Institute of Development Studies

Human Development, Volunteering, and Power - Sussex Development Lectures at IDS

This terms’ series of Sussex Development Lectures has featured an array of high profile speakers on a variety of topics relevant to development.

Defining Human Development

On Thursday 28 January, Sabina Alkire, Director of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, discussed the history of ‘human development’ as an idea. She began by tracking  the concept of human development from the first UN Human Development Report (HDR) in 1990, which defined human development as enlarging choices. In the 1991 report the importance of participatory approaches was stressed, and equality and sustainability entered the frame.

1994 saw the first mention of sustainability in the form of a concern for ‘future generations’, and  by 2000 a shift had occurred, from talk of ‘choice’ to that of ‘freedoms’. The 2010 Human Development Report (HDR) will be on the topic of ‘Rethinking Human Development’. Alkire is currently involved in the project to redefine the concept; there is agreement that it should include process, sustainability, environmental resources and equality but the wording itself is not yet finalised.

Alkire contrasted human development to other concepts, such as human rights, human security, happiness and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In many ways the differences are institutional; different terms are useful in different contexts.  The MDGs can be seen as targets for human development, though the MDGs are focussed on poor countries, whereas human development is applicable worldwide.

Volunteering and International Development

Next in the series was Marg Mayne, chief executive of Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO). Mayne explained VSO’s mission, its programmatic way of working and ‘theory of change’, which explains how volunteers can help to reduce poverty in the countries in which VSO works. She stressed that the role of volunteers was not ‘gap-filling’, but helping organisations to effect change, and this was crucial in the selection of both placements and volunteers to fill them.

There were some surprises in her presentation; for instance, a large proportion of volunteers come from developing countries. Mayne explained that VSO looks for the people with the best skills, wherever they might come from, and is also interested in building social capital within these countries. The stereotypical image of volunteers as enthusiastic gap year students is no longer accurate; it is skills that cannot be found in-country VSO looks for. Volunteers range in age from recently qualified teachers with a couple of years’ experience to retired people putting a lifetime of professional skills to new uses.

Another unexpected element of VSO’s work was the emphasis on returned volunteers as agents of change in the UK. Mayne feels that people’s association with VSO does not end with their placement, and that these returnees can be a powerful force to mobilise for better development policy within the UK.

Market vs. State in Development Planning

Frances Stewart, Director of Queen Elizabeth House, gave a talk entitled ‘Power and Progress’, based on the work of Karl Polanyi, in which she argued that development and economic policy has tended to follow a ‘pendulum’, from a market oriented system to a state oriented system and back again.

Stewart gave the example of Britain prior to the Industrial Revolution, where though market transactions occurred they were subject to many restrictions. Adam Smith provided the ideological justification for the removal of such barriers; however, this led to other undesirable outcomes such as unsafe working conditions and child labour. The extended franchise and the rise of trade unions led to a movement away from pure market forces – Polanyi’s ‘Great Transformation’.

As Stewart explained, developing countries are constrained in their policy choices due to financial dependence, and correspondingly less sensitive to domestic pressures. They are affected by the pendulum through the prism of what is happening on other countries’ systems rather than their own. The 1950s and 60s saw an emphasis on planning in development policy; this was followed by a move towards the market in the 1980s when the Washington consensus was dominant. The effects were just as predicted by Polanyi: rising inequality and poverty. There have been some modest recalibrations of policy, said Stewart, but the time is ripe for a significant shift away from market orientation and towards more state involvement in society.

Is this likely to happen? An increase in democratisation in developing makes it more likely, according to Stewart’s view; and in countries such as Bolivia and Venezuela such changes are already visible. Protests and social movements have led to the election of leaders opposed to the pure market model, but the power of external financial constraints has prevented these leaders from making radical changes. Perhaps, said Stewart, over the next few decades this shift will become more visible.  

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