L
esson
20
HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
The achievement of sustained and equitable development remains the greatest challenge facing the human race.
Despite good progress over the past generation, more than 1 billion people still live in acute poverty and suffer
grossly inadequate access to the resources-education, health services, infrastructure , land and credit-required to
give them a chance of a better life. The essential task of development is to provide opportunities so that these
people and hundreds of millions not much better off, can reach their potential.
World Bank, 1992
The world has progressed in many unique ways and directions in the last three decades. It has developed
technologically, economically and industrially. It is also richer in terms of human capabilities, facilities and
quality of living. Improvements in education, communication, technology and markets have made the world a
global village. People live longer today, are better informed, can communicate with one another across the
world and therefore carry on economic, professional, educational, social and other activities with ease. These
decades of development indicate the vast potential for creating a world of order, security and well-being.
The developments of the last three decades also indicate that while remarkable progress has been made in a
number of directions, the fruits of development have not benefited the world’s growing number of poor
people. And where some benefits have reached the poor, new problems are appearing in the form of
deteriorating social fabric and environmental degradation.
The world faces two major development challenges. The first is to ensure that the fruits of development reach
the neediest through equitable distribution of resources, opportunities and benefits. The second is to develop
human capabilities and address the challenges of development - political, economic and social. The few
countries that have been able to meet both these challenges have demonstrated the importance of investing in
developing people and improving the quality of their life through the adoption of human resource
development strategies.
THE CONTEXT AND THE NEED FOR HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Today, there is practically no government or international agency that does not see the importance of human
resource development. The World Bank; the United Nations and its constituent bodies include UNDP,
UNIDO, WHO, ILO, UNICEF, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNESCAP; regional bodies like ASEAN and SAARC;
the South Commission; the Commonwealth Secretariat; international non-government organizations(NGO’s);
and bilateral aid agencies, all recognize the need for , and the importance of, human resource development. The
components and dimensions of human resource development which they perceive as being of strategic
importance at a given point of time, for a given country or a group of countries, may vary, but the focus is
uniform.
The context for the renewed emphasis on human resource development is significant. The structural
adjustments programmers adopted in a number of countries have brought home the vulnerability of human
development variables. The linkages between investments in human development programmes and economic
development have become sharper. There have been major international developments-such as the opening of
global markets, the increased market orientation of economies and the restructuring in socialist countries-which
have given rise to an increased competition, forcing developing countries to produce and market quality
products at competitive prices. At the same time a range of concerns, including environmental issues, the
changing role of women, the new information culture and demands for liberalization and democracy, are
influencing policy and practice.
The knowledge base surrounding human resource development is increasing rapidly, within government and
agencies. It is an area where there are many pressing demands. These demands have to be balanced. Resources
have to be found, frontiers agreed upon and strategies formulated. These are issues with which policy makers,
planners, decision makers, sectoral planners and government managers have to contend.
This course attempts to provide insights into the strategic importance of investments in developing people,
methods of doing the same, strategic choices that need to be made in developing people in terms of the
categories of people to be targeted, processes that could be used for effective implementation of human
resource development policies and programmes, and the sectoral points of attention which are critical for
development.
The course focuses particularly on the developing countries and their human resource development goals,
policies and implementation strategies. In doing so it gives particular attention to both the question of
docsity.com
