Title: Looking Ahead: Areas of future research in human development
Abstract: A research programme on human development should be guided by the following six principles. 1. It should be centred on human development both as an end in itself and as a means to raising productivity. All events and policies should be judged by their impact on people. At the same time the impact of people (their changing preferences attitudes aptitudes and skills) on events and policies should also be studied. It is this process of interaction between people and their environment that is our central concern. In this effort it should support and illuminate the annual Human Development Reports (HDRs) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). These are concerned with the human dimensions of development and more particularly the rapid eradication of destitution and poverty. The work calls for high standards of scholarship because sound research is needed to maintain the reputation of the Reports as authoritative sources of data analysis and policy. 2. The research should help in building and strengthening the administrative managerial technical institutional and policy-making capacity in the developing countries. It should also assist in improving their research capacity without sacrificing quality. This can often be achieved by collaboration between a team in an industrial country and one in a developing country or by a network of teams contributing to comparative studies. For some purposes international comparability is essential and central coordination is then called for. 3. It should be of practical use to the policy-makers in the developing countries and the bilateral and international development agencies. Purely academic exercises however valuable in advancing our knowledge are not of interest to the Human Development team. 4. It should as much as possible cooperate with and draw on existing research in the World Bank the International Monetary Fund other UN agencies universities research institutes and the rest of the academic world. Although some overlap is unavoidable and even desirable for competition here as in the market place can be healthy the stress should be on avoiding duplication of efforts and on filling gaps in our knowledge. 5. It should wherever appropriate draw on the vast experience and documentation of the UNDP which rests with its staff members past and present its field work and is buried in its files. Much of this has been untapped so far; access to it and use of it can help to overcome the gap that exists now between thinkers and doers between academics and practitioners. 6. High priority should be given to work on building capacity and institution in the developing countries. (excerpt)
Publication Year: 2000
Publication Date: 2000-02-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 28
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