Tag: human development

Human Development Report highlights Maldives’ regional divide

The UNDP’s second Human Development Index (HDI) report for the Maldives urges stakeholders to address regional inequalities which remain a “major challenge” towards human development.

The first sub-regional HDI report of its kind, titled ‘Bridging the Divide: Addressing vulnerabilities, Reducing inequalities’ was officially launched today, analysing the disparities between the Malé region and the outer atolls.

“Where one is born within the Maldives determines many of the opportunities and choices available to a person,” reads the report.

“Remote islands with small populations have limited accessibility to services including schooling, healthcare, social services, job opportunities and face overall isolation.”

Since its first HDI report in 2001, the Maldives has graduated to middle income country status. Today’s report, however, noted that while the nation’s HDI score is 0.688 – placing it in UNDP’s medium development bracket – the regional analysis reveals stark inequalities.

While the atolls’ development was revealed to be 0.627 in 2012 – placing it in the mid-level HDI group, alongside countries such as South Africa and Indonesia – Malé’s HDI was 0.734, putting it in the high development bracket next to Azerbaijan and Mauritius.

Used as a measure to gauge people’s choices in life – accounting for access to education, nutrition, healthcare, security, political and cultural freedoms – Norway currently tops the Human Development Index (0.955), while Niger ranks last (0.304).

The global average HDI average is 0.694.

The Divide

‘Bridging the Divide’ notes that income and educational choices are the most notable of the inequalities faced by those born outside of the capital.

“A person living in Malé is likely to complete three years more of schooling than a person living in the atolls,” explained the report.

It was also noted that the average income for a person living in Malé – equivalent to US$4251.90 – is one and a half times that of a person living in the atolls.

The report noted that rapid internal migration to the capital Malé has itself become a cause of inequalities

“In-migration to  Malé has led to a sharp increase in living costs, poor housing conditions, overcrowding, pollution and a general sense of frustration and impatience in the public.”

After categorising the Maldives into seven regions, the report showed regions 2 and 6 – containing Noonu, Raa, Baa, and Lhaviyani atolls in the north, and Gaafu atoll in the south – to be under performing.

The best performing region contained the central Meemu, Faafu, and Dhaalu atolls – reflecting the concentration of the tourism industry in the Malé area.

The HDI report recommends enhancing the benefits of of tourism – which has taken the Maldives from one of the world’s poorest nations in the 1970s to having South Asia’a highest GDP per capita today – to the wider population.

It was noted that the rich-poor divide was being exacerbated as the tourism industry “operates as a powerful oligarchy and has given rise to an elite class that owns much of the country’s wealth”.

While acknowledging the recent growth of the guest house industry, the report argues that the bulk of the luxury resort industry provides little opportunity for local small and medium enterprises.

Vulnerabilities

Core physical vulnerabilities identified in the report included the Maldives’ small land mass, lack of natural resources, while economic weaknesses focused on the heavy reliance on tourism and a high external dependence on imports.

Such vulnerabilities reduce the ability of institutions to address inequalities, with the report suggesting that solution lies in “building resilience through improved spatial planning, increasing targeting and effectiveness of social protection measures, restoring fiscal and macro-economic stability and diversifying the growth base.”

It was acknowledged that considerable improvements in poverty levels, life expectancy, and access to education had been assisted by “fiscal prudence” between the mid 90s to the mid 2000s which must return in order to continue the country’s HDI progress.

The effective targetting of vulnerable groups – those facing more than one impediment – is needed in order to design policies and programmes to address their development needs. The removal of blanket subsidies was one example of such a policy change.

The development of a hub and periphery model in the atolls – improving local services and relieving the pressure on the capital – was mooted alongside the completion of governmental decentralisation.

Finally, it was suggested that long-term thinking among political leaders – beyond a five-year election cycle – is key if human development is to be enhanced in the island nation.

“Political parties and political leaders need to start thinking beyond the ballot,” read the report. “With democratic transition, the country’s long-term development planning process has been side-lined.”

While noting that human developed requires a strong democracy, the report concluded by suggesting a reappraisal of the state’s “extraordinarily high costs”.

“For a small country like the Maldives, with mounting pressures, fiscal crisis and high debt distress, it is time that political parties, institutions, civil society and the public engage in debate; and agree to right-size the governance system, to make it more sustainable and to maximize the democratic dividend and enhance the freedoms and choices for the people.”

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Inequality and climate change threaten Maldives’ human development improvements

The UN’s 2013 global human development report has highlighted inequality and climate change vulnerabilities as major concerns for the Maldives, despite the country’s “significant economic growth” in recent years.

“Although the Maldives’ performance in human development in the South Asian region is quite commendable, the country continues to face a number of risks and vulnerabilities,” said UN Resident Coordinator Tony Lisle during the report’s launch on Sunday (May 12).

The 2013 UN human development report is entitled: “The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World”.

The findings have positioned the Maldives in the medium human development category, where it was ranked 104 out of 186 countries and territories.  The ranking is based on the human development index – a composite measurement of life expectancy, education, and income.

According to Lisle, the country’s human development index value increased 30 percent between 1995 and 2012, an average annual increase of about 1.6 percent.

The Maldives graduated to the status of a middle income country in Jan 2011.

However, when inequalities are factored into the Maldives’ human development index ranking, the country’s “value falls to 25.2 percent indicating that addressing inequalities continues to warrant significant national attention in the years ahead,” he added.

“Risks and vulnerabilities faced by the Maldives include effects due to climate change and of course the financial global crisis, which is still with us,” said Lisle.

“The nation has also been maturing in its democratic processes, including the creation of independent bodies, the establishment of a multi-party political system, and rolling out of decentralised governance.”

The 2013’s human development report focused on issues such as increasing access to schools, improving access and quality of health services, promoting inclusive growth and putting an emphasis on improving conditions for women globally.

“These are also qualities espoused by the government of Maldives, which deserve our vigorous support,” said Lisle.

To ensure this support, he explained that the Maldivian government was currently collaborating with the UNDP and UN country team to formulate the second national human development report for the Maldives, which will focus on inequality and vulnerability.

“We must go beyond GDP to measure development. The UNDP defines development as a process of enlarging people’s choices to realise their potential and enjoy the freedom to lead lives they value. Some will do better than others with the choices they have, but the challenge is to ensure everyone has a fair and equal chance, equal opportunity to improve quality of life,” said Lisle.

Meanwhile, Vice President Mohamed Waheed Deen, also speaking at the launch, criticised government policy failures for failing to correct numerous development challenges in the Maldives.

Deen therefore emphasised the need to learn from the UN’s latest human development report to address the sustainable development challenges posed by geographically isolated, small island populations.

Women and children suffer

Although Deen proposed “population consolidation” – relocating small island communities to larger landmasses – as a means to improve democratic practices, he also emphasised the benefits of sustainable development.

He also highlighted the need to listen to communities and young people, while providing them opportunities to express themselves in “forums and different platforms” to utilise their ideas for development and to prevent “wilder activities” from occurring.

“The best method is to let a person express himself or herself and not to hide the real problems of the country, domestic violence, child abuse, and many other issues related to gender. Unless we accept that we have these problems, we cannot bring changes,” Deen said.

“Quite unfortunately we pretended we did not have these problems. We pretended these things never existed in our society. ‘What a wonderful clean society we have’, but the truth is we have these problems and people suffered, children suffered, women suffered,” he lamented.

Deen explained that “sadly” many presidents and politicians have not directly addressed problems within island communities or Maldivian society generally to bring about change. As a result, the recent democratisation process, including the related constitutional changes, have led to protests protests regarding development and human rights issues.

“The only way for our country to progress is to listen to the people. We have learned that the voice of the people must be heard,” Deen stated.

The vice president also discussed the “very important need” to educate the populace about democracy. He stated that it was “almost impossible” to run a democratic nation with “changing constitutions and presidents”.

“The mindset the people must understand what democracy is and how we can sustain it. Unless we do that we won’t be able to sustain a democratic system,” said Deen. “Educating the people is extremely important, more than building harbours.”

Vice President Deen added that economic inequalities have been perpetuated by the lack of planning, job creation for youth, and and a proper tax system.

“We didn’t plan ahead. what has happened to us today, our situation, is not something that has happened overnight. It took time, many years,” he said.

He emphasised the need to establish a “proper tax system” to reduce economic inequalities and bridge the disparity between the wealthy and less fortunate.

“The huge level of discrepancy can create social unrest, misunderstandings, hatred, anger, and frustration and these are bad for any nation,” noted Deen.

“I’m not a believer of expecting donations and support all the time. These funds must be utilized in a context as a catalyst for sustainable development,” he added.

“Please understand the Maldives will never never go back, we will go forward,” Deen declared.

“I hope the presidential candidates seriously consider these [human development] reports when they are deciding their manifestos and bringing changes to our beautiful country,” he added.

UN human development recommendations

Giving her own summary on the 2013 human development report, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative Azusa Kubota said there were four key areas needing to be addressed by governments to facilitate sustainable human development.  She said these factors included enhancing equity; enabling voice and participation, managing demographic change and confronting environmental challenges.

“We all know environmental threats such as climate change, air and water pollution, natural disasters, deforestation affect everyone globally, but they hurt poor countries the most,” Kubota added.

Sustaining human development gains is difficult in the face of “natural disasters which are increasing in frequency and intensity that cause enormous economic damage and loss of human capacities,” she said.

“International governance structures can be held to account, not only by member states but governance by global civil society which is on the rise.”

At the national level, Kuota explained that human development required support by a “developmental state” with an activist government and a political elite that sees record economic growth as their primary aim.  She added that job creation and investing in people’s capacities to sustain the gains of economic growth via health, education and other public services were also key elements. Additionally, governments need to actively nurture sectors that would not otherwise emerge to do global competitions and incomplete markets.

Kubota further emphasised that to sustain human development “substantial public investment, in [social services] not just infrastructure, as well as bold proactive, targeted social policies are required. It is not just economic growth alone.

“Human development doesn’t come without targeted policy interventions and carefully crafted national visions,” said Kubota.

The developed north and developing south are connected “more than ever”.

“The challenges faced by the multilateral system in response to the rise of the south [do not pose] a false choice between globalism, regionalism, and sovereignty. We all have to work together. Human development is not a zero sum game, we all benefit equally,” Kubota concluded.

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