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Why Read the Human Development Reports of the UNDP?

By Juan Telleria

For more than 10 years, I have been researching the Human Development Reports (HDR) that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has published since 1990. Many people told me that the Human Development paradigm was outdated, and that the Millennium Declaration (2000) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2015) eclipsed the influence of the HDRs. I do agree. However, I found that properly understanding the ins and outs of this development paradigm was of much importance to detect and expose the contradictions and limitations of current development debates. Continue reading “Why Read the Human Development Reports of the UNDP?”

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Youth, Citizenship and African Governance

By Jesper Bjarnesen, Kajsa Adu Hallberg, Cristiano Lanzano, Henning Melber and Patience Mususa

Citizenship plays an increasingly important role in governance at a time when globalisation and population mobility have shifted the context of belonging. As a legal status associated with national identity, citizenship is both negotiated and contested. The often-synonymous use of the terms “nationality” and “citizenship” make such disputes apparent. With reference to African states the human rights scholar Bronwen Manby maintains, that “citizenship is not just a legal concept but also a profoundly political question of self-definition”. Continue reading “Youth, Citizenship and African Governance”