Abu Dhabi, April 12th, 2011 (WAM) -- The Department of Economic Development Abu Dhabi in cooperation with the United Nations Development Program UNDP organized a seminar on the Statistical Guides of the First Human Development Report for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, with the participation of a number of government agencies and strategic partners involved in the preparation of the report.
Dr. Elissar Sarrouh, the Resident Representative of UNDP in her speech during the symposium said "We look forward to joint cooperation with the Department of Economic Development through the project of the First Human Development Report for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, until we establish in the near future, a joint specialized unit for issues of human development in the emirate."She stressed, however; that the UNDP released its first Human Development Report in 1990, which had put human beings at the heart of the development process when the focus was on economic growth, noting that the UNDP defines human development as the process that aims at increasing options available to people. She added that this definition is based on three basic options: that people should live a long life free from ills and should gain knowledge and acquire the resources necessary to achieve a decent standard of living, which prompted UNDP to propose a guide for measuring human development which includes the economic dimension in addition to health and education. Dr. Sarrouh noted that the recent Human Development Report for 2010 reflected these developments so that human development has been defined by expanding of the freedoms of human beings to live a long life filled with health, creativity and sustainability on the planet in which all live together; considering that human individuals and groups are the engine of the process of human development and they are the beneficiaries of all that. She explained that the UNDP now has 700 country reports and several international reports. With respect to the Arab world, five reports were released till now including the report issued on United Arab Emirates in 1997; and it is expected that the forthcoming report on the human development for the Emirate of Sharjah along with the report of Abu Dhabi are expected to be released by the end of this year. The First HDR for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, in view of the realities in the GCC countries in general and UAE in particular, should focus on the need to provide specific recommendations based on in-depth scientific studies. She emphasized the need to address the characteristics of both citizens and non-citizens and the total population, and not to calculate human development indicators with reference to total population only, as is the case currently. The Resident Representative of UNDP said at the end of her speech that correct measuring is the first step in making concrete proposals to strengthen the process of human development. Dr. Elissar Sarrouh extended thanks and appreciation to the Department of Economic Development in Abu Dhabi on the fruitful and constructive cooperation for accomplishing this important report. For his part, Rashid Ali Al Zaabi, Acting Executive Director of Planning and Statistics Sector in his speech said that the advanced ranking of the United Arab Emirates in human development indicators during the past years makes us optimistic about the findings and recommendations of the anticipated First Human Development Report for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. "We meet today to perform a task that constitutes a step forward towards achieving the ultimate goal of bringing the First HDR for Abu Dhabi into being. The collective efforts of all and their determination to take the responsibility entrusted to them, is the bedrock in shaping this report, which is expected to reflect the reality, identity and culture of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi", Rashid said. Rashid al Zaabi praised the fruitful and distinguished cooperation between the UNDP, the Studies Directorate of the Department of Economic development and the strategic partners involved in the preparation of the scientific material for this report , which would add another milestone to the list of accomplishments achieved by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, under the judicious leadership of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the State, and the guidance of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. Rashid Ali Al Zaabi noted In conclusion, the magnitude of the joint cooperation between all partners concerned, to conduct training programs and workshops for the preparation of this report, including complex data collection, extracting information, analysis and writing the national report for the Emirate together with findings and recommendations that set guidance for decision-makers in the development process. Dr. George Al-Quseifi, Head of the Technical Advisers Team of the Human Development Report for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, delivered a presentation in which he reviewed the concept of human development and the experiences of Arab and international human development reports, and finally the HDR for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, with regards to main objective, general methodologies, main proposed topics, organizational and administrative issues and publishing and distribution. Al-Quseifi said that the HDR for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi is primarily intended to provide specific and accurate recommendations, through critical review and scientific analysis of the reality. The report falls within the analytical studies aimed at aiding decision makers, drawing on the concepts of human development, which focuses on humanitarian issues and is not thus confined to the economic side. Dr. Al-Quseifi remarked that the HDR for Abu Dhabi will depend on a number of important methodological points based on the experience of international and Arab human development reports, taking into account the varying characteristics of citizens and non-citizens in the countries of the GCC in general and UAE in particular. Al-Quseifi explained that it was agreed to adopt two key points in the methodology of the report; first, the Abu Dhabi report would be seen as a link in a series of reports to be prepared every two or three years, so that it would give the opportunity to address the development issues by priority. Second, the different indicators will be calculated, and the population characteristics examined in such a way as to take into consideration citizens, non- citizens and the total population. According to Dr. George Al-Quseifi the main topics proposed for Abu Dhabi report, concentrate in the five chapters covering, guides, statistical indicators, economic growth and its impact on social aspects, demographic reality, fertility, mortality, marriage, divorce, immigration and educational characteristics; with particular focus on the characteristics of citizens in terms of rates of enrollment in various educational levels, and dropout rates. Finally, it addresses the properties of the labor force in terms of size and rates of unemployment and distribution. Al-Quseifi mentioned that, within the organizational and administrative arrangements for the preparation of the report, a founding committee was formed, including in its structure the Secretariat of the Executive Council, Abu Dhabi Education Council, Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, Abu Dhabi Tawteen Council, Abu Dhabi Council for Economic Development, Abu Dhabi Authority for Environment, the Western Region Development Council and the Statistics Center of Abu Dhabi. For his part, Dr. Mohamed Hussein Baqer, a world-renowned expert in human development, made a presentation in which he reviewed the importance of the human development index in measuring the level of human development, based on three major dimensions using four indicators which include long and healthy life dimension "Index of "Life Expectancy at Birth" the acquisition of knowledge dimension, "The Average Years of Schooling Index" and the Average Expected Years of Schooling "and the standard of living dimension and the GDP per capita Index. Dr. Baqer noted that the Gender Empowerment Measure by calculates the relative participation of men and women in the economic, political activities, and is calculated through four indicators, related to the share of women and men in parliamentary representation, and in administrative and managerial positions; and in professional and technical centers, in addition to earned income. The human development Expert, stressed the importance of calculating index of human poverty, which measures deprivation in related dimensions of human development covered under the human development index; such as long and healthy life deprivation through the index percentage of the population who are not expected to live until the age of 40. Deprivation relevant to the dimension of knowledge acquisition is calculated by the percentage of adults who do not know how to read and write; and deprivation as far as inadequate living and low standards of living for the percentage of residents who do not have access to safe water; and percentage of the population who do not have health services as well as the percentage of children under 5 year of age who are underweight. Dr. Baqer, noted that the Global Human Development Report for the year 2010 included three new standards, aimed at emphasizing the importance of the issues of inequality and poverty and benefiting from the development of measurement methods. The HDI included factors of inequality, gender disparities and multi-dimensional poverty index, which has been added to the Human Development Index superseding all previous of human development indicators. According to Dr. Baqer, the joint policy document for UNDP on the national human development reports includes the six core principles, required to be contained in Abu Dhabi HDR, which are: the national identity, the independent analysis, quality of analysis, setting comprehensive joint preparation, flexibility and creativity in presentation and continued follow-up. It also includes how to provide effective support to the process of the preparation of national human development reports and required linkage between such reports and the plans and programs of the UNDP and the United Nations system. According to the human development Expert Dr. Baqer, there are statistical challenges which face the preparation the First Human Development Report for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. These include providing the required data for the preparation of human development indicators of the emirate, the provision of data used to calculate the human development in the Emirate, including data for calculating the human development index relative to inequality factors and the provision of data at the level of both citizens and non-citizens for the purpose of calculating three sets of human development guides; the first concerning citizens, the second is for non-citizens and the third addresses total population.Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2011.
