Message-ID: <9608312329.AA09697@lan.vita.org> Date: Sat, 31 Aug 1996 19:29:17 EDT From: DevelopNet News <mailto:dnn@VITA.ORG> Subject: Your September DevelopNet News To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
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September 1996 Volume 6, No. 9
IN THIS ISSUE
YOUR POLICY TOOLKIT
A Way to Measure Development
LITERATURE REVIEWS
Measuring Slum Improvement
Eliminating "River Blindness"
Investing in The Environment
ORGANIZATION
Newly Independent States
VITA PROJECTS
VITA Manages E-Conferences
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Health Care
Cities At Risk of Disaster
* * *
DevelopNet News is published monthly by Volunteers in Technical
Assistance (VITA) in Arlington, Virginia, USA. For additional
information, please see the end of this newsletter.
* * *
Y o u r P o l i c y T o o l k i t
A WAY TO MEASURE DEVELOPMENT
People say that one country is "developing;" another is "developed." Or
that development in a country or region should be faster or slower. Or
that the transfer of technology speeds development. How do we measure
development so that we can evaluate such statements or use them in
policy making?
The process of development is often equated with an improved standard of
living and has been measured in many ways. Measures have included life
expectancy at birth, adult literacy rate, unemployment rate, annual rate
of inflation, and even the number of TV sets per 100 people. Gross
Domestic Product is the amount of income a country generates within its
borders that can be used by its residents. And GDP per capita may be the
most widely used index of development; it primarily describes economic
development. GDP per capita does not directly measure the standard of
living, but for centuries it has been believed that economic growth is
the path to improved human development and delivering more goods and
services is the best way to improve people's standard of living.
Looking at other measures of development is not meant to downgrade the
importance of economic growth. There is no doubt that in low-income
countries economic growth is not merely an option; it is imperative. But
when the economy grows (as indicated, usually, by a rise in the GDP per
capita) who benefits and who pays? The UN Development Programme, whose
new report we review here, proposes that development programs be people
oriented. As one result of a six-year staff study, it has proposed a
Human Development Index, which comes closer to meeting the requirements
of policy making than any other measure now in general use. The HDI is
nothing more than the average of three numbers which, in turn, are
readily computed using ordinary arithmetic. (Please see the report for
details.) The numbers are: a life expectancy index, an educational
attainment index that includes adult literacy and total educational
enrollment, and an adjusted GDP per capita. Thus, the HDI includes
economic growth; indeed, the report reminds us: "More economic growth,
not less, will generally be needed as the world enters the 21st cen-
tury." But the HDI also takes into account the development and use of
human capital, as expressed by life expectancy and educational
attainment.
In particular, the benefits of development programs should be equitably
distributed (not increasing the gap between rich and poor) and environ-
mentally and socially sustainable. "Human development and economic
growth should move together, strongly linked." UNDP's commissioner,
James Gustave Speth, emphasizes that links between economic growth and
human development are not automatic; they must be forged through policy
making and determination.
Calculating the HDI
The three indexes are calculated in part by comparing raw data for a
particular country with the extreme values as seen throughout the world.
Thus, the extreme values used for life expectancy are 25 years and 85
years, for adult literacy 0% and 100%, for combined enrollment ratio 0%
and 100%, and for real GDP per capita $100 and $40,000; the index based
on real GDP per capita requires a further adjustment explained in the
report.
To illustrate the construction of the HDI, consider Gabon, a developing
country, and Greece, an industrial country. For Gabon, the life expec-
tancy is 53.7 years, adult literacy 60.3%, combined (primary, secondary,
and tertiary-level) enrollment ratio 47%, and real GDP per capita
$3,861. For Greece, the four figures are 77.7 years, 93.8%, 78%, and
$8,950. The next step is to compute the three required indexes by the
methods given in the report; for Gabon, the life expectancy index is
0.478, educational attainment index is 0.558, and adjusted GDP index is
0.663. The HDI, the average of the three figures for Gabon, is 0.557. A
similar calculation for Greece gives an HDI of 0.909.
The main advantages of the HDI are its inclusion of information beyond
payments for goods and services, the simplicity of its theoretical
basis, and its ease of computation from data that are available for many
countries. It falls short of perfection because it does not directly
measure many critical aspects of human development; for example, devel-
opment of the family and of social life, and the way individuals take
pride in their work and are flexible. Like other measures, it is no more
accurate and reliable than the basic data from which it is derived.
How do countries compare on the HDI scale? The five top HDIs are for
Canada, the United States, Japan, Netherlands, and Norway. Starting at
the bottom, the lowest five are Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Mali, and
Burkina Faso. We note that by GDP alone, Sierra Leone would be listed 20
positions higher in the global list of nations. Thus, policy analysts
relying on GDP alone would overlook Sierra Leone's life expectancy of
only 39.2 years and other revealing numbers.
Beyond the Numbers
Looking at long-term development, UNDP finds that "the developing coun-
tries have in 30 years achieved progress in human development that took
industrial countries more than 100 years. Living standards for hundreds
of millions have risen. Basic education and literacy have spread signif-
icantly, along with mass communication. Mortality rates for infants,
children and women have fallen. Access to safe water and sanitation has
greatly increased. And the gender gap in basic human capabilities has
narrowed considerably, even though significant gaps in opportunities
remain."
As for economic growth, the global growth in income has been spread very
unequally among rich and poor -- and the inequality is increasing. "The
imbalances in economic growth, if allowed to continue, will produce a
world gargantuan in its excesses and grotesque in its human and economic
inequalities." More attention must go to the structure and quality of
that growth, say the authors, to ensure that it is directed to suppor-
ting human development.
The report "is principally addressed to what countries can do for them-
selves." The well written text is supplemented with clear tables and
interesting supplements in boxes and sidebars. The tables include an
enormous amount of development information for all countries, compiled
from recent sources. An excellent glossary of technical terms is provi-
ded. Persons interested in international development should own or have
ready access to the report.
Source: UN Development Programme, 1996. Human Development Report 1996.
New York: Oxford University Press.
L i t e r a t u r e R e v i e w s
MEASURING SLUM IMPROVEMENT
Peter Abelson, 1996. "Evaluation of Slum Improvements; Case Study in
Visakhapatnam, India." Cities, volume 13, no. 2, pages 97 - 108.
Donor institutions have invested in many slum improvement efforts. Peter
Abelson (Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia) says that evaluations
of these projects tend to "resemble laundry lists in which objectives
are ticked off as they are (more or less) achieved." In fact, economic
rates of return are rarely estimated for poverty-based projects. Why is
this true? The benefits are hard to quantify; in addition, they are hard
to measure using the "willingness to pay" approach favored by many econ-
omists. But some way to measure benefits is demanded, if only to help
donors decide the levels of subsidy for poor communities.
Abelson studied Visakhapatnam, a port city on the east coast of India.
It is a major naval base and manufacturing center where the 200 offi-
cially designated slum areas have an average annual household income of
Rs. 13,000 ($414 equivalent) and include 200,000 of the city's one mil-
lion inhabitants. In 1988 the Municipal Corporation started a major slum
improvement program with support from the U.K. Overseas Development
Administration. The program covered civil infrastructure, health, and
socioeconomic projects -- mainly education. Subsidized housing loans
were also provided. ODA funded costs totalling Rs. 300 million for the
first four years.
A variety of economic surveys generally showed improved living and work-
ing conditions and education. But health conditions did not improve.
Abelson criticizes conventional methods of evaluation (often used by ODA
and the World Bank) which measure increased land values or rents without
looking at access to health care or water. Land valuation is often
imprecise or unreliable. And when asked what they would be willing to
pay for particular benefits (for example, public toilets) slum dwellers'
replies often lacked validity or reliability. For the four-year period,
the better available estimates showed costs and benefits to be about
equal. The cost of annual maintenance of the program is estimated at Rs.
10 million.
ELIMINATING "RIVER BLINDNESS"
Pierre Ngoumou, Rene Owona Essomba, and Christine Godin, 1996.
"Ivermectin-Based Onchocerciasis Control in Cameroon." World Health
Forum, volume 17, No. 1, pages 25-28.
"River blindness," onchocerciasis, has been described as a major obsta-
cle to socioeconomic development as well as a cause of great disability
and suffering that threatens 120 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Onchocerciasis Control Project in West Africa is a major, interna-
tional public health program now in its 21st year.
The safe and effective drug ivermectin has been made available at no
cost to affected countries by Merck and Co., Inc. Members of populations
at risk need just one annual dose for prevention. But there are unsolved
problems of distributing it. The Cameroon government decided in 1991 to
integrate its distribution into the primary health system, which was to
be updated to make the drug accessible to the entire population. But
functional health districts are absent where needed and there is no
national mechanism for distributing any drug. So, according to Ngoumou
and colleagues (Ministry of Public Health, Yaounde), "only a limited
number of people could be expected to have access . . . if distribution
. . . were integrated into the primary health system in its present
state."
How much would distribution cost? With a lack of trained professionals,
should volunteers distribute the drug? How can a program of public edu-
cation on onchocerciasis and its control be designed and launched?
Cameroon's Health Ministry currently relies on donor support for dis-
tribution costs, which are coordinated by a group of international
development organizations. Capital equipment and training are still in
the planning stages. The onchocerciasis effort vividly illustrates that
material resources, although necessary, are not always sufficient to
solve an urgent development problem.
INVESTING IN THE ENVIRONMENT
World Bank; Global Environment Coordination Division, 1996. Facing the
Global Environmental Challenge: A Progress Report on World Bank Global
Environmental Operations, September 1995 - January 1996. Washington: The
World Bank.
The Global Environmental Facility is an investment portfolio implemented
by the World Bank, the UN Development Programme, and the UN Environment
Programme. It provides financial assistance to developing countries to
protect the global environment, under the headings of climate change,
biodiversity loss, international waters pollution, and ozone layer
depletion.
One investment example is related to an international agreement
(Montreal, Canada, 1987) to eliminate the production and consumption of
ozone-depleting chemicals by 1996, with a ten-year grace period for
developing countries. In 1990 the 100 countries participating in the
agreement set up a fund to help developing countries meet the costs of
phasing out ozone-depleting substances. Its objectives are expected to
be achieved this year in Eastern Europe, excluding Russia; the produc-
tion sector in Russia will need a lot of extra financial help in closing
out the use and production of chlorofluorocarbons in spite of the high
cost-effectiveness of its procedures.
The report contains tables describing all the projects in the portfolio.
O r g a n i z a t i o n
NEWLY INDEPENDENT STATES
The Center for Citizen Initiatives is a San Francisco-based nonprofit
organization dedicated to helping Russian citizens take an active role
in aiding their country's transition to a market economy. CCI works
through regional offices and citizen networks and regional offices in
Dubna, Ekaterinburg, Rostov-on-Don, St. Petersburg, Volgograd, and
Voronezh. Among CCI's programs is an agricultural initiative, which aims
to assist citizens of Russia and other Newly Independent States, especi-
ally the needy, to produce more of their own food on a small-scale
basis; provide comprehensive support to privatized farmers through
extension services; and promote the development of sustainable and
organic agriculture in Russia. Other program initiatives include a pro-
ductivity enhancement program that provides intensive U.S.-based manage-
ment training for Russian and Ukrainian producers; an economic develop-
ment program aimed at encouraging small-scale entrepreneurship for job
creation; a nonprofit management training program; and a program that
supports grassroots environmental movements in the NIS.
Information: Center for Citizen Initiatives, 3268 Sacramento Street, San
Francisco, CA 94115; tel. +1 (415) 346-1875; fax +1 (415) 346-3731; e-
mail <mailto:cciusa@igc.apc.org>; URL <http://www.igc.apc.org/cci/>.
V I T A P r o j e c t s
VITA MANAGES E-CONFERENCES
Starting 9 September and continuing for 30 days, the World Bank and the
Carnegie Corporation (New York) with VITA's assistance will be sponsor-
ing an electronic conference on "Philanthropic Foundations." Its purpose
is to analyze the means to strengthen relationships in science and tech-
nology and to improve the effectiveness of donors in building scientific
and technological capacity in development.
Ron Epstein, VITA's Director of Marketing, says, "The conference is an
activity of the World Bank's Technology Network -- TechNet -- an initia-
tive designed to encourage understanding and promote the use of science,
technology and information in development. VITA's participation in its
management was a given. After all, for 37 years VITA has strived to find
innovative ways to disseminate information and transfer technology to
the developing world."
This is the third of nine conferences managed by VITA and cosponsored by
the Bank, all of which are dedicated to facilitating general and topical
discussions related to technology and technology transfer. The first two
conferences, held from May to July 1996, focused on the subjects of
Learning Nations and Community Communication Centers and attracted about
1,000 participants from around the world.
"Subjects for the conferences are selected by Bank staff and further
defined by a TechNet Conference committee" Epstein says. "A moderator is
then selected by the Bank and some twenty to thirty expert panelists are
drawn from the Bank, governments, academia, nongovernmental organiza-
tions, and other institutions. The panelists are asked to discuss ques-
tions posed by the moderator. The general public is invited to subscribe
and receive the comments of the panelists and submit reactions or ques-
tions. Each conference lasts four to six weeks."
As manager, VITA handles the requests of the general public to partici-
pate, refers inquiries to the appropriate responders, and ensures the
day-to-day exchange of communications. VITA also archives the contribu-
ted comments, bibliographic material, and listing of experts and
institutions.
"The conferences are accessible through both the World Bank and VITA Web
pages. In addition, participants may join the conference by subscribing
through e-mail" continues Epstein."The next conference, scheduled to
begin in late September, will focus on Long-Distance Learning."
Information: Richard Muffley <mailto:rmuffley@vita.org> or Ron Epstein
mailto:<repstein@vita.org>.
A n n o u n c e m e n t s
HEALTH CARE
The Sixth International Conference on System Sciences in Health Care
will be held in Barcelona, Spain from 16 to 20 September 1996. The over-
all theme of the Conference is the international comparison of health
care systems at different stages of development. It will review the
results of reforms to date, to apply the lessons learned to health
systems still debating the broad direction in which they should move,
and to provide a forum for methodological debate and the comparison of
international health systems.
Major topics will include reforms in coverage and financing of health
systems, challenges faced by Central and Eastern European countries,
reforms related to health care delivery and management, the role of
international agencies and consultancy in developed and developing
health systems, and the role and scope of state intervention in an
increasingly global pharmaceutical market.
Information: Tecnic Viatges, S.A., Congres SSHC'96, c/o Numancia, 98
Placa les Corts, 08029 Barcelona, Spain; tel. and fax +34 (3) 419 27 85.
CITIES AT RISK OF DISASTER
The International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, a UN program,
is hosting an Internet conference focused on solutions for cities at
risk of disaster. Are the cities of today and tomorrow waiting for
disasters to happen? The conference began 26 August 1996 and will con-
tinue through 25 October. It features a different topic each week, with
the goal of exchanging practical solutions that city authorities and
concerned citizens can adapt to their own local needs. The conference
aims to: encourage urban authorities and community leaders to protect
cities from disasters; gather "success stories" of urban disaster miti-
gation that can be adapted in various cities around the world; identify
policies and "lessons learned" that may be adapted to local circumstan-
ces; and facilitate networking, partnerships and exchanges among organ-
izations interested in making cities safer from disasters.
To register as a participant, send e-mail to mailto:listserv@thecity.sfsu.edu;
your message should say: subscribe risk your_first_name your_last_name.
Information: International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, UN
Department of Humanitarian Affairs, Palais des Nations, 1211 Geneva 10,
Switzerland; tel. +41 (22) 798 6894; fax +41 (22) 733 8695; e-mail
mailto:<idndr@dha.unicc.org>; URL <http://hoshi.cic.sfu.ca/idndr>.
* * *
HOW TO JOIN VITA'S ELECTRONIC FORUM
VITA's free, public, online discussion forum, DEVEL-L, provides for the
exchange of ideas and information on a wide range of issues and topics
related to technology transfer in international development; for exam-
ple, technologies, communications in development, sustainable agricul-
ture, women in development, the environment, small enterprise develop-
ment, meetings, and book reviews. Subscribers to DEVEL-L automatically
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You can subscribe to this newsletter, DevelopNet News, without joining
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Please do not send these messages to VITA or to DEVEL-L.
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DevelopNet News is an electronic newsletter published monthly by Volun-
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Editorial Assistant: Rafe Ronkin, VITA Volunteer <mailto:rronkin@vita.org>
VITA specializes in information dissemination and communications tech-
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processing, renewable energy applications, water sanitation and supply,
small enterprise development, and information management. It has pro-
jects in 6 African countries.
VITA's publications, on a variety of practical subjects, are designed to
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