we advance four guiding principles for designing and implementing policies to reduce vulnerability and enhance resilience: embracing universalism, putting people first, committing to collective action and coordinating states and social institutions. Taking into account that a variety of approaches and perspectives are needed to reduce vulnerability, depending on the types of adverse events people face, these principles can move development in a more sustainable and resilient direction. Embracing universalism. All individuals are equally valuable and entitled to protection and support. So there has to be a greater recognition that those most exposed to risks and threats, children or people living with disabilities, may require additional support to ensure that their life chances are equal to others’. Universalism may thus require unequal entitlements and attention. Equal consideration for all could thus demand unequal treatment in favour of the disadvantaged.50 The basic idea of human development is promoting equal life chances for all, based on the Kantian principle that all people are of equal worth,51 as enshrined in the UN Charter. All humans need to be empowered to live lives they value. Both economic and social policies influence people’s life chances and capabilities. Pursuing the broader goals of equity and justice reinforces social competences and deepens social cohesion. How far policies and responsive systems of governance succeed in advancing the prospects of most members of society will determine whether social solidarity is enhanced and fragmentation and stigma can be avoided. Putting people first. Reducing vulnerabilities calls for renewing the core message of human development as ‘putting people first’—a message promoted consistently in all HDRs since the first in 1990. All public policies, especially macroeconomic ones, must be seen as means to an end, not as ends in themselves. Policymakers must ask some basic questions. Is economic growth improving the lives of people in areas that really matter—from health, education and income to basic human security and personal freedoms? Are people feeling more vulnerable? Are some people being left behind? And, if so,
who are they, and how can such vulnerabilities and inequities be best addressed? The notion of putting people first is not just about people-centred policies. It is also about policies that people influence, so all members of society have full rights as citizens and have a voice that is heard in developing policies. Reducing vulnerability requires that the voice of the disadvantaged be heard clearly. Empowering all citizens is a powerful tool for reducing risks. As Amartya Sen observed, “Famines are easy to prevent if there is a serious effort to do so, and a democratic government, facing elections and criticisms from opposition parties and independent newspapers, cannot help but make such an effort. Not surprisingly, while India continued to have famines under British rule up to independence, . . .[with a democratic government after independence] they disappeared.”52 Putting people first has implications for policies and measures: The two are inextricably linked because “what we measure affects what we do; and if our measurements are flawed, decisions may be distorted.”53 As all HDRs have argued, focusing narrowly on GDP and its growth is misleading. Economic growth is important, not for itself but for what it enables a country and people to do with the resources generated. Growth that does not generate sufficient jobs—jobless growth—cannot be treated on a par with growth that does.54 Jobs are a source of dignity and self-worth. Higher quality or decent jobs contribute to social cohesion and political stability.55 For example, austerity in Europe is severely straining social structures, with larger burdens borne by the young and the old,56 even after conceding the need to reduce fiscal deficits. The Human Development Index—a composite measure of income, education and health—was presented in 1990 as an alternative to GDP. Its widespread adoption reflects countries’ desire to understand whether, how and why people are doing better. Since its introduction, human development measures of inequality, gender and poverty have been added to the arsenal. All these measures assess achievement in human development, but they do not incorporate measures of vulnerability. This requires looking beyond achievements to hazards and
Equal consideration for all could demand unequal treatment in favour of the disadvantaged
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