Asian Alliance for Solidarity Economy

HDRO/UNDP

19 February 2010

2010 marks the 20th anniversary of the Human Development Report. Since 1990 HDRs have shifted development discourse and provided alternative and innovative analysis on subjects ranging from gender and poverty to globalization, climate change and human mobility.

HDRs spark debates to improve people’s lives. What is fundamental to all reports is the concept of putting people first, as first stated in the 1990 report:

“Human development is a process of enlarging people’s choices. The most critical ones are to lead a long and healthy life, to be educated and to enjoy a decent standard of living. Additional choices include political freedom, guaranteed human rights and self-respect …”

2010 offers an opportunity to revisit the approach in light of the experience and knowledge garnered in the past two decades and to ensure its continued relevance.

A key component of every report is the Human Development Index (HDI), which measures people’s well-being by combining measures of health, education and wealth. Since its inception, the HDI has become a prominent global measure of well-being. By offering a comparison of where countries stand in the world, the HDI led the way in moving away from income as the sole measure of development.

The HDI has been the hallmark of the report, and a major factor in its success and ongoing interest. The 20th Anniversary allows consideration of elements to enhance the value of the HDI, and add reforms to the HDRs statistical dashboard to address broader issues surrounding such key dimensions of human development as sustainability, equality and empowerment.

The 20th Anniversary is a time to take stock, reflect and move forward concepts, measures and key debates around human development. The Human Development Report Office (HDRO) is supporting key new research to review and understand human development gains, and challenges, in a world experiencing unprecedented change. A central theme to the 2010 report will be closing the gaps in human development. The 2010 report is expected to generate an agenda for change to significantly advance human development thinking and policies.

The 2010 report will launch around the world this autumn. Research and technical meetings are underway. HDRO invites you to sign up for our regular Let’s Talk HD column and to stay informed about HDR-related developments and research, such as the upcoming publications of HDR background papers. You can sign up to our email list by clicking here.

by John Samuel

Ethics is what makes the economy humane- an enabling force for exchanges among people, societies and countries. Devoid of ethics, economy can perpetuate predatory forces of dehumanization, commodification, violence and war. Economy needs to be an enabling process that helps human beings and environment to sustain and thrive. And Economics devoid of ethics can be extractive, exploitative and imperialistic. In fact, both Adam Smith and Karl Marx began their search for viable economy from strong ethical premises.

Solidarity is an act of identifying with other human beings with shared sense of destiny,and responsibility. Solidarity is based on the principles of mutual empathy, mutual support, dignity and the greater common good. Solidarity helps us to go beyond the greed of the self to the need of other people, societies and countries. Solidarity does not depend on the principle of the Survival of the fittest. It seeks to promote the sustainability of human beings and environment. continue reading…

The symposium “Social Enterprises Explore the New Encounter of Japan and Korea” took place on Sat, 07^th March 2009 at Japan Foundation, Tokyo, Japan. Six social enterprises ( three Korean and three Japanese ones ) were presented after the keynote speech by Mr. Park Wonsoon (박원순), a Korean lawyer and an advocate of human rights who has founded different organisations to strengthen the Korean civil society.

Mr. Park’s recent activity started with the foundation of the “Beautiful Foundation” ( “아름다운재단”, https://www.beautifulfund.org/, in Korean and English ) in August 2000 to nurture the culture of donation in the Korean society with the “donate 1% of your income” campaign. Last year as much as KRW 13 billion ( about US$8,420,000 ) has been collected thanks to this campaign and has been distributed to different social projects. In 2002 the Beautiful Store ( “아름다운가게”, http://www.bstore.org/, in Korean and English ) was established as a charity shop whose profit is donated for similar purposes, not only helping social projects but also nurturing the culture of reuse and fair trade. On top of that, the Hope Institute ( “희망제작소”, http://www.makehope.org/ , in Korean and English ) was born in 2006 as a think tank to promote such social projects, with special focus on the generation of small businesses. I asked him a question about the meaning of the phrase “to democratise the national economy” to be found at the Article 119-2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea, and his answer is to create a society which is independent from jaebol ( Korean equivalent of “zaibatsu” in Japan ) and of international trades.

The first social enterprise to be presented is the above-mentioned “Beautiful Store,” which has already nearly 100 shops all over Korea, with more than 250 employees as of the end of 2008 and annual income of almost KRW 16 billion ( US$ 10,368,000 ). Then followed the Atelier Elément Présent （ “アトリエ・エレマン・プレザン”, http://www.element-present.com/, in Japanese and English）, a gallery for Down Syndrome artists which has been trying to incorporate them into the mainstream Japanese society.

Another initiative for the handicapped from Korea “We Can” (http://www.wecan.or.kr, in Korean) at Goyang was shown to the public too. This organisation was founded in February 2001 as a place where the handicapped work to produce cookies from organic Korean wheat and fair-traded chocolates, employing 24 people of this kind. Last year was a milestone for this centre as it recorded a surplus for the first time in its history, with the turnover of KRW 950 million (US$ 616,000). Kotolab ( “コトラボ”, http://www.koto-lab.com/, in Japanese) was shown as another initiative to renew Kotobukichô ( “寿町” ), a neighbourhood of former daily workers in Yokohama (greater Tokyo), by transforming some of redundant flats into hostels to attract tourists and by creating some facilities to improve the life of those aged residents.

The last Korean initiative was Haja ( “하자”, “Let’s do”, http://www.haja.net/, in Korean and English ) in Seoul, a social enterprise to tackle the youth problems by churning out job opportunities for them, such as video production, web creation and cooking ( http://yori.haja.net/, in Korean ). Its another key activity is Noridan ( “노리단”, “Playing Group”, http://noridan.haja.net/, in Korean and English ), a music band which makes use of discarded goods. The another Japanese initiative was Ecotwaza ( “エコトワザ”, http://www.ecotwaza.com/, in Japanese and English ), a venture by female entrepreneurs which publishes a magazine in English on Japanese small but refined businesses to show their technology to non-Japanese residents so that they can introduce these companies to their mother country. This medium is important for these Japanese businesses because they lack the resources to present their products etc. in English.

My overall impression about this symposium is that Korean social enterprises are quite similar to European ones while the definition of this concept is rather vague in Japan. Beautiful Store donates its profit to social projects, We Can creates job opportunities for the handicapped and Haja integrates marginalised young people while Kotolab’s activities are rather focused on the neighbourgood’s atmosphere and Ecotwaza’s “social” significance was to make up the niche ( probably the fact that women have started this business can be regarded as another social factor too ). Perhaps we still need to explore what is considered as “social” in Japan while it’s easier to get down to the nitty-gritty with Koreans.

By “Miguel” Yasuyuki Hirota

By Ben Quiñones
April 20, 2009
Alet les Bains, Languedoc-Rousillon, France

On my way to Lux’09, I passed by Alet les Bains in Southern France to meet with the officers of Pactes Locaux, facilitator of the Lux’09 workshop on “Democractic Governance and Territorial Anchoring” of which I am a discussant. Travelling with me from Kuala Lumpur was Dato’ Dr. Denison Jayasoria, Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission, Royal Government of Malaysia. Arriving in Alet les Bains in the afternoon of April 16, Denison and I did not immediately check in at the local hotel because our hosts, Martine and husband Francois, took us to their house for tea and talk which lingered till dinner time, and got extended until 11 pm with the characteristic French practice of wine-cum-cheese treat after dinner.

The next day, April 17, we joined a 2-hour trip to Sarrant, about 168 kms away from Alet les Bains, to visit one of the partners of Pactes Locaux. I’ve been wondering since the other night whether the encounter that day was worth the agony of sitting idle in the car for the 2-hour ride. Without prior agreement, Denison and I defensively shifted into the ‘sleep’ mode when idleness mixed with the humming of machine began to slow down our metabolism and dulled our minds. Yeah, like boiled frogs!

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