Annex A: List of UNDP Human Development Reports on Local Development Issues

This Annex reports a detailed list of several UNDP HDRs - global, macro-regional, national or sub-national - that devote attention to local development processes. Without any intention of exhaustiveness, the reports are listed under three head­ings, referred to three broad topics of central importance within the literature on local development.

Topic 1: MESO institutions, local social capital and social norms

Global HDRs

• "2004 - Cultural Liberty in Today's Diverse World"

■+ Multicultural policies that recognize differences between groups are needed to address injustices historically rooted and socially entrenched.

• "1993 - People's Participation"

■+ The Report looks at decentralized governance and community organizations, especially NGOs, and suggests concrete policy measures to address the growing problems of jobless growth.

Macro-regional HDRs

• "Eastern Europe & Central Asia 2011 - Beyond Transition. Towards Inclusive Societies"

■+ Focuses on building social capital, levels of trust and participation in civic networks. In addition, local socio-institutional settings shape social exclusion patterns.

• "Asia and the Pacific 2010 - Power, Voices and Rights"

■+ Focus on social norms and gender equality.

• "Eastern Europe & Central Asia 2003 - Avoiding the dependency traps"

■+ Explores the links between social capital and interactions with other ethnic groups.

National HDRs

• "Kyrgyzstan 2013 - Local Self Governance"

■+ Local self-government is conceived not only as a system of governance designed to tackle a range of issues on a local level but also as an environment and essential condition for human development.

• "Philippines 2008/2009 - Institutions, Politics and Human Development in the Philippines"

■+ Considers how institutional rules may impinge upon an agency's ability to deliver its mandate.

• "Egypt 2008 - The Role of Civil Society"

■+ Focuses on encouraging growth and innovation among civil society organi­zations, in addition to improving the legal and administrative environment within which they operate.

• "Sierra Leone 2007 - The district focus approach to development"

■+ Decentralization and local empowerment are viewed as a key strategy for consolidating peace and reducing poverty.

• "Romania 2005 - Local Governance"

■+ Emphasizes the right of citizens to take part in the management of public affairs.

• "Jordan 2004 - Building sustainable livelihoods"

■+ Devotes attention to the social capital of subgroups among the poor.

• "Kenya 2003 - Participatory Governance for Human Development"

■+ Highlights the importance of participatory governance for growth, poverty reduction and sustainable human development.

• "Bulgaria 2002 - Municipalities in the Context of Districts"

■+ Comparison between municipal and district level human development indices reveals stark contrasts between neighbouring municipalities belonging to the same districts. Overcoming these disparities involves putting in place demo­cratic self-government and accountability mechanisms at all governance levels in this country.

• "Nepal 2001 - Poverty reduction and governance"

■+ As people's capacity to participate in decision-making processes grows, and citizen ownership of governance bodies and institutions expands, greater transparency and equity in the distribution of resources and heightened effectiveness and efficiency in service delivery is produced.

Sub-National HDRs

• "Mexico 2009 - Capacidades institucionales para el desarrollo humano local, Jalisco"

■+ Embraces institutional variables as crucial determinant of human development at the local level, and identifies tailored local strategies of public policy for municipal governments in Jalisco.

• "Argentina 2001 - Informe sobre Desarrollo Humano en la Provincia de Buenos Aires"

■+ Analyses how volunteering within the local community contributing to build­ing a better society.

Topic 2: Territorial/local/sub-national development

Global HDRs

• "2002 - Deepening democracy in a fragmented world"

Focuses on the deepening democracy at the local level.

• "1993 - People's participation"

■+ Concentrates on people and governance and on people's participation in community organizations.

Macro-regional HDRs

• "Africa 2012 - Towards a Food Secure Future"

Considers how strengthening local government advances food security.

• "Caribbean 2012 - Human Development and the Shift to Better Citizen Security"

■+ Considers the importance of providing employment opportunities that target the marginalized urban poor.

• "Eastern Europe & Central Asia 2011 - Beyond Transition. Towards Inclusive Societies"

■+ Emphasizes fine-tuning policies to the local context.

• "Eastern Europe & Central Asia 2005 - Bridging down barriers"

■+ Argues that governments, businesses, civil society and communities can come together in many different areas - trade, investment, water, energy, and envi­ronment, natural disaster mitigation, drug control, education, health and culture - in order to create greater opportunities for human development and human security.

• "Eastern Europe & Central Asia 1998 - Poverty in transition"

■+ Focuses on building small and medium-sized enterprises and microfinance for development.

National HDRs

• "Egypt 2008 - The Role of Civil Society"

■+ Focuses on the developmental role of civil society, particularly its contribution to social policy formulation.

• "Russian Federation 2007 - Russia's Regions: Goals, Challenges, and Achievements"

■+ Provides a comprehensive survey of regional human development problems and attempts to identify positive socio-economic policies aimed at overcoming them.

• "Sierra Leone 2007 - The district focus approach to development"

■+ Focuses on empowering local government for sustainable development and poverty reduction.

• "Timor-Leste 2006 - The Path out of Poverty"

■+ Focuses on poverty and the ways of reducing it, particularly through integrated rural development.

• "Bosnia and Herzegovina 2005 - Better Local Governance"

■+ Tracks development performance at the sub-national level.

• "Latvia 2005 - Human Capabilities in the Region"

■+ The Report offers insight into such issues as development resources, opportu­nities and capabilities as preconditions for development in the regions.

• "Egypt 2004 - Choosing Decentralization for Good Governance"

■+ Focuses on local governance, private sector participation, voices of the poor, civil service reform and capacity building.

• "Jordan 2004 - Building sustainable livelihoods"

■+ Shows that human development gains at the macro-level in Jordan have yet to trickle down to many subgroups among the poor.

• "Kosovo 2004 - The Rise of the Citizen: Challenges and Choices"

■+ Emphasizes the significance of decentralization and the importance of the development of a deeper, municipality-based data set to explore whether global figures are disguising significant variations on gender equality, infant mortality and other indicators.

• "Mexico 2004 - El reto del Desarrollo Local"

■+ Analyses regional inequalities and proposes a local vision of human develop­ment based on the Municipal Human Development Index for Mexico.

• "The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 2004 - Decentralization for Human Development"

■+ Discusses the opportunities and potential pitfalls of decentralization.

• "Bulgaria 2003 - Rural Regions: Overcoming Development Disparities"

■+ Lagging rural regions pose a limitation to human development in Bulgaria. The report underlines the need for decentralizing government institutions and their policies and programs. In addition, Bulgaria's accession to the EU is regarded as an opportunity for the equitable development of rural regions.

• "Albania 2002 - Challenges of Local Governance and Regional Development"

■+ Focuses on the calculation of sub-national HDIs, identifying important socio­economic trends at the regional level, the difficulties facing local governments in managing local development in the public interest, the integration of regional development initiatives with national development framework and addressing the development imbalances that have risen among regions over the past decade.

• "Kazakhstan 2002 - Rural development in Kazakhstan"

■+ The Report emphasizes social aspects of rural development and addresses rural poverty issues in the context of income poverty and poverty of opportunity.

• "Lao PDR 2001 - Advancing Rural Development"

■+ The report assesses the strengths and weaknesses of current government poli­cies towards rural development and concludes that decentralization is a key element to ensure their success.

• "Bulgaria 2000 - The Municipal Mosaic"

■+ Analyses all 262 Bulgarian municipalities and identifies the economic, social and institutional variables, as well as attitudes prevailing on the lowest level of self-government in this country. The central theme for the report is the link between human development, governance and municipalities.

• "Guatemala 1999 - The rural human face of human development"

■+ Argues that rural areas produce the most important employment and currency sources. Rural areas also see the bloodiest moments of armed conflict.

Sub-National HDRs

• "Colombia 2008 - Bogota, una apuestapor Colombia"

■+ Within the human development perspective, it examines Bogota in its physical, socio-economic, political and cultural dimensions.

• "Mexico 2007 - Informe para Michoacan”

■+ It reports recent tendencies in different dimensions of human development in Michoacan, discussing the main challenges to be faced and identifying spaces of opportunity for public, private and social action.

• "Nigeria 2006 - Niger Delta HDR”

■+ The Niger Delta is a region suffering from administrative neglect, crumbling social infrastructure and services, high unemployment, social deprivation, abject poverty, filth and squalor and endemic conflict.

• "India 2005 - Chhattisgarh HDR”

■+ The report is an expression of the voice of the people. It is an articulation of their needs and aspirations, disappointments and hopes as well as their expectations and contributions.

• "India 2005 - Kerala HDR”

■+ Importance of providing holistic health care, employment-oriented education, high quality social security, continued food and nutrition security with an even stronger pro-poor bias. In order to meet these development goals, this report emphasizes the need for a long time horizon in investment, high levels of skills and knowledge, a high technological base, modern forms of organization and professional management and governance. Another important theme that is addressed in this report is the problem of gender disparity in property rights and participation in public affairs.

• "Argentina 2001 - Informe sobre Desarrollo Humano en la Provincia de Buenos Aires”

■+ Considers community capacities to promote human development, in particular through community organizations, high education institutions and local governments.

Topic 3: Collective capabilities and power struggle at the local level

Global HDRs

• "2013 - The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World”

■+ Argues that policymaking should aim to expand social capacities, and not just individual capabilities.

• "2011 - Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All”

■+ Shows that power inequalities affect environmental public goods management.

• "2004 - Cultural Liberty in Today's Diverse World”

Power sharing arrangements have broadly proven to be critical in resolving tensions.

Macro-regional HDRs

• "Asia and the Pacific 2012 - Sustaining human progress in a changing climate"

■+ Argues for developing the collective capabilities of farmers' cooperatives, rural labourers and small entrepreneurs in order to promote work standards.

• "Asia and the Pacific 2010 - Power, Voices and Rights"

■+ Analyses women bargaining power within household and communities.

• "Arab States 2009 - Challenges to Human Security in the Arab Countries"

■+ Explores competition for power and resources among fragmented social groups.

• "Latin America and the Caribbean 1999 - State of the Region in Human Development"

■+ Focuses on decentralization, local democracy and political power.

National HDRs

• "Dominican Republic 2008 - Desarrollo humano, una cuestion depoder"

The report explores the creation and distribution of capabilities and oppor­tunities in the territory, as well as the extent to which these contribute to empowerment in the provinces, the viability of turning empowerment into power and the conditions in which power generates capabilities and human development.