The Farnesina is host to the presentation in Italy of the UNDP 2015 Work for Human Development.
Participants in the event include Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General within the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) Antonio Vigilante, Professor of Economic Statistics of the University of Rome Tor Vergata Enrico Giovannini and the Farnesina’s Director General for Development Cooperation Giampiero Cantini. Moderater is journalist Duilio Gianmaria. Other participants include representatives of the civil society and political and academic spheres.
“Work for Human Development”
The UNDP has been publishing its report for 25 years with the aim of offering a vision of global development that goes beyond the measurement of economic wealth. The report looks at persons, the opportunities they enjoy and the choices they make.
The 2015 edition of the report focuses on the contribution of work to human development. The two concepts are interconnected: work brings income, security, empowerment of women, participation and recognition in society, creativity and innovation. These aspects encourage human development in terms of health, knowledge and the ability to make choices. Human development, in turn, is an incentive for work. Nevertheless, the link between work and human development is not automatic. Millions of persons work under conditions of exploitation and human rights abuse, a situation that narrows rather than broadens their possibility for a long, healthy and productive life.
It emerges from the report that work stimulates human development when public policies expand the opportunities for employment that ensures respect for workers’ rights, security and prosperity.
In a context of deep and rapid revolution – the result, not least, of the “digital revolution” – and globalisation, the report formulates a series of policy proposals posed to seize the opportunities that arise and, at the same time, mitigate the negative consequences of the ongoing changes on several worker categories.
Human Development Index (HDI)
The report ends with a Human Development Index (HDI) based on three categories: income, health and education.
In 2015, HDI ranks Italy 27th among the countries with the highest human development (0.873 out of 1), which is slightly higher that its per capita income ranking. The top three countries on the HDI are Norway, Austria and Switzerland.
