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SIPA Alumni Pioneer First Ever American Human Development Report
By Zaki Raheem
November 12, 2007
Images from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina exposed some of the realities of poverty in this country–the living conditions of poor Americans, the racial divides, government funding biases, and dangerously weak social safety nets. For Kristen Lewis (MIA ’93) national reactions to Katrina made her realize that many Americans did not understand poverty in their own country. At around the same time, Sarah Burd-Sharps (MIA ’87), who was Deputy Director of UNDP’s Human Development Report Office, thought it might be valuable to explore well-being and poverty issues through this lens in a domestic context, as well. She had seen the power of this approach to question the status quo and bring change on every continent. As a result, the two former UNIFEM colleagues began the exciting yet laborious process of pioneering the first ever American Human Development Report (AHDR).
The global Human Development Reports (HDR), published annually since 1990, have also been the model for hundreds of national reports produced by independent research teams that analyze development progress in fields ranging from life expectancy, literacy, education, governance, human capital, gender, environment, agriculture and domestic business growth. These national human development reports move beyond the simplistic economic indicator of GDP per capita to try to create more holistic human development indicators that can be compared across regions. A hallmark of the HDRs is the Human Development Index, a composite measure of well-being that combines health, education and income indicators.
“Since the United Nations Development Programme has no mandate to fund work with industrialized countries, this independent project will be the first national human development report for any industrialized nation,” says Ms. Lewis. “Human development has been widely influential in many global development debates, but it has not had much traction in the US. If we are successful, an idea developed in the UN could usefully be applied to help the U.S. address some of the challenges we face as a society today,” adds Ms. Burd-Sharps.
The early stages of the report generated a lot of excitement but a bit of confusion as well. The Conrad Hilton Foundation was interested in funding research that looked strategically at the root causes of poverty in the United States. In addition, OxFam America, already effective with its Hunger Banquet and Fair Trade advocacy efforts, joined as a donor. And the Social Science Research Council immediately saw the potential of the project to build a bridge between research and social change and signed on as well. However, those who had never heard of the Global Human Development Report needed more convincing.
Ms. Lewis says that “When most Americans think of the term ‘development,’ they think of building a shopping center, fundraising, or child development. The relevance of the social science concept of human development sometimes needs more explaining.”
The year-and-a-half long process brought together five lead authors, half a dozen researchers, an advisory board of eminent experts, a 2006-2007 SIPA EPD Workshop team, and background papers in fields such as domestic health policy, criminal justice, environmental justice, federal benefits, mental health policy, military spending and incarceration issues. Some of the tables in the report, such as life expectancy and government spending priorities, will be comparable to other OECD countries; some will be comparing statistics across the 50 states and by ethnic groups and gender.
The team has produced a first draft of the American Human Development Index, broken down by the 435 Congressional Districts, the 50 states and by ethnic and gender groupings. Though some of the findings show predictable gaps and variations, some of the research greatly surprised the two lead authors. “In particular, we found a deep gap in living standards between the North and the South. In addition, in a country that is known for its good governance, there appears to be a surprising lack of accountability regarding agreed domestic policy goals. These issues will be highlighted,” says Ms. Burd-Sharps. Finally, surveys show that most Americans actually tend to agree on many social issues more than they disagree, but that “the way the issues are discussed by politicians and the media tends to be very polarizing, with the result that they overwhelm and alienate many Americans,” continues Ms. Lewis.
The report will be launched this coming April with the support of a consortium of advocacy groups. It is intentionally being launched between the primaries and the November presidential election as a forward-looking and non-partisan examination of human development in the United States with the aim of promoting a more informed and reasoned public debate on issues of national importance.
SIPA is planning to host the AHDR team this spring as part of its efforts to launch this pioneering report. They are also working with partner organizations to organize presentations, public events, policy discussions, etc. at launch time, spring, 2008. If you would be interested in hosting a launch event, please contact them at: americanhdr@bigplanet.com.