The Human Development Report (HDR) has become one of the chief policy analysis and advocacy tools at the global, regional, national, and sub-national level. Global HDRs takes up issues at the global level and are prepared by the Human Development Report Office (HDRO) in New York. Regional HDRs have a narrower geographical scope, although some of the analyses and lessons may be of relevance to other regions. One important feature of regional HDRs is that, aside from covering issues common to many countires within the region, they address themes that are too sensitive to be addressed at the national level. National HDRs narrowed the scope even further: at the level of a particular country and thus While RHDRs and NHDRs address emerging concerns, national reports have inherently stronger "ownership" while regional have relatively stronger "independence".
Three important features makes HDRs distinct from the other documents. First, they go beyond a technical or sectoral analysis and apply the human development lens to the issues. Second, an HDR is predominantly an advocacy platform that a broad cross-section of stakeholders can use to exert influence on policy-makers to align polices more in tune with human development concerns. Third, HDRs are a culmination of inclusive consultations that help to build consensus among various stakeholders. Realising the importance of a participatory and inclusive process, this aspect has been included as one of the basic principles of UNDP Corporate Policy on NHDRs (see http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/nhdr_cp_english.pdf). The six UNDP Corporate Policy Principles on NHDRs are:
- National ownership
- Independence of analysis
- Quality of analysis
- Participatory and inclusive preparation
- Flexibility and creativity in presentation
- Sustained follow-up
Though regional and national HDRs are different in their choice of themes and address different (though overlapping) stakeholders, most of the basic principles are common to both.
About 640 NHDRs and 35 RHDRs have been produced across the globe since 1990. However, the challenge to conform to the above principles still remains. Each HDR is based in a different context, addresses different themes and uses different tools for analysis. Some HDRs have lived up to these principles and are remembered as a landmark in the field of human development. Others, despite the most sincere efforts, have not been able to match these standards. The challenge is thus to make each one of these unique and effective without compromising any of the basic principles.
Objectives of the Training Workshop
This training workshop has been organised at the request of the Afghanistan, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam UNDP Country Offices and is part of HD Capacity development and knowledge sharing. Taking into account the requirements indicated by these Country Offices and the challenges highlighted above, the training has been designed to cover theory and practice aspects as well as possible policy implications.
The workshop is designed to cover the following areas:
- Human development: Approach and concepts
- Measurement and composite indices
- Human Development Reports: The process
- Application of HD approaches
- Themes through a HD lense: A mapping exercise
The two main objectives and corresponding results of the training event are:
- Capacity Building: strengthen CO capacity in human development. Participants will explore the theory and practical aspects related to HDRs and examine the possible policy implications.
- Information Sharing: share COs experiences and challenges in the preparation of HDRs and build on best practices with regard to analysis, advocacy, dissemination, etc. Participants will exchange lessons learned and good practices.
