Unit 5 - Development opportunities Flashcards
UN Sustainable Development Goals
came into force on January 2016 - goals extend efforts to end poverty, reduce inequalities and tackle environment degradation, including climate change
- goals are wide ranging and include 160 targets - they are not legally binding but governments are expected to develop systems in order to achieve the goals
Some countries, including Japan and the UK have reservations about the SDG’s and believe that there should be fewer of them - These are also doubts about how the funding will be made available within all countries to achieve them
The Human development Index
composite measure of development including three basic components of human development :
- life expectancy
- mean years of schooling, expected years of schooling
- income adjusted to local cost of living, that is, purchasing power
United Nations has encouraged the use of the HDI as it is more reliable than single indicators suc as gross national income
Countries with a very high human development index generally have relatively high index for each component (countries at the top = Australia, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark). In contrast in the bottom - Central African republic, Niger, Chad, Burundi and Burkina Faso.
Gender Equality Index
in 2010, UNDP introduced the Gender Inequality Index - countries with the lowest gender inequality (meaning women are better off) in 2015 where in rank Switzerland, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden and Iceland
Measuring gender inequality
Gender Inequality Index measures in 3 ways :
- reproductive health
- Gender empowerment
- Economic status
Empowering women
UN Women and UN global compact have developed the following Women’s Empowerment Principles :
- Establish corporate leadership for gender equality
- Treat all women and men fairly at work
- Ensure the health, safety and well being of all workers
- Promote education, training and professional development
- Promote equality through community initiatives
- Measure and report on progress to achieve gender equality
Case study Empowering women in Colombia
One of the longest armed conflicts in Latin America took place in Colombia from 1964 onwards - during that time world became mobilised
Colombia now has more women in decision- making positions than ever before (by 2011 - 32% of cabinet members were women, up from just 12% in 1998)
Empowering indigenous and minority groups
370 million indigenous people around the world accounting for a disproportionate amount of it’s poor
- indigenous people are generally marginalised and isolated in worse health than the general population and much less able to participate in economic and political processes
Most live in rural areas depending on agriculture and related activities for their livelihoods
International Fund for Agricultural Development is a UN agency that aims to eliminate rural poverty by financing projects to aid agricultural development in LIC’s
- In Panama for example : IFAD established a sustainable rural development project for the Ngobe- Bugle territory to restore land rights to indigenous communities - provided financial and technical support to communities and improved local leaders planning and administrative skills
Social entrepreneurship and human development : Microfinance
Around 2.5 Billion adults have no access to financial services and 80% of people living on less than 2$ a day have no bank account
Microfinance has grown to meet the needs of these people - microfinance lending schemes aim to reduce poverty, discrimination and enable market access for the poor.
Most people who use microfinance are popel in rural areas mianly farmers who cannot access other forms of finance - they need to borrow money to buy seeds and fertilizers and improve their farms
Microfinance schemes often focus on women who are unable to own land or borrow money
Microfinance schemes the theory
Microfinance schemes have the potential to improve living standards for many poor people - however schemes have their critics
1) Their interest rates are higher than those of commercial banks
2) Some people will use te loans to pay for food or health rather than starting a business
3) Not all poor people are entrepreneurs and so loans may be wasted
4) loans may be used to pay off other loans
Social entrepreneurship and human development : Fair trade
can be defined as trade that attempts to be socially, economically and environmentally responsible - trade in which companies take responsibility for the wider impact of their businesses
attempt to address the shortcomings of the global trading system and ensure that producers in poor countries get a fair deal including fair price for goods and service
Principles of Fair trade
Creating oppertunities for economically disadvantaged producers
- poverty alleviation - purpose to create opportunities for producers who are economically disadvantaged
Transparency and Accountability
- fair and respect trading patterns
Trade relations
- Fair trade organizations trade with concern for the social, economic and env wellbeing of small producers
Payment of a Fair Price
- fair price = one that has been agreed through dialogue and paticipation - covers not only the cost of production but enables production which is socially just
Child Labour
- respect the UN convention on the Rights of the Child as well as local laws and social norms to ensure participation of children does not adversely affect their well being
Non-discrimination, Gender equity and freedom of association
- organisation does not discriminate in hiring - women’s work is properly valued (women always paid for their contribution)
Working conditions
- safe and healthy working env for producers
Capacity Building - means to develop producers’ interdependence - provide continuity during which producers and their marketing organisations can improve management skills
Corporate Social Responsibility
Corporate social responsibility refers to the practices of companies to manage the social, economic and env impacts of their activities - mcdonalds eg = sustainable beef production, sustainable palm oil, fish etc
Case Study : Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh
On april 24th 2013 - eight storey garment factory in Rana Plaza collapsed killing more than 1100 people - over half the victims were women and children - one of the worst industrial accidents in south asia since the Bhopal disaster of 1984
Case Study : Unilever
Unilever = TNC in the food and beverage sector with comprehensive CSR strategy - ranked food industry leader in the dow jones world Indexes for 11 consecutive years
