Jordan Times
Monday, June 28, 2004
Human Development Report
gives the poor a 'voice'
By Dalya Dajani
AMMAN — Despite years of calling for social equity and improved economic
welfare, many impoverished Jordanians have yet to be given the opportunity to
express their needs as partners in policy making.
Not a promising picture for those at the bottom
of the socio-economic ladder, but for authors of the Jordan Human Development
Report (JHDR) launched on Sunday, it reiterates a vital call to consider opening
a wider door for the voices of the poor.
The JHDR, the second for Jordan, was another national exercise undertaken by the
government, UNDP and a pool of local partners to address some of the
developmental challenges facing the Kingdom.
Poverty, a stubborn reality affecting more than a third of the country's
citizens, and the programmes and policies formulated to combat its prevalence
formed the core of the report.
According to the report, entitled, “Building Sustainable Livelihoods, “the poor
have clear ideas regarding the measures that need to be taken in order for them
to escape their poverty.”
“[They] express a desire to work more closely with the government and civil
society organisations to find solutions to their problems,” added the report.
Scholars, policy makers and development planners from more than 40
development-related organisations spent the past 18 months piecing together
their research findings and surveys for the report. The process included
interviews and consultation with some 800 poor people in seven communities
across the country.
According to the report's findings, a wide range of programmes targeting
marginalised communities are in operation across the country but poverty remains
entrenched and poor people often feel excluded from the decisions which govern
their lives.
The report notes that, the poor, more often than not, simply function as passive
beneficiaries of policies and processes and are seldom consulted or listened to.
Decentralisation, noted the report's authors, may provide a space in which the
poor can participate more effectively in the planning and implementation of
local development.
In her keynote address, HRH Princess Basma stressed the need to create a space
in which the poor may voice their concerns.
“Only by going out into the field and looking at the daily lives of poor
communities can we understand whether our ideas about poverty alleviation
actually make a difference,” the Princess said.
“Policy on paper must translate into improved livelihoods on the ground, and it
is poor people themselves who will judge whether our efforts have been
worthwhile,” she added.
The report provides graphic and detailed insights into the everyday hardships
endured by the poor in Jordan. It gives them a platform to express their
concerns. In the words of poor people themselves, the difficulties of life are
for some an endless cycle.
For one woman from the Dayr Al Kahf community in South Shuneh in the Jordan
Valley, her meagre livelihood is a disturbing reality.
“When my children crave meat, we buy them a can of sardines or we get them meat
every two weeks. But the portion we buy only allows each child to have one
bite,” she said.
For another resident in the same area, the cycle of poverty is so frustrating
that she expressed how her children “truly wished they were never born.”
The JHDR, which tracks national trends in areas such as poverty, governance,
education, health and gender, provides updated figures on human development in
Jordan since 1997.
According to the report, the Kingdom has maintained a steady path of progress
towards human development goals.
Based on UNDP's measure of human development — using indicators on life
expectancy, adult literacy, and per capita income Jordan's Human Development
Index (HDI) rose from 0.715 to 0.747 between 1997 and 2002. Much of this is as a
result of the substantial investments made in health and education.
According to the report, “regional human development disparity,” which continues
to prevail across the Kingdom's governorates, “remains a challenge to the
promotion of social equity.”
For example, the southern governorates of Maan and Tafileh recorded significant
increases in their HDI value, 6.4 per cent and 8 per cent respectively, between
1997 and 2002, compared to a national average increase of 4.5 per cent.
Educational enrolment rates have also significantly risen in both these
governorates. Ajloun, in the north, however, achieved the highest educational
enrolment rate for the whole country while the capital Amman continues to rank
first in terms of progress in human development.
The largely industrial eastern city of Zarqa, however, showed the least increase
in HDI value, 2.5 per cent between 1997 and 2002. More worryingly, economic
activity there has fallen and unemployment has risen over this period.
The report notes that “governorates with below-average progress are a cause for
concern and that further investigation is required.”
Despite the country's accomplishments in literacy and life expectancy, Jordan's
per capita income remains low and has affected its overall HDI rank.
Economic recession was identified by the UNDP as one of the main challenges to
the region, not only because of its impact on poverty and employment levels, but
also on constricting the rates of development.
In his address, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Bassem
Awadallah noted that the government has budgeted around $380 million for
investments in education towards reaching a knowledge-based economy between
2003-2007 alongside vocational training for citizens.
The minister noted the major efforts being undertaken within public sector
reforms, including the restructuring of the National Aid Fund to improve cash
assistance and service delivery to the poor, disabled and the elderly.
According to development planners, the results of macro-economic policies have
not had a chance to trickle down and will require several years at least before
citizens feels the difference in their pockets.
According to UNDP, Jordan last year was classified as having achieved a medium
standard of human development, ranking 90th out of 175 countries, a jump of 9
places from the previous year. The Kingdom currently ranks 9 out of 19 Arab
countries. The NHDR notes that “of the eight highest ranking countries, seven
benefit from significant oil revenues.”
Comparing the Kingdom with its limited resources to the Gulf states, Awadallah
said Jordan's position was to be commended.
He said the government is currently completing work on an updated study that for
the first time examines the root causes of poverty all the way to the district
and subdistrict levels.
Princess Basma, chairwoman of the Jordan Hashemite Fund for Human Development,
JOHUD, also an implementing agency of the report, described collaboration in
producing the JHDR as vital in “forming a clear understanding of the situation
and formulating effective policies to address poverty-related problems.”
“The document itself is important, but the dialogue, thought and action it
creates is more important,” she told the audience.
The report's broad-brush approach to some of the country's main challenges,
however, leaves open to question how far its findings would translate into
tangible differences on the ground.