By Elizabeth Yaa Brobbey/ Emmanuel Todd, GNA
Accra, Dec. 14, GNA - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Ghana, has launched it's 2019 Human Development Report which captures the Human Development Index (HDI) of Ghana and Africa.
The 2019 report is titled: “Beyond income, beyond averages, beyond today: inequalities in human development in the 21st century”.
The report analyses inequalities in three dimensions; beyond income, beyond averages and beyond today and proposes policy options to tackle them.
Mr Kodzo Sedegah, Economist Specialist, UNDP Ghana, said inequalities in human development hurts societies and weakens social cohesion and trust in government and institutions.
He said this makes it harder for political decisions to reflect the aspirations of the entire society to ensure the protection of each other.
Mr Sedegah said the economy of a nation has a direct impact on its Human Development Index (HDI).
He said between 1990 and 2018 the country's HDI value increased from 0.454 to 0.596 which represents an increase of 31.1 per cent.
Mr Sedegah said Ghana's life expectancy at birth has also increased by 7.0 years, years of schooling increased by 2.3 years and expected years of schooling increased by 3.9 years.
He said it is not enough to implement policies but the ability to put in place appropriate measure to sustain such policies vindicates its implementation.
Mr Sedegah said change in climate could result in low agricultural productivity which affects the livelihood and income generation of the economy which thrives mainly on the sector.
He said on the other hand inequalities in technological developments had effects on the citizenry; citing that if one person had access to information through the internet and another did not, this could influence their success rates in their endeavours.
Mr Frederick Nuglisha, Economic Advisory, UNDP Ghana, said there is the need to build capabilities to stop the decline of Africa's share of the global trade.
"Our share is 2.5 per cent in 2018 but it was 7.3 per cent in 1948. Our share of global population is 16.7 per cent today. We are punching well below our weight," he said.
Mr Nuglisha expressed joy with the various initiatives linked to the Ghana Beyond Aid programme adding that the entire continent has a lot to learn from Ghana.
He said access to knowledge should be about broadening the horizon of what was possible and this is not related to the years of schooling.
Mr Nuglisha said the target should be to move beyond basic needs to a life of genuine choice and freedom.
He said the 1D1F project for him was an important lesson for the continent "it is an innovation that the continent will learn from us. Because you are helping build the resilience of these local economies."
GNA
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