999 goes beyond the
  impact of trade and capital liberalization on
  economic growth. It focuses instead on the
  changing opportunities in peoples lives and
  raises concerns over new insecurities that are
  being created.

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HOW HDRs tackled the problem of ends and means

• Technology, environment topics also focus on
  human development rather than on incomes.
• Another human-centred concept that has had
  considerable impact on public debates is the
  notion of human security. It focuses on the
  security of people rather than on the security of
  national borders.
• In looking at mobilizing human agency through
  collective action, HDR 1993, on participation,
  argues for two strategies (a) strengthening
  institutions of civil society (b) decentralizing
  power from capital cities to regions and villages.

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Inclusive Growth or Inclusive Development

• In recent years, inclusive growth or inclusive
  development approach is becoming important. It is
  partly influenced by HD approach
• This approach indicates that growth has improved
  significantly but only few sections benefited.
  Inclusive growth or development approach
  indicates that all sections of society should be
  benefited.
• For example, inclusive approach says we should
  focus on divides rural-urban, social divides,
  regional disparities etc.
• It advocates focus on agriculture, poverty and
  employment, social sector, regional and other
  disparities. Also non-income indicators and
  freedoms should be improved for all the sections
  rather than few.

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Inclusive Growth

• International organizations also have advocated
  policies which are different from Washington
  Concensus
• UNICEF (adjustment with human face), UNDP (HD
  approach), ILO (decent work)
• World Banks World Development Report (2000/01)
  also talks about growth with equity (on human
  capital
• Some governments have been following inclusive
  growth approach. For example, Indias 11th Five
  Year Plan advocates this approach. As part of
  this government has been following rights
  approach (right to employment, right to
  education, right to food, right to information)

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Social Security in HD perspective

• Social security in developing countries is
  considered much wider than that in developed
  countries.
• In developed countries, it is only protective
  type of care arrangements to take care of
  contingencies.
• In Developing countries, poor and workers suffer
  from two sets of problems (a) capability
  deprivation (b) the second one is adversity, no
  fallback mechanism to meet contingencies such as
  ill health, accident, death and old age.
• Following HD perspective, social security is
  divided into (a) basic social security to cover
  capability deprivation and (b) contingent social
  security to take care of risks or adversities

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Critique or problems HD approach

• Conceptually capability and HD approaches are
  good. But, difficult to measure freedoms
  political and data problems. How to
  operationalise HD and capability approaches is a
  problem.
• Some say that it is abstract construction. For
  operationalizing three things are needed.
• -- First, Sens distinction between simple and
  complex functioning is too watertight. In real
  life, there is mutual interdependence between
  them . This is not recognized.
• -- Second, Sens formulation of capability
  approach focuses exclusively on the individual,
  ignoring the collective i.e. voice of an
  organised community.

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Critique or problems in HD

• Third, capability approachs articulation of
  democracy focuses at national level. What matters
  genuine participation is local participation and
  deep democratic decentralization.
• Human Development Index (HDI) has limitations.
• The high profile of the HDI has sometimes led to
  its misuse or misinterpretation.
• Ironically, the success of HDI only reinforced
  narrow interpretation of HD approach.
• Two flaws in the initial design of HDI the
  simplification of complex idea and exclusion of
  references to political freedoms and
  participation.

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Critique or problems in HD

• Despite careful efforts to explain that the
  notion of human development is broader than its
  index, the message has not reached people.
• Message has to reach that HD approach is broader
  than education and health because human
  capabilities extend well beyond these areas.
• The index does not capture all dimensions of HD
  
• It may not always be true that the quality of
  peoples lives have improved when HDI increased.
  It is possible that political repression, crime,
  pollution and racial discrimination may be on the
  rise even HDI values move upward.
• It does not capture important capabilities
  political freedoms, personal security and
  participation

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Conclusion

• Articulating development as a widening of
  choices, an expansion of freedoms and a
  fulfillment of human rights gives it a distinct
  edge over the approaches of economic growth,
  basic needs, human capital or human resource
  development and social development.
• Human development, human capabilities and human
  rights approaches are complementary to each
  other.
• By bringing into sharp focus issues of
  deprivation and inequality, human development
  puts people and among them, the most deprived
  at the centre of development interventions.

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Conclusion

• Embedded in the concept is a firm commitment to
  democracy, human rights, participation and a deep
  respect for the environment.
• Inspite of several efforts, there is still
  confusion about the human development approach.
  The message has to be conveyed frequently.

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• THANK YOU