The human development report phenomenon has provided impetus not only in the NGO world, but in governments and local authorities as well, writes Riham Mustafa* It is arguable that championing the cause of human development, which the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has undertaken since the early 1990s, probably tops the list of contributions that the UNDP has made to assist development in Egypt. The central instrument in this endeavour was the series of human development reports, which were first published in 1994 nationally and in 2003 at the sub-national level. The 60th anniversary of the UN provides a good opportunity to reflect on and take stock of Egypt's human development reports, and how they helped set the development agenda in recent years. The first Worldwide Human Development Report (WHDR) was launched in 1990 under the leadership of Pakistani economist and Finance Minister Mahboub Al-Haq, with strong intellectual support from Indian Nobel laureate for economics Amartya Sen. The main goal of the report was putting people back at the centre of the development process; going beyond income to assess the level of people's long term well-being. It emphasised that human development is about much more than the rise and fall of national incomes. It is about creating an environment to enlarge people's choices. Fundamental to enlarging these choices is building human capabilities. The most basic aspects of human development are longevity and health, knowledge, access to resources necessary for a decent standard of living, and being able to participate in decision making processes. The "human development index" was introduced as a more comprehensive alternative to GNP. The index focuses on three measurable dimensions of human development: living a long and healthy life, being educated and having a decent standard of living. Thus it combines measures of life expectancy, school enrolment, literacy and income to allow a broader view of a country's development than does national income alone. Since the first report, three new composite indices for human development have been developed: the gender-related development index, the gender empowerment measure, and the human poverty index. Since the first WHDR, more than 420 national and sub-national human development reports have been produced. These reports take the broader approach to the national level and are prepared and owned by national teams. Despite some success resulting from the economic reform and structural adjustment programme -- including a decrease in the budget deficit, an increase in international reserves and growth in the value of public sector assets -- critics noted that in Egypt in the 1990s "the real objective of any economic reform, which is to advance people's condition in all aspects of life, is almost out of sight." This was strong reason for the UNDP Egypt, an advocate of human development, to form a think tank group to examine ways to conceptualise a people-centred approach to development that should be environmentally, socially and financially sustainable. Formed in 1991, the think tank brought together an eminent group of Egyptian intellects of diverse ideological and spiritual backgrounds. The think tank addressed the challenges facing Egypt's policy makers: the legacy of past decades had left Egypt with unequal development, bureaucracy, and a generally inhibited participation of civil society in development. The group concluded that conditions in Egypt provided enough reason to justify a new paradigm: the human development approach. "The think tank made it clear that before designing strategies for human development, a human development profile for Egypt is essential," said Seheir Habib, the key driving force behind Egypt's own human development report and former UNDP assistant resident representative. "The next step was to identify a national institution to handle production of this report; an institution that would guarantee transparency of the state of human development based on solid scientific foundations. The Institute of National Planning (INP) met all these criteria," added Habib. The first national human development report (NHDP) for Egypt came into being in 1994. For the first time a human development index for all 26 governorates of Egypt was calculated and made accessible in a "user-friendly" way. The first NHDR had a major impact at the governorate level. Governors formed the "platform for action and monitoring" which committed them to realign development strategies around people and bridge gaps within the governorates. "An unprecedented impact of the first report was that we were able to identify regional disparities at the governorate level. We were able to provide evidence that Upper Egypt was the region most lagging behind in the country. This provided a strong reason to argue for greater attention and more resources for Upper Egypt," said Osman Mohamed Osman, minister of planning and former head of the INP. Since the first report, eight other NHDRs have been published, bringing different development topics in Egypt to the forefront of policy debates. In addition to the statistical aspect, each report focuses on a highly topical theme in the current development debate, providing path-breaking analysis and policy recommendations. According to Osman, only after the NHDR of 1996, for instance, was poverty explicitly targeted by the government and included in new policies. Minister Osman recalls that the report was the main source consulted when it came to reviewing the methodology and tools of measuring poverty in Egypt. Another example is the Municipal Initiatives for Strategic Recovery (MISR), which was borne out of the findings of the 2003 NHDR. The report calculated human development indices at the district ( markaz ) level and revealed for the first time pockets of deprivation in 58 districts. The project, implemented by the UNDP and Ministry of Planning, aims to improve the quality of life of people living in 600 least developed villages across 10 governorates (Fayoum, Beni Sweif, Al-Minya, Assiut, Sohag, Qena, Luxor, North Sinai, the Red Sea coast and Marsa Matrouh). Already influencing local development efforts, the project will be implemented over the next six years. Another influential report is the NHDR 2004 that urged the government to apply administrative, fiscal and political decentralisation. A major outcome of that report was that the government started to examine the issue of power sharing. For example, investment allocation is no longer made centrally. It is up to governors to decide where and how to allocate investments based on their priorities. The human development reports made data, information and findings that are often not accessible, readily available to the public. "Releasing the human development reports every year gives us, the media, a very distinct role; we help bring development topics to public debate which increases transparency of decision making and makes local government officials accountable for their decisions," said Amina Khairy from Al-Hayat newspaper. In 2003, seven governorate human development reports for Alexandria, Assiut, Fayoum, Kafr Al-Sheikh, Menoufiya, Sharqiya and Qalioubiya were launched, marking another step in the government's efforts to map human development across Egypt. The reports took the human development concept and approach to the lowest administrative level -- the village. As a result, seven governors signed a declaration of intent, committing themselves to use the reports to guide policy in improving public services and distributing available resources to villages, districts and cities. "I believe that NHDRs have been successful in calling the attention of policy-makers on priority issues and challenges. As a result, the order of priorities of the development agenda has been modified. Some of the reports have been more influential than others. In general, NHDRs have been key to mobilising involvement of the governorates in the process of measuring development and negotiating with central government for the finance of education and health. This has created a strong sense of healthy competition among regions and local administrations," said Antonio Vigilante, UNDP resident representative The forthcoming NHDR 2005 will be linked to NHDR 2004, as it will explore a vision of the country's desirable future, and what to do to get there. The report will attempt to answer a key question: What kind of country would Egyptians like Egypt to be in 2015? The report will identify the most promising economic arrangements, the most applicable means to deepen democracy, the best social balance, and what initiatives are necessary to create a more socially cohesive, developed and decentralised Egypt. * The writer is a UNDP communication associate.
