59884 POVERTY THE WORLD BANK REDUCTION AND ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT NETWORK (PREM) Economic Premise FEBRUARY 2011 · Number 50 Human Rights and Development Practice Milan Brahmbhatt and Otaviano Canuto In the past two decades, there has been a growing engagement between development and human rights practitioners and thinkers. But are participants in this dialogue still mainly talking past each other? Or has there been valuable cross-fertilization and learning--the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) themselves being a fruit of this convergence? This note addresses three points. The first point is the growing convergence between human rights and development thinking along several dimensions, particularly on social and economic rights. The second point is a consideration of the continuing areas of difference or divergence and of outstanding or open questions. Are these areas of conflict or are they valuable complementarities? The third point asks where are we with MDGs on the ground, and what can the dialogue between human rights and development contribute to furthering progress on MDGs? It is useful to start with a fairly basic definition (adapted . . . encouragement of the development of productive from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy of human rights facilities and resources in less developed countries. . . . as international norms that help protect all people every- To promote private foreign investment . . . [and] . . . To where from severe political, legal, economic, and social abus- promote the long-range balanced growth of interna- es; or, alternatively, that serve to secure and preserve ex- tional trade and the maintenance of equilibrium in bal- tremely important goods, protections, and freedoms in those ances of payments.... (article 1) various areas for all people everywhere (Nickel 2011). These rights are now embodied in the 1947 Universal Declaration It is notable how the interpretation of these terms has broad- on Human Rights and in nine core international covenants ened over the decades to the point where the Bank's pri- and treaties. mary purpose is now viewed as poverty alleviation, seen as a multidimensional concept that encompasses human devel- Convergence opment, social development, environment, governance, and institutions. Arguably, there are now several areas of convergence between At the same time, the emphasis of human rights thinking human rights and development. The first area is how the on the rights of every individual has been matched by a shift wide scope of the human rights agenda has been paralleled in development attention from a predominant interest in ag- by a great broadening of development concerns over several gregate measures of welfare (such as GDP or average per decades. It is instructive to quote the World Bank Articles of capita income), to increasingly fine-grained consideration of Agreement on the purposes of the institution. The purposes outcomes for specific subgroups and households, to thinking enumerated there include the following: about "winners and losers." As a result, we see the emergence 1 POVERTY REDUCTION AND ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT (PREM) NETWORK www.worldbank.org/economicpremise of greater concern with issues of inequality and distribution, Open Questions gender disparities, geographic disparities, outcomes for mar- ginal groups, and so on. What about areas of continued or potential divergence be- A final dimension of this convergence is the growing em- tween human rights and development thinkers and practi- phasis in development practice at the level of operations and tioners? A frequent criticism of development practitioners is process on participation, consultation, and accountability. that they rarely, if ever, give sufficient prominence to human Some aspects of these changes are obvious. For example, rights as ends in themselves. When such rights are consid- the proportion of development lending going to human de- ered, it is only instrumentally as means to some other end-- velopment, governance, social development, gender, and en- for example, economic growth. There is clearly some truth vironment issues is rising, relative to more traditional eco- to this criticism. Development practitioners need to reflect nomic management, finance, private sector development, more deeply on Amartya Sen's approach of "development as and trade activities. At the World Bank, this proportion has freedom," of expanding human capabilities as an end rather increased from a little over 40 percent in the early 1990s to than a means to something else. To make progress on these approximately 50 percent today. Even more striking is the issues, the World Bank is undertaking a more systematic ini- mini-revolution in knowledge about many areas closely tiative, supported by a trust fund (from the five Nordic linked to the human rights agenda and the growing tempo countries) to develop greater conceptual clarity about the of operational work in these areas (such as that on poverty links between human rights and core Bank activities and to or governance). explore how human rights considerations can improve the It is remarkable how much more we know about poverty effectiveness of Bank activities, in line with the priorities of and income inequality than we knew 20 years ago because of developing-country partners (http://www.worldbank.org/no the simple accumulation and documentation of data from rdictrustfund). surveys of households, living standards measurements, de- What about criticisms of the human rights approach from mographics, health, employment, and the like. This influx of the perspective of development practitioners? Many of these information, in turn, has stimulated much new research on criticisms were reviewed some years ago by Mary Robinson, poverty and inequality, together with many new tools, mod- the former United Nations high commissioner for human els, and instruments (such as the World Bank's poverty as- rights, in a book chapter titled "What Rights Can Add to sessments and poverty and social impact analysis). One ex- Good Development Practice" (Robinson 2005). Robinson ample of new analytical and empirical work is the observes that human rights bodies have often had to adjust development of a new index of equality of opportunity. The their approaches when grappling with the same real-world index takes into account both the overall opportunity avail- issues that confront development agencies. For example, if able in a country or region and the inequalities in access to human rights agencies want to do practical work with na- that opportunity based on factors such as parental income tional governments, they inevitably must take into account and education, ethnicity, gender, and birthplace (Paes de Bar- the political perspectives of those governments, much as de- ros et al. 2009). velopment agencies do. Another example is work on governance. In addition to Also relevant is the criticism that human rights practi- well-known broad governance indicators based on percep- tioners have difficulty coping with the resource constraints tions surveys, there are now more precisely focused action- facing poor countries and the need for trade-offs--that is, able governance indicators that aim to throw light on how getting more of one thing typically entails less of something specific governance systems are designed and implemented. else. In practice, the force of this criticism is somewhat re- These new indicators draw, in part, on new survey instru- duced by increasing acceptance of the idea of the progressive ments, such as public expenditure tracking surveys and realization of rights. Nevertheless, as Robinson observes, hu- quantitative service delivery surveys. The kind of informa- man rights advocates do have difficulties with trade-offs be- tion those instruments gather should be particularly useful cause the human rights framework is a systemic one, under- for human rights­based approaches, with their focus on the pinned by notions of universality and indivisibility; and distinction between rightsholders and duty bearers and their because "unlike development, human rights is not a prag- stress on the performance of duty bearers. matic tradition" (p. 34). Perhaps this is a case where one Those are only some of the many examples of how devel- should recognize and value the complementarity of the hu- opment thinking and practice have evolved in ways that are man rights and development traditions. For example, it is considerably enriching our knowledge and operational expe- valuable for development practitioners to be forcefully chal- rience on issues of key concern for both development and lenged not to make trade-offs at the expense of the weakest human rights. and most vulnerable in society, just as human rights advo- 2 POVERTY REDUCTION AND ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT (PREM) NETWORK www.worldbank.org/economicpremise cates need to take account of the apparently unrelated costs Figure 1. A Human Rights­Based Approach to Development and side effects of rigid insistence on some favored pro- Outcome gram.1 But one can also ask the following questions: Although the engagement with human rights has helped broaden the Good development agenda and adopt a more fine-grained focus on B C inequity and discrimination, how much does it really help provide better, concrete answers to the hard questions facing development practitioners about what actually works in "do- ing development"? And in what concrete ways does a human A D Bad rights­based approach to development help advance the hu- man rights agenda itself? Figure 1 is adapted from an interesting presentation on human rights­based approaches to development proposed Bad Good Process by human rights agencies (Jonsson 2009). Here the vertical Source: Jonsson 2009. outcome axis represents various internationally accepted human rights standards, such as eradication of hunger and malnutrition and provision of universal primary education. fashion rather than evidence. Indeed, if there is one theme On the horizontal process axis are human rights principles in development thinking over the past decade, it is the de- and processes, such as equality and nondiscrimination, par- mand for more rigor and attention to evidence. ticipation and inclusion, accountability, and rule of law. The Rather than grand frameworks, the emphasis now is more figure suggests that attempts to improve outcomes without pragmatic and focused on impact evaluation--that is, on the also strengthening processes are unsustainable and therefore careful assessment of how far changes in the well-being of doomed. But so also will be mere improvements in process- specific individuals, households, or communities can be es that do not result in better outcomes. The line from causally attributed to a particular project, program, or policy. quadrant A to quadrant C suggests an optimal relationship We are still far from able to apply this approach as exten- or path between the two that enables a country to strength- sively as we would like, but it is the desired direction. And en both outcomes and processes in a mutually reinforcing perhaps it would be fruitful in future collaboration between way. development and human rights practitioners to think about That is a useful conceptual framework. Development more evidence­based approaches, to work on improving practitioners have become more appreciative of the value of data and indicators, and to find what does and does not work accountability and other governance reforms in develop- in human rights and development. ment (and of causality in the opposite direction, from better living standards and human capabilities to demands for more MDGs: Progress on the Ground voice and accountability). By itself, however, this remains and the Outlook something of an underdetermined framework. Even with good accountability and institutions, many questions remain Turning to the MDGs, robust growth in developing coun- unanswered. How indeed do we ensure adequate housing tries has been conducive to significant gains in pursuit of the for all people? Are tough rent controls and more public in- income poverty goal. Since 1990, the global poverty head- vestment in housing the way to go? Or will a more free mar- count rate at the $1.25-a-day level fell 40.0 percent, reach- ket approach yield better results? What exactly are the ing 25.2 percent by 2005. Although the global crisis has health interventions that will reduce maternal mortality, and slowed its progress, it will not prevent the developing world where will we find the resources to pay for them? Should from meeting and exceeding the global target of halving in- we cut spending on something else, raise taxes, borrow, or come poverty by 2015. As table 1 indicates, the poverty rate just print a bit more money? for the developing world as a whole is expected to fall to 15 It would also be wrong to suggest that development prac- percent by 2015, well below the target of 21 percent. All in- titioners have all the answers to these tough questions. We dividual regions are also on track, with the exception of Sub- often think we do, and can usually put forward powerful Saharan Africa. But even there, poverty was falling fairly rap- causal models of these links. But it often turns out that these idly in the 2000s, dipping from approximately 58 percent in models are quite far from reality; and that, in some cases, we 1999 to 51 percent in 2005. Nevertheless, the impact of the have merely let ourselves get carried away by ideological crisis on poverty has been far from negligible. An additional 3 POVERTY REDUCTION AND ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT (PREM) NETWORK www.worldbank.org/economicpremise Table 1. Outlook for Poverty in Developing Countries the benefit during upturns. Vulnerable groups such as infants and children--especially, girls--are disproportionately af- Global-level scenario 1990 2005 2015 2020 fected. Child mortality, primary school completion rates Percentage of the population (particularly for girls), and gender parity in education tend living on less than $1.25 a day to suffer. Growth in advanced countries is also likely to be Postcrisis 41.7 26.2 15.0 12.8 subdued for a significant period, with adverse impacts on de- Precrisis 41.7 25.2 14.1 11.7 veloping-country trade and growth. And, although aid Low-growth 41.7 25.2 18.5 16.3 reached a record high in real absolute terms in 2008, and al- Number of people though donors have pledged significant increases in aid, the living on less than $1.25 a day (millions) severe fiscal pressures now facing rich countries may lead to Postcrisis 1,817 1,371 918 826 underperformance in practice. Precrisis 1,817 1,371 865 755 Given this undoubtedly gloomier global environment, a Low-growth 1,817 1,371 1,132 1,053 key question is this: to what extent will developing countries Source: World Bank staff calculations. be able to return to the robust growth path of the 2000s? No doubt the boom conditions in the global economy at that time played a part in that robust growth. But it is also true that macroeconomic conditions and policies in devel- estimated 64 million people will be living in poverty (at the oping countries were generally more stable, prudent, and $1.25-a-day level) in 2010 as a result of the crisis; and even conducive to growth than in previous decades, with relative- in 2015, the number of people in poverty as a result of the ly low levels of external debt (partly because of debt relief crisis is projected to be 53 million (World Bank 2010). initiatives), modest budget deficits, restrained inflation, more There has also been progress toward the hunger and mal- openness to absorption of foreign knowledge, and so on. nutrition goals, but the food price shock preceding the global If developing countries are able to sustain this kind of a financial crisis led to a notable setback. The proportion of positive enabling environment, then most development ana- people who suffer from hunger had fallen from 20 percent lysts would expect them to be able to secure relatively good in 1990 to 16 percent by 2005, but the 2009 estimate antic- rates of growth going forward--if not at the boom pace of ipated a jump to 19 percent. Although food prices fell the 2000s. One of the underlying reasons relates to the so- sharply in 2009, they remain volatile; several rose sharply called advantages of backwardness--the fact that most devel- again in 2010 and early 2011, nearly reaching 2008 levels. oping countries are still far below the level of technology Progress on the other MDGs has been uneven. On the available in advanced countries. Given a good enabling envi- positive side, two thirds of developing countries had reached ronment, most developing economies would be able to raise gender parity in primary education by 2005; and the target productivity fairly rapidly by absorbing existing knowledge of gender parity in primary and secondary education by from abroad, rather than inventing it for themselves. The rap- 2015 looks likely to be met, although countries were falling id growth of South-South trade and investment flows among behind on gender parity in tertiary education and in empow- developing countries would be another supportive factor.2 erment of women. There was also relatively good progress If this kind of scenario is correct and developing-country on primary school completion, although the world is likely growth returns to a reasonably robust pace, it would provide to fall short of the target, largely because of underperfor- increasing resources to support continued progressive real- mance in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Efforts to ex- ization of the MDGs and of the broader human rights agen- pand access to safe drinking water are also on track globally da. We hasten to add that more growth would, by no means, and in most regions. Improving access to sanitation has guarantee these outcomes. Governments would need to pay proved more difficult, however. Although sanitation cover- close attention to ensure that the fruits of growth were eq- age is rising, the global target will be missed. The health goals uitably distributed. appear most challenging, especially for child and maternal mortality rates. Most regions were off track in the middle to Notes late 2000s, although East Asia, Europe and Central Asia, and Latin America were doing better than other regions. 1. As an example of such apparently unrelated costs and Looking forward, the immediate concern is with the effects, consider a program in which increased spending on short- and longer-term impacts of the crisis on the outlook HIV antiretroviral drugs might have to be paid for by can- for the MDGs. Statistical analysis suggests that the adverse celling a road project that would raise poor people's incomes impact on MDGs during downturns tends to be larger than by linking remote villages to markets. 4 POVERTY REDUCTION AND ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT (PREM) NETWORK www.worldbank.org/economicpremise 2. Canuto and Giugale (2010) make the case for a rela- ed. Philip Alston and Mary Robinson. New York: Oxford University tively robust postcrisis outlook in developing countries and Press. World Bank. 2010. "Unfinished Business: Mobilizing New Efforts to for the kinds of policies needed to support it. Achieve the 2015 Millennium Development Goals." Background paper prepared for the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals Sum- References mit, New York, September 20­22. http://www.worldbank.org/m dgs/MDGPaperFINALSeptember102010.pdf. Canuto, Otaviano, and Marcelo Giugale, ed. 2010. The Day After Tomorrow: A Handbook on the Future of Economic Policy in the Developing World. About the Authors Washington, DC: World Bank. Jonsson, Urban. 2009. "From Poverty Reduction to Disparity Reduction, or From Basic Needs to Human Rights." Presentation to the Interna- Milan Brahmbhatt is senior adviser, Poverty Reduction and tional Conference on Child Policies and Disparities, Cairo, Egypt, Jan- Economic Management (PREM) Network, World Bank, Wash- uary 19­20. ington, DC. Otaviano Canuto is vice president, PREM Net- Nickel, James. 2011. "Human Rights." In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, work. The authors thank Varun Gauri, Siobhan McInerney- ed. Edward N. Zalta. Stanford, CA: Center for the Study of Language Lankford, and Anders Zeijlon for helpful comments on an and Information, Stanford University. http://plato.stanford.edu/. Paes de Barros, Ricardo, Francisco H. G. Ferreira, José R. Molinas Vega, and earlier draft. The authors bear sole responsibility for the views Jaime Saavedra Chanduvi. 2009. Measuring Inequality of Opportunities expressed in this note. in Latin America and the Caribbean. Washington, DC: World Bank. Robinson, Mary. 2005. "What Rights Can Add to Good Development Prac- tice." In Human Rights and Development: Towards Mutual Reinforcement, The Economic Premise note series is intended to summarize good practices and key policy findings on topics related to economic policy. It is produced by the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM) Network Vice-Presidency of the World Bank. The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the World Bank. The notes are available at www.worldbank.org/economicpremise.