Unit 5 - Human development and Diversity Flashcards
What are ways to measure human development?
- The UN Sustainable Development Goals
- Human Developments Index (HDI)
- Gender Related Development Index (GDI)
- Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM)
- Gender INEQUALITY INDEX (GII)
Background on SDGs
- agreed in 2016
- Although they are still subject to refinement and improvement as methods and availability improves.
- there are 17 goals and a number of sub-goals.
What is HDI?
A composite measure of development.
measured on a scale of 0-1.
Includes three basic components of human development:
- Life expectancy
- Education (mean years of schooling, expected years of schooling)
- Standard of living (GNI per capita)
Advantages of HDI
- Gives you a score/ quantitative - If you have a number you can make comparisons between other countries. Link their level of development with another countries level of development.
- Because it is a composite measure, it gives a fair idea of a country’s level of development.
- The HDI can also be used to question national policy choices, by asking how two countries with the same level of GNI per capita can end up with different human development outcomes. These contrasts can stimulate debate about government policy priorities.
Disadvantages of HDI
- It is difficult to calculate/measure the variables accurately, since data collection is expensive and time-consuming.
- Most countries use different currencies, hence calculating the GNI could pose problems because of the differences in exchange rate.
- Some goods and services are unpaid for. ie. volunteering in a charity shop, donating to charity or even parenting are most often left out in the calculation of the GNI.
What does the Gender Related Development Index (GDI) measure?
This measures achievements in the same dimensions as the HDI, however it measures the disparities between men and women. It considers three dimensions: long and healthy life, knowledge, and a decent standard of living.
What does the Gender Inequality Index (GII) measure?
GII measures gender inequalities in three aspects of human development:
reproductive health, measured by maternal mortality ratio and adolescent birth rates;
empowerment, measured by proportion of parliamentary seats occupied by females and proportion of adult females and males aged 25 years and older with at least some secondary education; and
economic status, expressed as labour market participation and measured by labour force participation rate of female and male populations aged 15 years and older.
Ranks: Top three countries: Norway (0.048), Switzerland (0.39), Australia (0.109)
Strengths of GII
- GII helps to expose the differences in the distribution of achievements between women and men.
- It measures the human development costs of gender inequality. Thus, the higher the GII value the greater the disparities between females and males and the greater the loss to human development.
Weaknesses of GII
- In societies with low status of women, it can be difficult for women to participate in some sectors of the economy such as politics and technical disciplines. Consequently, the data obtained might not give a true reflection of the level of gender equality in a country
What is the Gender Empowerment Measure? (GEM)
This reveals whether women can take an active part in economic or political life. It shows the level of inequality in opportunities for men and women in selected areas, by considering factors such as participation and gender (in)equality in decision making (economic and political). This is achieved by considering the number of female parliamentarians, the number of female workers etc. Norway has the highest GEM at 0.837 (on a scale of 0 to 1). The lowest is Yemen.
Strengths of GEM
- It gives an indication of the level of involvement of women in decision making
- It will indicate the level of education in a country, if women are educated, that is when they will be able to take part in decision making.
- It gives an indication of the level of child education; the extent to which their children are educated.
Weaknesses of GEM
it is a single measure of development other indicators are important such as environmental sustainability.
What are the successes of empowering women in Colombia?
- Girls’ enrolment in secondary and tertiary education outperforms boys’
- Women constituted 29.9% of the labour force in 1990 and by 2012, this had risen to 42.7%
- significant progress in legislation and policies that address violence against women. particularly, Law 1257 of 2008 which greatly increased sanctions and sentencing for violence and discrimination against women.
- quota law established that women must occupy at least 30% of appointed positions in the executive, legislative and judicial branches and at all levels of government.
What are the challenges ahead for empowering women in Colombia?
- The main causes of the conflict are inequality, access to land, political, class and generational divisions and these remain.
- Progress has benefitted well educated, wealthy urban women, however, many rural women are illiterate and poor and continue to experience gender based discrimination and violence.
What are the successes so far of Nepal’s Western Uplands Poverty Alleviation Project?
- Improved the lives of the most vulnerable
- Improved access to services and resources
- Investments made in education, health, infrastructure and employment
e. g. water systems built in Guranse Village = reduced 30 mins walking time to nearest water source in Panigaida. Now water is pumped and water unit counters are used for 60 rupees per 1000 units. Benefitting 37 households – 184 women and 187 men use water from the tank. Women saving time fetching water.
What are the challenges ahead for Nepal’s Western Uplands Poverty Alleviation Project?
Project design was too complex due to a lot of political tension. When companies came into support they were too torn between who to support.
What is social entrereneurship?
It is an approach to human development that combines business techniques and principles to develop and fund projects that solve social, economic, environmental or cultural problems.
Why is Social entrepreneurship important in terms of achieving the Sustainable development goals?
To achieve the Sustainable Dev’t Goals, there is the need to implement resilient strategies that can stand the test of time. This calls for the need to adopt a wide range of development strategies to meet these goals.
What are examples of social entrepreneurship approaches to human development?
- microfinance organizations
- fair trade initiatives
- corporate social responsibility.
Define microfinance
It provides better financial services to people that banks don’t serve.
E.g. - Microfinance institutions such as NGOs in many countries offer loans with a few thousand dollars at a time for those in need.
- Microfinance institutions can also provide savings accounts and insurance to their clients, allowing them to manage risk more effectively.
Benefits of microfinance in supporting human development
- Sometimes, these loans are all it takes to help a person become profitably self employed. Their business can provide valuable goods and services to their community, and proceeds from their business can support them and their family, and allow them to pay back their loan.
- Loans are also sometimes used for housing, education, or to create other opportunities to allow people to improve their lives.
- If bad weather or illness or other unforeseen events disrupt a client’s business, savings and insurance can help keep their livelihood in tact.
Weaknesses of microfinances
- In India, some borrowers have committed suicide due to their inability to repay the loans taken from microfinance institutions. This leaves their family indebted and unable to repay the loan.
- When women are targeted, the loans given to them are sometimes misappropriated by their husbands, thus defeating the whole purpose of granting the funds to women.
- Sometimes, loans are used by the borrowers to meet social needs such as funerals, marriage rites, hence making the payment of the loans a challenge in the long-run
Define Fair trade
Fair trade is trade that attempts to be socially, economically and environmentally responsible. ie. they adopt policies that meet the livelihood of the people, respect/preserve their local culture and protect/uses environmental resources wisely.
What forms does Fair trade take?
- It help farmers obtain fairer prices for their produce.
- It help farmers with the needed technology to increase food production like tractors, combined harvesters.
- It provides guaranteed markets for the products.
- More income returns to farmers and stays within the country (with an economic multiplier effect);
Greater possibility of farmers growing food crops, rather than industrial crops.
Example of how fair trade is implemented in the Dominican Republic
Looks at banana farmers. The land belongs to farmers therefore, for each box sold he gets a guaranteed $8 75 or more and on top of that he gets $1 of social premium money that goes directly to the cooperative and funds important development projects. It is easy to see why 90% of the banana farmers in the region participate in fair trade.
Improves quality of life, the social premium they have is investing in education or in sports that has not existed before. It helps poor farmers a sports field, a maternity ward and also a public school where students were previously taught outside in the heat or interrupted by sudden rains. With the money they received they could expand the school to two classrooms.
Environmental and social benefits of fair trade in supporting human development
Environmental:
- Fair trade aims topreserve natural habitats and climates - Use ofgenetically modified organisms forbidden - Water used as sparingly as possible
Social:
- Fair trade provides families with a stable income which canprovide them with vastly more opportunities, and minimizes the risk for exploitative child labour
Weaknesses of fair trade
- issue regarding the FT model is the maintaining of countries of the south in a disadvantageous economic specialisation. While most of them have been exporting primary commodities since colonial times, this has not led to economic transformations beneficial to the vast majority of their populations.
Define Corporate social responsibility
refers to the attempts of companies to assess the social, economic, and environmental impacts of their activities and take action to reduce these impacts if necessary.
M&S corporate social responsibility case study
• Haygrove Heaven Farm was set up in 2001 with the principal idea of supplying berries to M&S
• Located just outside of Cape Town, South Africa
• Plan A means building a farm and an enterprise that’s sustainable for the future.
○ This farm supports Plan A.
• Much of what they do and have done is inspired by Plan A and M&S
• The Bright Futures project started as an idea in 2007 and the owners of Haygrove Heaven decided they wanted to put something back into the community.
• With help with a grant from the shell foundation and a guaranteed market from M&S, they developed a model upliftment program whose ultimate objective is to provide disadvantaged farmworkers with an opportunity for them to become farmers in their own right.
○ Stage one of The Bright Future project: Practical training in the field that ranges from weeding lacing and stringing to harvesting the fruit.
○ There is also the theory, agricultural theory that goes with irrigation, soil content and insect management.
The second stage looks at basic Maths, English, computer literacy, driving lessons.
