GLENDA GALLARDOUNDP HONDURAS. CHIEF ECONOMIST

What tomeasure and how tomeasure it.

Each particular society has its own considerationabout what “well-being”, “Quality of Life” or“Human Development”mean.

Usually a series of indicators in different socialfields, mainly economics, is chosen.

A need has emerged to develop a morecomprehensive view of development andprogress

Human development paradigm promotes well-being because it is conceived as a process ofenlarging people’s choices and enhancing theircapabilities.

It implies the creation of an enabling environmentin which people can develop their full potential andlive productive and creative lives according withtheir needs, interests and own values.

It is not an easy task, since the concept has manyfacets.

A composite measure called Human DevelopmentIndex (HDI) was introduced to measure humandevelopment. It focuses on: Life expectancy at birth, as a proxy measure of apopulation’s health and longevity;

Adult literacy rate and combined gross enrolmentratio, as measure of knowledge and education;

GDP per capita at purchasing power parity (PPP) asmeasure of a decent standard of living

In occasion of twentieth anniversary of the HumanDevelopment Report in 2010, the Human DevelopmentReportOffice intends to:

Review the contributions of the Human DevelopmentReports globally.

Put into consideration some key challenges humandevelopmentmeasurement faces.

Conduct a series of regional and country levelconsultations with leading development thinkers andpractitioners.

It has become a well-being progress measurementcalling the attention of public and private sectors,stimulating national political debate.

Many local governments and authorities have usedthe HDI for advocacy.

It has the potential to boost the paradigm of humandevelopment as a priority in the public agenda.

The need of data for calculating the HDI can alsoopen new avenues of strengthening the NationalStatistics System

In the Honduras NHDR,the results obtained bycalculating the municipalhuman developmentindexes are alsocompared with results ofperception surveys,thematic focal groups, indepth interviews, casestudies and life stories.Having as a result, not justa numerical indicator; butalso, a significant andsolid qualitative back upinformation, that comesdirectly from theHonduran citizens.

Honduran Map depicting Human Development. 2007

In the last two Reports (2006 and 2008/2009) it wasnecessary to carry out thematic surveys to gather perceptiondata.

Both surveys were focused on citizenship, social inclusionand human development.

In 2006 the target population was all people over 18 yearsold (more than 3,500 people in the sample)

In 2008 the target population was the young, between 12and 30 years old (more than 4,000 people in the sample)

In 2008, a special effort was made to visit known territorieswhere Honduran indigenous or afro-descendant peoples livein order to have a significant sample of native young people.

UNDP in Honduras is undertaking a project consisting of aSystem of Observatories for monitoring the MillenniumDevelopmentGoals and Human Development.

The main objectives of the project under Governmentalcoordination are:

Strengthening local communities’ skill on research, analysisand dissemination of statistical information.

Strengthening technical and organizational skills for publicincidence in regional areas.

Generation of regional spaces for managing andharmonizing knowledge, public investment and internationalcooperation related to the MDG.

UNDP's role during the development of the project is highlytechnical in terms of:

Providing information and knowledge.

Supporting local production of information and knowledge.

Facilitating local management.

Promoting advocacy and social control in planning andallocation of local resources.

The Observatories of Human Development and the MDG havebecome a tool for communities to have dialogues with highlevel government officials regarding their real needs in theirterritories.

INE in Honduras with the special support from are propping upan information system with indicators to monitor theimplementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).This system is called ChildInfo-Honduras.

Themain objectives of SISNAM are to: Create an instance and establish mechanisms to improve,

regulate and standardize production and quality of data onthis topics.

Engage both, producers and users of statistics to utilize thisinformation in processes of designing and implementation ofpolicies and planning.

Themain objectives of SISNAM are to: Promote and facilitate the adoption of management

processes and local information as necessary tools in thecontext of decentralization.

CategoryTotal number of indicators in the

category

Millennium Development Goals 31

Context Indicators 78

Beijing Platform 10

Special Session for Children 9

Total number of indicators in the database

128

Indicators included in ChildInfo-Honduras Database

As societies change across time, the development ofindicators to measure well-being becomes a permanent andchanging task.

Having the diversity of cultural richness around the world, itis even more complex to find an indicator or set of indicatorsthat can suit all and allow comparisons among countries andover time.

Indicators have to be reliable not only statistically, but alsoby having the embrace of the individuals, as a legitimateinstrument which reflects, as best as possible, what enrichesand affects their lives.