The word “development” is frequently used to describe the UN’s efforts in areas as varied as strengthening civil society to resource mobilization. But what do we actually mean when we talk about human development?
Pedro Conceição, Director of the UN Development Programme’s Human Development Report Office, recently shared his perspective on UNDP’s mandate and broad portfolio of projects across 170 countries – all in advance of building integrated, lasting solutions for people and the planet. His insights were especially valuable given the outsized role of the U.S. in UNDP’s work since the agency was created in 1966, contributing about $80 million USD annually to the organization. In fact, UNDP has been repeatedly singled out by U.S. Senate Appropriations committees for its unique contribution and impact in areas of vital U.S. interest.
Learn more in this conversation between one of UNDP’s leading voices and BWC President Peter Yeo.
Content has been lightly edited for clarity.
Yeo: What does the UNDP actually do?
Conceição: The UNDP is about enabling countries and people to lead lives to their full potential. We do this by focusing on a few areas – contributing to the eradication of poverty, helping countries transition towards renewable energy, supporting elections and institutions that strengthen democracy, enabling countries to attract capital and more.
Yeo: The Human Development Report is a regular publication of UNDP. This year’s theme was around breaking the gridlock and reimagining cooperation in a polarized world. What are the big headlines of the report?
Conceição: For the first time ever, we saw a decline in human development in 2020. This was unprecedented. The reasons were linked in a large extent to the way in which the world responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. It seemed that countries were not prepared and people suffered as a result, with many societies becoming polarized and divided around what should be done.
Yeo: Were there any specific recommendations?
Conceição: One of the more interesting findings of the report is that people actually agree on more than they think they do. For instance, when it comes to climate change – which is one of the issues around which people are polarized – it’s not so much about climate denial. In fact, UNDP ran a survey and found that 70% of the global population believes their decisions are often affected by and impact climate change. So a large majority of people are actually committed to mitigating climate change. But when you ask people if they think those around them also believe, the percentage drops to 40%.
Yeo: Part of that is potentially a reflection of the fact that people feel that anything related to climate is controversial.
Conceição: It is true that addressing climate change is complicated, but the polarization seems to be happening not so much on whether people believe that climate change is real, but around whether we are doing enough or aren’t doing enough.
Yeo: The report mentions that even during the Cold War, there was significant global cooperation. As we think about current life in this polarized world, you must see room for global cooperation moving forward.
Conceição: Absolutely. First of all, we need to recognize that it’s normal for people to care more about their own communities and their countries. Countries need to advance their national self-interest. But that’s not incompatible with the idea that they also need to find arenas in which they can work together. For example, when it comes to disease, we saw COVID-19 move across borders very easily, so we needed to find ways of cooperating. Instead of being against the national self-interest, it’s actually something that enhances the interests of all countries.
Yeo: As you think about the next Human Development Report, are there any themes emerging?
Conceição: We’re going to look at digital transformation. The artificial intelligence (AI) revolution is going to shape opportunities for human development, creating new risks and – most importantly – creating new opportunities to augment what people can do. We want to find ways to contribute to recommendations on policies that mitigate the risks and enhance human development.
