The Human Development Network Foundation Inc. (HDN) is a non-stock, non-profit organization whose mission is to propagate and mainstream the concept of sustainable human development through research and advocacy. The HDN is a group of development practitioners who first got together in 1992 through the initiative of Professor Solita Collas-Monsod, past HDN President, and the previous Resident Representative of the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

(UNDP), Kevin McGrath. The group met in a series of "brainstorming" sessions to discuss how best to apply the major findings and conclusions of the Human Development Report in the

Philippine The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

setting. From an informal group in 1992, the HDN became a registered organization in 1997. There are now about 150 HDN members from national government agencies, international organizations, non-governmental organizations and research institutions. In terms of discipline and background, the group is composed of political scientists, sociologists, and specialists in public administration, education and social work. The

UNDP The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

has been providing financial and technical assistance to the HDN for the preparation of the Philippine Human Development Reports and advocacy activities since 1994.

Mission

HDN's mission is to build knowledge that will help strengthen institutional capacity in achieving human development outcomes primarily through research and advocacy. Projects and programs are conducted while in constant consultation and engagement with stakeholders from civil society, research and academic institutions around the country, and the Philippine government.

Vision

HDN's vision is to build an environment for Filipinos where they can develop their full potential and lead productive, creative lives in accord with their needs and interests. Human development is about enabling people to have wider choices and expanding capabilities that will allow them to live a full life as human beings.

Our Work

To promote the sustainable human development concept, the HDN spearheads the following projects and activities: (1) preparation of a Philippine Human Development Report on a regular basis; (2) conduct and publication of policy researches on human development issues; (3) monitoring of the achievements, breakthroughs, deficiencies and gaps regarding human development in the work of both government and non-government organizations, (4) organization of and participation in fora, dialogues and symposia on human development concerns; (5) provision of briefings, workshops, lectures and training sessions relating to human development concepts and measures to different audiences.

Philippine Human Development Report

The

Human Development Report (PHDR) is the HDN's main vehicle for advocating people-centered development, and generating discussion and consensus on human development issues. It is the national counterpart of the

's Global Human Development Report. To date, the HDN has produced seven PHDRs—1994, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2008/2009, and 2012/2013 in partnership with the

. It is currently preparing the eighth report to be published sometime 2015-2016.

Other Publications and Research Papers

Aside from the PHDR, the HDN has come out with publications and research papers that tackled specific human development concerns.

Sustainable Human Development (SHD) Fora

The HDN organizes dialogues and fora with the aim of institutionalizing and broadening the partnership between civil society and government in mainstreaming the human development framework in policy-making and programming.

Lectures, Workshops & Training Sessions

The HDN developed a training package on the concept of human development and the estimation of the

Human Development Index The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistic composite index of life expectancy, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income indicators, wh ...

for HDN Members and those engaged in policy decisions and in assessment of improvements in the quality of life using the Minimum Basic Needs approach and other summary measures.

Philippine Human Development Reports

The

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

has published seven national human development reports since 1994. These reports have acquired a reputation for factually based, insightful and well written analyses of human development issues in the

. The PHDR is today a highly respected publication not just in the

but also in the community of nations. In October 2000, at the conclusion of the Second General Forum on Human Development in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, when the first annual National Human Development Report Awards Programme was launched, the PHDR 2000 was among the awardees. PHDR 2000 won awards in three categories: Excellence in the Innovative Use of Human Development Measurement Tools, Excellence in Presentation and Design, and Excellence in Participation and Policy Impact. The issue of the Philippine Human Development Report in 1994 introduced to Philippine readers the concept of Human Development, explaining its difference from the more traditional measure of development like

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

and the significance of measures of life expectation and

literacy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, hum ...

and

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

in the promotion of human development. For the first time, it computed the Human Development Index (HDI) for each of the country's regions and drew out policy implications of the index for action of national and regional authorities. Succeeding issues dwelt on specific themes, defining and analyzing these and deriving policy suggestions from them. The 1997 issue highlighted the theme of

Gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures ...

focusing on the enhancement of women's capabilities and opportunities to make choices. This report noted the significant gains attained by the

in increasing women's access to education and jobs in certain sectors, and participation in elections as voters and candidates. The report of 2000 focused on

Education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

. After documenting what is called an alarming decline in the quality of Philippine education it outlined a general framework for dealing with the problem. PHDR 2002 focused on Employment, more specifically on the nature of unemployment in the Philippines, the profile of the unemployed and quality of employment, and recommended ways and means of generating employment opportunities' to enable people to live in prosperity and dignity. PHDR 2005 probed into

Peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

and

Human Security Human security is a paradigm for understanding global vulnerabilities whose proponents challenges the traditional notion of national security through military security by arguing that the proper referent for security should be at the human rather th ...

and examined the causes and costs of ideology-based armed conflicts, the shortcomings of the government’s policies and institutions and recommended ways to recast or reinforce the government’s peace efforts. PHDR 2008/2009 looked into Institutions and

Politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

by digging into some critical institutions such as the Civil Service Commission, the Department of Budget and the Department of Education (DepEd), and key judicial and quasi-judicial agencies. The latest issue, PHDR 2012/2013 tackled the HDN’s most challenging issue to date,

Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

and Human Development. The Report was launched on July 29, 2013. Each of these issues also came up with the latest computations of provincial

HDI The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistic composite index of life expectancy, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income indicators, wh ...

's.

Issues

and Human Development in the Philippines (2012/2013) * Institution,

and Human Development (2008/2009) *

and Human Development in the Philippines (2005) *Work and Well Being (2002) *Quality, Relevance and Access in Basic

(2000) *Women and

in Development (1997) *Human Development and People's Participation in

Governance Governance is the process of interactions through the laws, norms, power or language of an organized society over a social system ( family, tribe, formal or informal organization, a territory or across territories). It is done by the gove ...

(1994)

External links

Philippine Human Development Network official websitePhilippine Institute for Development StudiesUnited Nations Development Programme, Manila, Philippines
Non-profit organizations based in the Philippines