What is Human
Development?
1. Human Development, (according to
the theory of Human Scale Development by the Chilean economist Manfred
Max-Neef, 1993), can be defined as the set of means or resources and social
conditions embodied in a wide range of opportunities that a society has available.
based on economic growth through governmental and non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) of the state, so that citizens can fully develop their
interests, capabilities, diverse intelligences, and potentialities (human
capital) and/or can overcome their disabilities or specific needs, through the
construction of lifestyles with meaning and purposes in favor of themselves and
society as a whole.
2. That is why Human Development (Not to be confused with
economic growth or development) is about the progress of the people of a
country or community), which goes far beyond the level of income or wealth of a
country or region measured through the “Gross Domestic Product” (GDP). It
focuses on the wealth of the most important resource that a nation has: human
capital.
3. Socioeconomic development refers to the comprehensive
process of improving the quality of life of a society. It is a combination of
economic and social factors that seek to promote the well-being of people and
the progress of the country as a whole.
4. Socioeconomic development focuses on achieving a balance
between economic growth and social justice. It is not just about generating
wealth, but about ensuring that that wealth is distributed equitably and that
all members of society have access to basic opportunities and services.
5. Socioeconomic development is visible in access to basic
public services (water, energy, communication, health, education, security),
the infrastructure and means of production that a country or region puts at the
service of its citizens as basic inputs. to generate and maintain sources of
work and employment that support ethical, aesthetic, self-determined
ecological, synergistic, supportive and economically sustainable life projects.
6. Said development requires the synergistic realization of
all the needs that any person presents as a social being, regardless of the
society, culture, region or time in which they live.
7. In this sense, Human Development not only requires that
individuals have the necessary and sufficient resources, opportunities and
conditions to cover their basic needs (Subsistence and Protection), but also
that they are provided with the means, opportunities and opportunities.
necessary conditions for the realization of other equally important needs such
as: Understanding, Affection, Freedom, Participation, creation, Recreation and
communication (Max Neef (1994); Brunal, 2022) that together build the need for
Identity (BE: Have+Do+Be)).
8. For its part, the United Nations Development Program
(UNDP) identifies several basic needs for sustainable development1, among them
we highlight:
• Fair government for peaceful and inclusive societies.
• Keep people out of poverty.
• Adequate administration of the Environment
• and generate solutions for development based on nature,
guaranteeing access to drinking water and clean energy.
9. For this reason, it is pertinent to differentiate
axiological needs (Universal and finite) and multidiverse (infinite) satisfiers
or products and/or services that depend on the level of industrialization of
the culture in which one lives. Ex: The fundamental need for subsistence that
can be fulfilled with the generic satisfier “water” can also be fulfilled with
a number of satisfiers or commercial products that can be: Pseudo-satisfiers
(sugar-sweetened or alcoholic beverages), inhibitory satisfiers (some
substances chemicals) and even destroying satisfiers (energy drinks).
10. Hence, precisely one of the fundamental objectives of
global human development is to create the conditions conducive to all people in
a community, region, city or country being able to lead lifestyles that allow
them to fulfill all their human needs, according to with their interests and
the moral values of their society of reference.
11. In this way, “Human Development” also means building
lifestyles of quality and warmth, which include the exercise of the rights of
active participation in the decisions that daily affect our communities
(political dimension) in order to understand and take advantage of in a timely
manner, the opportunities to develop all our capacities and potentials to the
maximum.
The United Nations Development
Program (UNDP) of the United Nations (UN) is the body in charge at the global
level of coordinating policies and efforts.
Referencias
Javier Sánchez Galán , 31 de marzo, 2016
Índice de
desarrollo humano (IDH).
Economipedia.com disponible en Índice de desarrollo humano (IDH) - Qué
es, definición y significado (economipedia.com)
Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo - Wikipedia, la
enciclopedia libre
Significado de Desarrollo humano (Qué es, Concepto y Definición) -
Enciclopedia Significados
