The COVID-19 pandemic is unleashing an unprecedented crisis, hitting hard on all the constitutive elements of human development: income, education and health. Not counting many other indirect effects, including increased domestic violence, yet to be fully documented.
In line with the UN’s framework for immediate socio-economic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and in fulfillment of UNDP’s role as the technical lead in socio-economic recovery efforts, UNDP has released the publication: “Human Development Perspectives – COVID19: Assessing the impact, envisioning the recovery.”
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- For more details, visit UNDP HDRO website.
Building on the findings of the 2019 Human Development Report and utilizing simulations based on an adjusted Human Development Index to reflect the effects of school closures and mitigation measures, projections of declines in economic activity, and impact on child mortality, the publication documents the severity of the unfolding human development crisis with simulated global estimates.
It also suggests three principles to shape the response to, and envision the recovery from, the crisis: 1) adopt an equity lens; 2) focus on people’s enhanced capabilities to help build resilience for the future; 3) follow a multidimensional approach to address the interconnected nature of the crisis, with a particular focus on the interaction between people and planet, which is increasingly out of balance.
The publication will be useful and helpful in stimulating national debates.