REMARKS

Launch, 2019 Human Development Report in Jamaica

UNDP Resident Representative, Denise Antonio

Delivered on her behalf by UNDP Programmes Specialist, Richard Kelly

UNDP Large Conference Room

Monday 9 December 2019, 9 a.m.

Salutations & Acknowledgements  

• Mr Ozan Sevimli, World Bank Resident Representative
• Mr Takeshi Takano, Resident Representative, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA);
• Mr. Fredrik Ekfeldt, Minister Counsellor, Deputy Head of Mission, European Union;
• Professor Aldrie Henry Lee, University Director of the Sir Arthur Lewis Centre for Social and Economic Studies and Professor of Social Policy, University of the West Indies;
•  Ms Delores Wade of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ),
• Ccvil society organizations, youth groups, members of the media
•  Other distinguished ladies and gentlemen

Good morning and welcome to our guests on location at UNDP and joining us live via social media.

Today the UNDP Jamaica country office is honoured to join colleague offices around the globe in launching the 2019 Human Development Report (HDR).

Since 1990 UNDP has been pleased to publish the HDR as a means of measuring and advancing development progress.

Drawing on data sourced from official organizations at the country level, the HDR ranks 189 nations across the earth according the levels of development they have attained based on life expectancy, schooling, Gross National Income, gender, education and health.

The numbers are valuable for planning purposes, but they do not tell the entire story.

That is why UNDP is maturing its approach to development measurement and assessment through this year’s theme ‘Beyond Income, Beyond Averages, Beyond Today: Inequalities in human development in the 21^st century’.

This is an important topic because even when the numbers appear to be positive, more and more we are witnessing a rise in discontentment around the globe as people perceive a heightened level of unfairness in their societies and more than often the root cause is inequality.

The depth of this inequality must be assessed beyond basic data that traditionally informs our policies. For this reason, I implore all of us, government, development partners, non-government organizations and citizens to look beyond income, beyond averages and beyond today so that together we can find effective and sustainable solutions aligned to the context of Jamaica’s Vision 2030.

·       Beyond income means we are now measuring inequalities in key elements of human development such as health, education, dignity and respect for human rights as these might not be revealed by considering income and wealth inequality alone.

·       Beyond averages means we go beyond collapsing information into a single number and look at the ways inequality plays out across an entire population, in different places and over time.  

·       Beyond today means that we examine issues that will shape inequality in the future, not just the issues we are grappling with today or yesterday. Two seismic shifts will shape the 21st century: Climate change and technological transformations. The climate crisis is already hitting the poorest hardest, while technological advances such as machine learning and artificial intelligence can leave behind entire groups of people, even countries.

I will outline the five main global findings of the report and will provide the findings related specifically to Jamaica.

In summary, the 2019 Report found:

1.     While many people are rising above minimum levels of achievement in human development, widespread disparities remain;

2.     A new generation of severe inequalities in human development is emerging, even if many of the unresolved inequalities of the 20th century are declining.

3.     Inequalities in human development can accumulate through life, frequently heightened by deep power imbalances.

4.     Assessing inequalities in human development demands a revolution in metrics.

5.     Redressing inequalities in human development in the 21st century is possible—if we act now, before imbalances in economic power translate into entrenched political dominance.

The 2019 HDR presents the facts on inequalities in human development and proposes ideas to act on them over the course of the 21st century. As we contemplate how best to further Jamaica’s development progress, the proposals in the report and data contained in the various indices may provide a pool of evidence on which to construct more equitable and just societies.

I invite you to visit UNDP Jamaica’s website at jm.undp.org to download the Report and the country summary for Jamaica, and to join our global effort to overturn inequality in all forms as we seek just, fair and equal development for all.