Human Development Perspective Research Articles

Applicability of Amartya Sen’s human development perspectives to the fields of reproductive health and social work

There is a significant lack of development studies on reproductive health, especially in developing countries. The field of social work has especially marginalized the study of reproductive health. Adding to this deficiency is the lack of meaningful theoretical frameworks guiding the reproductive field, especially in developing countries. This paper explores Amartya Sen’s theoretical perspectives as a possible theoretical framework that both guides the reproductive field and helps social work put reproductive health at the forefront of its agenda.

Posgrados sobre desarrollo en América Latina: origen y evolución

The focus of this study is on postgraduate education in development in the Latin American context. The objective is to show how postgraduate courses of this type emerge in Latin America and their contents, as well as what they teach and how. A qualitative approach was used to develop the study, particularly a content analysis of written documents coupled with in-depth interviews of experts and professors. The principal findings show a strong emphasis on the teaching of development understood as economic growth, with special emphasis on the models necessary to encourage it. However, there also is evidence that the human development perspective has begun to gain importance. It is a view in which economic development is an aspect, but not the only one. Generally speaking, postgraduate courses in development place a priority on local-scale studies. However, it is essential to go beyond these analyses to other scales and in the direction of more multidimensional studies.

(A289) Developing Damage Assessment Methodology with Community Participation — Case Study of the 2010 Leh Flash Flood

The frequency of catastrophic events has increased considerably in recent times. As a result, impacts of such catastrophes have multiplied exponentially. It is the responsibility of the government to revive and reconstruct the communities and economies affected by disasters. Domestic institutions should be resilient enough to absorb the shocks and mitigate the impacts. Too often, damage assessments rely on quantification in terms of monetary valuations of damage. This approach has created various distortions in valuation. Damage evaluation in developed countries is higher because of the monetary value of infrastructure and housing. On the contrary, in a poor, informal settlement, the value of the damage is less, but the impact is huge from a human development perspective. The government follows a standard procedure for items and means of assistance for initiating post-disaster recovery and response. All affected families are entitled to compensation based on the damage done to life and property, irrespective of socio-economic conditions. All items are listed beforehand, with their monetary values ascertained respectively. This paper examines Leh (Ladakh, India), which was struck by heavy flash flood in the month August 2010. It explores the methodology adopted for damage assessment in 42 affected villages of Leh. This case study demonstrates the inherent drawbacks of the standard procedure and methodology in assessing post-disaster damage and needs assessments, and analyzes the role of community participation in household and community damage assessment. The paper presents recommendations for a flexible and accommodating approach for conducting damage assessments on a contextual basis.

Gendering remittances in Albania: a human and social development perspective

Gender issues are of central importance to both migration and development. The study of migrant remittances has been at the heart of the fast-growing literature on migration and development. And yet, surprisingly, remittances and gender issues have rarely been brought together as a subject of inquiry. Based on recent research in south-east Albania, our paper aims to address this gap. We do this in three ways. First, we examine who sends, who receives, and who uses remittances, from a gender perspective. Second, we go beyond looking at financial transfers, to consider non-monetary remittances. Third, we analyse how gender relations and gendered social norms shape migration and remitting patterns; and how these, in turn, affect gender relations in migrant households and in origin communities. Although the unit of analysis is the transnational household, spanning rural Albania and urban Greece, the different experiences of individual migrant women and men are central. These perspectives in turn inform recommendations for researchers, policymakers and practitioners.

What’s in a right? Two variations for interpreting the right to education

The end of the Cold War ushered in a paradigmatic shift in international development discourse whereby a human rights-based approach to development was generated. This shift has stimulated the pegging of international development policy to the objectives of the human rights regime. However, in attempting to unify development and human rights perspectives, policy-makers have overlooked an imperative component of these realities, namely that proponents of the human rights agenda and social developmentalists differ in their conceptions of “education”. Thus, while both perspectives seek universal primary education (UPE), their ideas about what that education should consist of vary. This paper does not argue for the use of one definition, nor does it conclude that the two are incompatible. Rather, the author contends that it is paramount that these two definitions are recognised for their unique approaches to education, in order for policies to be most effective. The value in the human rights-based approach to development is its ability to utilise both human rights and development perspectives to create a more comprehensive approach to poverty reduction and economic growth. By incorporating both definitions of “education” into policy agendas, both the process and product of education will be emphasised, in turn improving the effectiveness and outcome of all efforts to achieve UPE.

The body plays: symbolic resources in deaf children make-believe

Based on the assumptions of historical-cultural perspective of human development, especially Lev Seminovich Vigotski contributions, this paper debates the usages of language resources by preschool aged deaf children in the configuration of symbolic roles exchanged on play. Two investigative episodes recorded on video in a toy-library were used as empirical material. The analysis highlights the process of appropriation of symbolic roles, in which words (LIBRAS) and body (gestures) articulate themselves in order to give meaning to make-believe. In this sense, it is in the play choreography that deaf children make explicit who they are and explain what issue is being played, by setting the roles and the social rules that they will play. As a conceptual conclusion, one may say that body is a fundamental linguistic component in the constitution of senses and meanings produced in playful activity, promoting possibilities of subjective expression to the child who plays.

A human and social development perspective on maritime policies

The linkages between shipping and port policies, and human and social development are explored in this paper, in view of discussing possible ways how those policies can contribute to human well-being. A framework based on the capability approach is used to conceptually interrogate the contents of policies in terms of elements of human and social development. Integrated ocean policies are considered, in this context, as useful frameworks for aligning maritime policies with broader development goals, as well as with the concerns and priorities of other sectors. Finally, some practical issues regarding the operationalisation of policy impact studies based on multidimensional human development are discussed, highlighting possible areas for future research.

Concluding Thoughts on Religion and the United Nations: Redesigning the Culture of Development

Concluding Thoughts on Religion and the United Nations: Redesigning the Culture of Development Azza Karam Given the wealth of knowledge and experiential insights shared in this special issue by a distinguished group of authors, an attempt at summarizing can only fail to do justice. Hence, this concluding section will instead draw on the key points that this array of perspectives inspires. The first section will briefly highlight the areas of general agreement between the different authors and what this points to more broadly in terms of development dynamics. The next section will tackle some of the most tenacious challenges and questions with request to partnerships between the United Nations and the world of religion. The third and last section will highlight some broader implications from a human development perspective, which rather than be conclusive, underline the need for further analysis and reflection as the relationship evolves. A mutual need With faith‐based actors providing on average, anywhere between 30 and 60 percent of many countries’ basic survival needs (especially in the humanitarian, educational and health fields) around the world, and given a serious global financial and economic crisis, pragmatism demands that international development re‐evaluate the role of religion across the board. The United Nations remains the only multilateral service‐oriented body with a comprehensive remit and a mandate signed on to by all the governments of the world. As such, it is an inescapable feature of modern day development, governance, and humanitarian service. And while it has obviously been able to exist—and grow—the last sixty plus years, with relatively little systematic notice to religion and religious bodies, the arguments presented in this journal edition show that times have significantly changed. The United Nations is historically a secular institution representing governments, and as such, there are some legitimate concerns to reaching out to “religion.” Some argue that religion is simply too divisive and too complex. Others recall alliances formed between certain religious bodies and governments during critical UN conferences on reproductive health care, and children’s and women’s rights, and shudder at the “anti‐rights” language and discourse employed. Others point to the targeting of the United Nations and subsequent loss of lives in Baghdad, Algiers and elsewhere, and the ongoing threats to the institution articulated by terrorists claiming a religious agenda. The three sections of this journal, tackling the relationship between “religion” and the United Nations (UN) through academic and ideological prisms, as well as via perspectives from religious non‐governmental, or faith‐based organizations (FBOs), and the varied UN bodies, while remarkably varied in tone, themes and results, nevertheless illustrate the same argument: whatever the concern, religion is here to stay. And today’s political, economic, social, and legal landscapes are engaging with religion in its multivaried forms. These multiple forms of partnership, each form a different bridge in which two‐way traffic flows. Thus, in the same way that FBOs are adapting to the outreach to the UN, the UN, in turn, is adapting its own partnerships and language to “religions.” The mere fact that this “conversation” about the relationship between faith(s), or religion, and an avowedly secular entity is taking place, points to a feature of the “ripple effect” these emerging partnerships are having. As several contributors have pointed out, the last ten years or so have seen a boost in the amount of partnerships between the United Nations and religions, specifically FBOs, in different countries, as well as at the global level. Moreover, there is a relative “normalization” of this interaction, which is taking place within the religions institutions themselves—as the scholars lay out clearly—in spite of the tangible sense of disappointment with the speed of this by some, urge for caution by others, as well as some skepticism about these, by yet others. The range of articles showcased here in fact prove that the tide began to change, within the United Nations itself, as well as in the NGO world, over thirty years ago, when the first arguments for why and how religion is a feature of human development can be traced. In fact, religion, as social service and thus social actor, predates the existence of every modern...

Managing Language Testing in Nigerian Large Classes: Processes and Prospects

The demand for literacy in a developing country like Nigeria has multiple results such as the expansion, by leaps and bounds, of the average Nigerian classroom. This paper highlights the reasons for large classes in Nigerian secondary schools, the educational and psychological dimensions of language testing in large classes, the challenges of such classes and how they affect achievement and in the long run, the standard of education. It also tasks the proficiency levels of English Language teachers especially in the area of testing and points out new paradigms in language testing, particularly in large classes from the two perspectives of human and infrastructural development, and teacher empowerment and initiatives. The study suggests methods of improving language testing in large classes through pragmatic techniques.

India, China and the East Asian Miracle: a human capital development path to high growth rates and declining inequalities

The High-Performing Asian Economies (HPAEs) have been unusually successful compared to large parts of Asia (including India), Africa and Latin America at matching high growth rates with significantly declining income inequalities. This paper looks at India and the HPAEs from a human capital development perspective, and it seeks to explain the reasons for the possible causes of these different patterns of growth rates and income inequalities. The paper proposes a new Human Capital Index, and argues that the notion of fair wage is the key factor linking human capital development to high growth rates and declining inequalities.

Mass Education-led Growth and Non-agrarian Villages: Long-term Results of the Kerala Model

The advance of the human development perspective has seen education being established not just as a means of development but as an end in itself. This has created a case for focusing on mass education, even if it implies lower growth rates in the initial years. Such an approach is bound to influence the very pattern of development over the long run. For one, a sustained emphasis on mass education within a framework that assures adequate social security could increase the well-being of workers to a point where it affects the choices they make. In this paper a combination of a simple mathematical model and the experience of the south Indian state of Kerala is used to suggest some patterns of development over the long term that this approach throws up. It argues that the effects of this approach could be wide-ranging, including contributing to the creation of non-agrarian villages.

Leveraging diversity by exploring intraracial discrimination in the workplace

This grounded theory study examined the impact of skin tone bias, a form of intraracial discrimination among African-Americans in the workplace. Data revealed the negative personal and workplace effects of the phenomenon. Findings suggest that there is a silencing of issues of race, power and privilege in organisations. A critical human resource development perspective is recommended in order to explore and address the systems of privilege that perpetuate inequities in the workplace.

P02-45 - Factitious disorder: a relational ethics perspective in consultation liaison-psychiatry

Factitious disorder confront the consultation liaison psychiatrist with (self)destructive behaviour and some lies from the patient trying to involve the physician in this behaviour. There is always a difficult balance between patient autonomy, open communication and the promotion of patient health, doctor integrity and maintenance of the constructive doctor/team-patient relationship.Consultation liaison psychiatrists are more and more requested to accomplish a role of “clinical ethicists” and they are really well prepared to that propose because they usually cope by means of the biopsychosocial model with clinical, legal, social, economic, religious and institutional problems.Common ethical principles (beneficence, autonomy, justice, vulnerability, dignity, responsibility) are referential tools on clinical decision making. However, in psychiatric ethics we feel the need to construct a more clinical model: relational ethics. Its main references come from a dialogical, hermeneutical and pragmatic ethics based on an intersubjectivity perspective of human development which can deal with the practical rationality in clinical psychiatry faced with complex but concrete situations. It recognizes interpersonal and intrapsychic conditions of authenticity, a process of mutual reciprocity in order to allow psychic growth.We describe the way this theoretical and deliberative proposition can be easily applied to a particular case of a young man with factitious disorder admitted to the dermatological department of a Universitary Hospital.

The genomic era and the new frontiers of medicine

In the past few years, progress in many fields, including biology, biological engineering, informatics and physics has led from genetics to a wider field, in which the totality of an organism's genes can be considered as a global system in which different components interact with each other and with external factors. The complete genome of Homo sapiens and many other eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms has been sequenced and stored in public databases. Technological advances have led to many improvements already evident in the results that have been obtained over the past few years from different fields of biological research, such as the different associations between genes and diseases that have emerged from Genome Wide Association Studies. We are experiencing a real genomics revolution. This is the rationale on which ‘Genomics and Clinical Medicine' is based while taking the reader through a survey of the most recent discoveries in genomics and its applications to clinical medicine. This is a 672 pages multi-author book to which a team of 69 experts from different fields of medical genetics have contributed and is edited by Dhavendra Kumar under the advice of Sir David Weatherhall. The book is structured in 41 chapters grouped into three parts: first, an introductory part in which the general aspects of genomics are explained in nine chapters. Second, a section of 28 chapters in which a general survey of the clinical applications of genomics divided into different disciplines of medicine is provided. Last, a third section of four chapters in which the potential and the impact that genomic applications will have on public health in the coming years, including ethical and legal considerations, are examined. The general genomics section ranges from a description of the history of genetics and the transition from genetics to genomics to a general description of the genome's known structure and organization, its functional organization, proteomics and epigenomics. The technologies to study genome variations of different orders of magnitude are also considered. In addition, the perspectives of human development and comparative genomics applied to a better understanding of developmental malformations and more, in general, the perspectives of genetic and genomic approaches to the taxonomy of human diseases, are considered. Finally, an overview of nutritional genomics and pharmacogenomics is also given. The clinical genomics section is a vast survey across different fields of medicine; for each of them, the genetic component is considered and the current state of the art is described. The introductory chapter of this section underlines the importance of bioinformatics on data analysis in different fields of genomics, transcript analysis and proteomics, and the potential of its applications to the current practices of medicine, including diagnostics, therapeutics and prognostics. The last section is a global view of what the impact of genomics will be on global health. First, through its improvement in developing countries by the control of common monogenic disorders and the control and management of communicable diseases, and second, through its reflection on the diseases of ‘Westernization', such as type II diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and stroke. These are all because of the same environmental factors, but reflect different patterns of genetic variability due to varying patterns of evolutionary adaptations in different ethnic groups. A whole chapter is dedicated to the concept of genetic testing and genomic screening, enlisting the criteria that render a genetic test or a genomic screening worthwhile. A chapter is dedicated to ethical, legal and social issues, emphasizing the importance of a valid consent from individuals, in terms of information, understanding, will and competence, all human rights of the patient that are not always easy to respect. Security, confidentiality and data and benefit sharing are all important aspects that have to be considered when saving clinical and biological information in a database. The last chapter considers the regulation of genomics research, giving an overview of the legal framework in the United Kingdom and United States, concluding that, until now, the law has been confusing and incomplete. We will need new developments in the regulation of medical research to manage the amount of information that is already available, thanks to quick developments in the full respect of human rights. In conclusion, the book is a nice overview of developments in different fields of genomic medicine, written by a number of experts who give a thorough description of their argument. As the editors themselves recognize, given that each month the amount of information about genomics increases, thanks to advances in technology, bioinformatics and biostatistics, to analyze large amounts of data at the same time, frequent updates will be needed. To use a statement taken from the book itself, the genomic era has just begun▪

ICT Policy and perspectives of Human Development in Latin America: the Peruvian Experience

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has been considered as an important element for economic growth and social development. However, no consensus seems to exist about the proper roles and actual effects of information technology in dynamics of socioeconomic development. Many countries around the world have seen great opportunities in implementing initiatives that would increase the ICT adoption in different areas, especially in the government. Developed countries have exploited their ICT infrastructure for implementing success projects, while developing countries are launching their own ICT based initiatives hoping to achieve a considerable impact in the society in a relatively short term. The present research is oriented to study the implications of ICT policies for enhancing the quality of life in developing countries, especially in the Latin American countries. This paper reviews some important efforts in the deployment of ICT initiative in Peru. The contribution from a research perspective is to report on some key lessons learnt and propose a set of recommendations for future implementations in similar developing nations’ environments.

Strategic Metamorphoses of ICT Sector for Human Development in India

As Indian economy gets integrated to the global economy and strives to improve in terms of human development indicators, a special role exists for information and communication technologies (ICT) in this process. The strategic metamorphoses and the resultant expansion of ICT linked telecommunication services in India have favorably influenced the effort to accelerate the pace of human development by enabling equality in access to information, creation of employment, improving the quality of life, better livelihood opportunities in rural areas, growth of agriculture, impetus to business development, environmental management and many more. After the initiation of economic planning in India, telecom services were assumed to be natural monopoly and were provided by one entity without competition. The government launched ambitious ICT infrastructure initiatives, radically changing its communication policy framework. The resultant growth of ICT services in India has led to significant improvement in human development levels. It has led to a reduction in information asymmetry between the rich and the poor, improvement in telecom density and ICT accessibility in rural areas, fostering inclusive growth, providing better access to market information to people in remote and rural areas, facilitating technological leapfrogging, enhancing business networking and offering new opportunities from the perspective of human development.

The Background and Challenges Faced by the Small Medium Enterprises. A Human Resource Development Perspective

In the recent years, a number of emerging issues are posing serious challenges to the small and medium sized enterprises (SME’s) in Malaysia. Hence, these enterprises enter the new era, dramatic challenges begun such as establishing new enterprises, globalization, financial constraints, high turnover, low motivation among employees, lack of human capital building, and more challenges ahead. Thus understanding the problems and challenges are fundamental solutions to expand and strategize SME’s to future progress and grows. Therefore this article examines the background and challenges face by SME’s which play a vital role in the nation growth. The uniqueness of this paper is the emphasis on the human resource development perspective which is important for SME’s to progress and be competitive. Finally, this article maps out how future research can be more sensitive to how SME’s actually develop their own human resource development for future development.

Regional Imbalances in Maharashtra: A Human Development Perspective

Regional Imbalances in Maharashtra: A Human Development Perspective

The Introduction of Assisted Reproductive Technologies in the “Developing World”: A Test Case for Evolving Methodologies in Feminist Bioethics

The global spread of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) is a useful test case for exploring the growing interest in feminist bioethics in incorporating both human rights and development perspectives. Drawing directly from the discourses of international human rights and calling attention to structural relationships in the development and distribution of health care goods, this essay illustrates how a dual‐lens ethical analysis illuminates otherwise hidden or ignored features of the globalization of ART. Part 1 argues for the importance of viewing the introduction of ART in the global South in light of the specific economic, political, and cultural factors mediating the experience of infertility, especially for women. In this way, the intersection of social values and cultural pressures around reproduction with commercial interests in expanding existing ART markets becomes clearly visible. Part 2 shows how a dual‐lens approach takes the ethical questions regarding ART in a global marketplace beyond the standard principles of informed consent and equity to ask what sorts of investments might serve women’s health and development understood in terms of the multilayered relationships of power within which women live. Finally, the analysis of global trends in ART raises questions for the scope and focus of international advocacy for social and economic justice.

Why are adolescents violent?

This article discusses how adolescents become violent from the perspective of human development, in which the process of formation of the child and the youth depends on diverse biological, psychological e social variables that constitute the context of life of these individuals. The ecological perspective of human development opposes simple cause-effect relations between antisocial adversities and behaviors and believes that factors such as gender, temperament, cognitive ability, age, family, social environment and culture combine in a complex way influencing the behavior of the child and the adolescent. Some conclusions point to the fact that violence in adolescence usually starts from a combination of early difficulties in relationships associated with a combination of temperamental difficulties. It is concluded that the young seem to be as bad as the social environment surrounding them.