Human Development Policies Research Articles

Differences in the Development and Investment in Human Capital in the Member States of the European Union

Human capital and knowledge are most important factors of current development processes, contributing to the innovativeness and competitiveness of the economies. The important role of these factors was underlined also in Europe 2020 Strategy. However, due to immaterial character of investment in human capital and because of the high level of decentralization of human capital development policy, these actions are characterized by a relatively low efficiency. Thus, the aim of this paper is firstly to identify the importance of human capital development policy within EU policies. Secondly, it is to identify and conduct a comparative analysis of national differences in human capital development and to identify points of reference for key measures of the development in question. Thirdly, this paper is to specify models of human capital development policy from the perspective of how much involved local authorities are in its implementation and efficiency.

Foreign direct investment and technology transfer policies in Africa: A review of the Ghanaian experience

AbstractForeign Direct Investment (FDI) into Africa has received research attention in the past two decades, and the flow of FDI into Africa has been on an upsurge. Countries such as Ghana have improved their investment climate to increase FDI attraction. Clamour for FDI has led policy focus toward attraction, with little attention to technology transfer and capacity building. FDI flow, global competitiveness index and tertiary enrollment data are adapted to evaluate technology transfer and capacity building. This article reveals that there is a policy vacuum and/or policy ineptitude: FDI policies are not integrated with education and human capital development policies, technology development policies, technology transfer policies, and private‐sector development policies. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Rights-Based Approaches to Development: Implications for NGOs

The rights-based approach to development has swept through the global development assistance sector during the last fifteen years. As a result, bilateral development donors, international organizations, and development-oriented nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are increasingly committed, in theory, to implementing human rights. This commitment has dramatically accelerated the discursive and organizational merger of the global human rights and development policy communities. What impact—if any—has the rights-based approach had on the structure, resources, and work styles of development NGOs? This article offers five empirically grounded hypotheses to guide future research.

The demographic bonus: how prepared is Africafor the gains?

This paper examines the prospects of Africa’s changing age structure in favor of a temporary surge in the proportion of the working age population and the possibility of benefitting from the implied human endowment via appropriate development strategies a la South-East Asia. An attempt to gauge the preparedness of sub-Saharan African countries in order to take advantage of the incipient demographic bonus, using South-East Asia as the platform of best practices, shows that sub-Saharan Africa must, on the average, grow the GDP to a higher level, reduce both public and private consumption expenditure in order to save and deepen more her investments in education at all levels and also enhance private spending on health. Besides, intra-African comparisons on the development efforts towards the attainment of the MDGs shows that a lot of sub-Saharan African countries are too slow to adapt to the changing age structure with appropriate social and human capital development policies and programs. Other important variables required, from the South-East Asian experience, are more investments in physical infrastructures, services and industrial production which are essential for employment generation in the economy.

A Study on Policy Compatability and Priority on Science and Technology Human Development Policy

A Study on Policy Compatability and Priority on Science and Technology Human Development Policy

Social Change and Personality Development in a Nigerian Sample

This study explored the relationship of social change and personality development in a sample of Nigerian students. Social change was taken to mean people’s perceptions of the trends of social events while personality development was the manifestations of the Big Five Personality traits which are extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience. It was hypothesized that personality traits will not significantly be a predictor of social trends. Social change was measured using the index of social trends developed by the researchers while personality development was measured using the Big Five Inventory. Results of the multiple regression analysis showed that social change or trends was predicted by the personality traits of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness to experience but social trend was not predicted by neuroticism. Within the framework of social cognitive theory and social Darwinism, the relevance of the findings to human development and social policy formulation were highlighted.

Challenges Facing the Use of Human Rights to Address Negative Impacts of Development: The Case of Indonesia

The importance of human rights in development is gaining prominence. In concrete settings and contexts, however, contesting development practices with human rights normative standards is controversial. The article outlines this controversy and complexity in Indonesia. It highlights tensions in human rights regulatory frameworks and development policies pertaining to housing and promotions of healthy environments. The main challenge faced by human rights to address development in Indonesia is to understand the complexity of state and market relationship, in designing the process and mitigating the negative impacts of development. Such a complexity is argued to shape the enforcement and susceptibility of international and national human rights laws.

Opportunities for the Poor, Co‐responsibilities for Women: Female Capabilities and Vulnerability in Human Development Policy and Practice

This paper looks at a particular type of anti‐poverty aid and its implications for gender inequality. The development model underpinning the Mexican Oportunidades Programme, a ‘flagship’ in Latin America, focuses on the reduction of inter‐generational poverty through transfers conditioned on ‘co‐responsibilities’ fulfilled especially by mothers and aimed at strengthening the human capital of household members. Through a consultant‐insider narrative on the tension between this policy model and the actual lives of beneficiaries, the paper scrutinizes the delivery of the Programme in the light of the capabilities approach. Some case studies are then examined within this framework, assessing the position of women in each case by reviewing the state of their capabilities and resources. This exercise reveals social relationships obscured by the Programme’s representations and assumptions of gender roles within families, pointing to a significant failure to address women’s own needs by development schemes aimed at poverty rather than at inequality.

Employment, Basic Needs and Human Development: Elements for a New International Paradigm in Response to Crisis

This article reviews various strands of development policies such as employment and basic needs policies, structural adjustment policies, human rights and human development policies, as well as policies emanating from the so‐called Washington Consensus leading to current globalization practices. It argues that the present global crisis presents an important opportunity for making major changes in the objectives, directions and operations of the international system. Major efforts of financial and economic stimulus without such changes are short‐sighted and dangerous. A new approach, a shift of paradigm or framework, is needed that is more flexible, less dogmatic, and is multi‐disciplinary and clearly directed to long‐term international goals: sustainability, stability, equity and human rights. There is also a need for more coherence in objectives and strategies across the system of international organizations. The human development paradigm, now marking its 20th anniversary, has many of the qualities required to be the basis for such an international framework, adapted to the specifics of each country. Some moves toward this should be considered.

Evaluando políticas de desarrollo humano: el caso de la agenda de política pública en el Perú

This article analyses the influence of the human development (HD) approachon the agenda of Peruvian politics. It examines two human developmentpolitics applied in Peru to show how the main elements of the Amartya Sen’scapacities approach can be incorporated into public policies assessment. Theanalysis shows that recognizing human agency implies a permanent dialogueamong policy makers, technicians and common citizens to set out the politicalagenda on human development. This allows them to jointly determine whatis the being and doing that society wants to prioritize; and hence, contributeto implementing more effective human development policies.

ON THE USE OF NARRATIVES FOR ASSESSING DEVELOPMENT POLICY

The paper discusses the extent to which narratives enrich human development policy assessment beyond statistical data. Our arguments are divided in three parts. First, after introducing the capability approach, we examine the theoretical rationale for assessing policy beyond statistics and the relevance of narratives in policy assessment. Second, we review one major exception in policy assessment, the European Union (EU) Community Infrastructure measure. The paper theorizes interpretive approaches and the use of narratives in policy assessment. It suggests that in order for the capability approach to make a significant contribution to policy research we should explore the absolute presuppositions underpinning policy‐making, and recognize that there is no intelligible distinction between quantitative and qualitative research: both acquire meaning in terms of the social plot in which they are mobilized. Consequently, we argue that future understanding of human wellbeing must be conceptualized within a meta‐theoretic framework.

Book Review: Rosenbaum, J. E., Deil-Amen, R., & Person, A. E. (2006). After Admission: From College Access to College Success. New York: Russell Sage

Rosenbaum, J. E., Deil-Amen, R., & Person, A. E. (2006). After Admission: From College Access to College Success. New York: RussellDOI: 10.1177/0091552108327071After Admission: From College Access to College Success examines student and college success from an organizational structure perspective and argues that problems students experience during their academic journey can be minimized by using intentionally supportive procedures and processes. To demonstrate how private occupational colleges minimize barriers that students experience, authors Rosenbaum, Deil-Amen, and Person compare and contrast public, accredited 2-year community colleges from a large metropolitan area with private occupational colleges that offer accredited associate's degrees in the same occupational fields. The authors compare the practices of these institutions with regard to support structures and services they provide to aid in student success. This book is written from the perspectives of three educators: a professor of sociology, education, and social policy (Rosenbaum); an assistant professor of education (Deil-Amen); and a doctoral candidate in human development and social policy (Person). More than 190 authors and works are referenced in this book, making it a rich compilation of both quantitative and qualitative research results.Recognizing that the United States has moved toward universal access for college, as exemplified by the open-access policy of community colleges, the authors identify methods to help community colleges reshape practices and processes in a contextrelevant manner. Because these students at these institutions tend to be the first in their families to attend college, their lack of knowledge about college culture as well as their need to develop soft skills can have negative implications for their success. These challenges, combined with socioeconomic strain, demands outside of college, and the need for realistic graduation timelines, all play a role in student success or failure. The authors argue that student characteristics have changed dramatically yet institutional processes have not. Specifically, Rosenbaum, Deil-Amen, and Person challenge community colleges to abandon the concept of individual student deficiencies as a prime reason for student failure and to consider institutional, structural, and procedural changes as a potential avenue to reverse the dismal success rate of community college students.The authors dispute the notion that community colleges engage in a cooling-out process while also demonstrating how warming up does not necessarily serve students well in the absence of appropriate support structures. They question the nonstigmatizing approach mat is often used in today's community colleges with regard to remediation, suggesting that ineffective information leads to confusion for students who are not aware that they may not earn degree credit in remedial courses. According to personal testimonies, students sometimes unknowingly enrolled in noncredit remedial courses only to learn after a semester or more that the courses in which they were enrolled did not fulfill graduation requirements. For students with limited financial resources, this constitutes a devastating misunderstanding.A variety of additional topics are explored in the volume, including problems community college students face regarding the amount and delivery of needed information, students' lack of social and cultural capital, community colleges' limited and ineffective use of advisory boards to support programs and student connections, minimal career services, and a lack of adequate institutional commitment for job placement services. Comparisons between the two types of institutions are made, indicating that private occupational colleges structure their student support services in a way that minimizes these challenges for their students. Although private occupational colleges work from a charter-building perspective, which helps them build beneficial connections for their students, community colleges rely on the traditional, credential concept with little regard to the market value of degrees and the additional needs of their graduates. …

Development Economics: A Foundation for HRD Policy Studies in Developing Countries

The problem and the solution . Theoretical work in development economics has had a significant impact on the development process of nations, including national policies for human resource development (HRD) in developing countries.As an important component of an overall economic development system, HRD can benefit from the insights provided by development economics—especially in developing countries. At the national policy level, HRD should identify and pursue opportunities for economic development by engaging in policy analysis and comparative studies, as well as contributing to policy recommendations and implementation based on development economics.

Afghanistan and the Revolution in Canadian Foreign Policy

After the end of the Cold War, Canada continued to participate in UN peacekeeping missions and NATO operations, but there was no overall strategic sense about priorities. While defence dollars shrank by more than 20 percent in the 1990s, the 1994 white paper on defence made few hard choices or trade-offs. Even so, there was no follow-up in terms of new equipment to match strategy.The drift was halted with the arrival of Lloyd Axworthy as the new foreign minister in 1996. Canada began to develop a new foreign policy based on a soft power variant called human security that emphasizes networking and coalition- building among civil society groups. Human security replaces the concept of national interest with the perspective of assisting individuals and groups at conflict inside failing states. While the idea of human security came from the world of social and economic development, Axworthy took it into the international security realm. Canada played a pivotal role in rallying the global network of nongovernmental organizations and willing governments to sign a new treaty on banning the production, sale, and use of antipersonnel landmines. Canada also played a key role in the negotiations that led to the International Criminal Court in 1998. Talks on banning small arms exports and protecting war- affected children were also initiated.Human security influenced Canadian defence policy - as it did in likeminded allies such as the Netherlands - by developing the 3D approach in which diplomacy, development, and defence form a single team to help the population in failed states such as in Bosnia, Haiti, and Afghanistan. Canadian forces, in turn, borrowed the so-called three- block operational approach developed by the US Marine Corps whereby soldiers are trained to move quickly from peace enforcement to stabilization to humanitarian assistance and civil reconstruction operations.The attacks of 9/11 generated the biggest change in American security policy since the onset of containment in the early 1950s. By denning the new priority as an international war on terror, the US pushed hard against the working consensus among western countries that failed states could best be fixed with a mixture of human security and development policies. The Axworthy agenda gradually moved to the background in Canada's foreign policy with Axworthy's retirement from politics.Canada's commitment to UN peacekeeping missions also began to dry up. Only 60 Canadian personnel were deployed in UN missions in 2006. In its place has come a robust commitment to creating security conditions in Afghanistan. The switch away from human security to more traditional military operations began in the last year of the Liberal government led by Paul Martin. In 2004, for the first time ever, Canada issued a national rather than an international security policy. It put the protection of Canadians and Canadian territory as an unambiguous priority. The international policy statement issued in 2005, still mentions the responsibility to protect, but the defence section emphasizes stronger Canadian defence, more cooperation with the United States, and renewal of expeditionary capabilities.1 The policy does not abandon the approach of a three-block military, but calls for a variety of hard military assets, including special forces.As Canadian foreign policy moved away from human security and light peacekeeping, it turned its focus to the North Atlantic alliance, which had been relegated to third-level importance (behind the United Nations, and even cooperation with the European Union) in Canadian foreign policy and diplomacy in the 1990s, even though many Canadian soldiers served in NATO operations in the Balkans. Canada became a proponent of the various schemes to revitalize NATO, including the allied transformation command in Norfolk and the NATO response force. A Canadian- E U agreement for Canada to participate in E U -led missions lost most of its lustre for Ottawa as it began to reinvest in NATO operations in Afghanistan. …

Human Welfare, Not Human Rights

Human rights treaties play an important role in international relations but they lack a foundation in moral philosophy and doubts have been raised about their effectiveness for constraining states. Drawing on ideas from the literature on economic development, this paper argues that international concern should be focused on human welfare rather than on human rights. A focus on welfare has three advantages. First, the proposition that governments should advance the welfare of their populations enjoys broader international and philosophical support than do the various rights that are incorporated in the human rights treaties. Second, the human rights treaties are both too rigid and too vague - they do not allow governments to adopt reasonable policies that advance welfare at the expense of rights, and they do not set forth rules governing how states may trade off rights. A welfare treaty could provide guidance by supplying a maximand along with verifiable measures of compliance. Third, the human rights regime and international development policy work at cross-purposes. Development policy favors the poorest states, while the human rights regime condemns the states with the worst governments: unfortunately, the poorest states usually have the worst governments. Various possible welfare treaties are surveyed.

Addressing disaster risk reduction and human development policy together: an introduction

The importance of coordinated efforts between local, state and federal disaster responses and their inherent effects on regional and global emergency preparation is highlighted. By addressing disaster risk reduction and human development policy together, a best practice approach is identified. A brief introduction on this Special Issue is presented in this paper.

Human Resource Development in Tourism Industry in India: A Case Study of Air India Ltd., New Delhi

He purpose of Human Resource Development is to improve the capacity of the human resource through learning and performance at the individual, process and organizational levels. By applying a well-ordered and professional HRD approach to work in the protected areas field, the skills, knowledge and attitudes of park personnel will be enriched and this overall quality of work performed will improve. There are a number of problems and constraints, which concern the human resource development in the Tourism Industry, viz., shortage of qualified manpower; shortage of tourism training infrastructure and qualified trainers; working conditions in the Tourism Industry; and lack of proper strategies and policies for human resource development. The present study is an attempt to analyze the HRD initiatives of Tourism Industry with special reference to Air India Ltd. to enhance and sharpen the capabilities of its employees. The study also identifies the need of the Air India to incorporate the spirit of HRD in day to day functioning by utilizing the all possible human resource systems and mechanism to the organization.

EVALUATING EMPLOYMENT POLICY PROGRAMS TO ALLEVIATE THE UNEMPLOYMENT: CASE STUDY OF EGYPT (In Arabic)

EVALUATING EMPLOYMENT POLICY PROGRAMS TO ALLEVIATE THE UNEMPLOYMENT: CASE STUDY OF EGYPT (In Arabic)

THE OVER-EDUCATED, UNDER-UTILIZED WORKER: WHY DOESN'T HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT BRING DESIRED OUTCOMES?

This comparative study of human capital development policy and organizational and HR practices examines employees' perceptions of competence utilization (and underutilization) and its possible causes. More specifically, the study addresses the following specific questions: Are human capital resources underutilized in work organizations? If this is the case, what is the extent of underutilization? What are the factors that affect utilization? Using data set drawn from a survey of managers and subordinates in public organizations in Saudi Arabia and Oman (N=540), findings expose a significant, and largely ignored, problem in the development and management of contemporary organizations:

Human capital development policies: enhancing employees' satisfaction

PurposeThe aim of this article is to gain insight into some of the human capital development (HCD) policies that enhance employee satisfaction. A salient focus of the study is to assess whether employees in globalised foreign‐owned MNCs are likely to be more satisfied with the HCD policies than with the practices employed by locally owned MNCs.Design/methodology/approachSpecifically, four MNCs in the chemical industry, which were selected based on equity ownership, were analysed to ascertain whether employees in these MNCs in Malaysia are satisfied with the HCD policies by providing an account of the satisfaction level of the employees with the HCD policies in these four Malaysian MNCs.FindingsA main conclusion from the findings of this research is that respondents in European MNCs are generally more satisfied than respondents in Asian‐owned MNCs with the HCD policies of the company. On the whole, European MNCs place more importance in HCD but it cannot be concluded that foreign‐owned MNCs have better HCD policies and hence higher employee satisfaction with the HCD policies compared with locally owned MNCs.Research limitations/implicationsSimilar research could be conducted on a larger sample, incorporating MNCs of different equity ownership, to determine how HCD policies of globalised MNCs affect employee satisfaction. Further research could be extended to different regions and sectors.Practical implicationsIt provides an insight of desirable HCD practices that human capital practitioners could develop to create competitive advantage through their human capital assets.Originality/valueIn addition to identifying the relevant HCD practices, commentary is provided of current knowledge in terms of best HCD practices that could be emulated by local organisations as well as other institutions in the Asia Pacific region.