Human Development Reports - United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Who we are  |  What we do  |  Training  |  HD Awards   |  Teamworks

Project Document

[country or region] Human Development report [tentative year]:

[working title: state of the theme]

[Authors of the Project Document: for example, a UNDP unit or other institution]

[date of circulation] 

Like the concept note, the project document for a national or regional Human Development Report is meant to inform colleagues and other stakeholders in the HDR process about the scope of the report, the specific objectives, the anticipated methodologies and the resources. This includes a description of the theme that has been identified, the related issues to be addressed and the consultative processes that are expected to contribute to a high-quality, influential report. A project document associated with an Iraqi national HDR (Iraq Project Document [699 KB]) represents a good example.

There are two principal differences between the concept note and the project document. First, the project document treats each issue in more depth because it is drafted after the theme of the report has been selected, while the concept note is still tentative in this respect. The project document is also based on the additional consultations and analysis that have taken place subsequent to the drafting of the concept note.

Second, the aims of the concept note and the project document are different. The concept note is focused on describing the proposed theme of the HDR and soliciting the opinions of key stakeholders about the theme. The focus of the project document, meanwhile, is to gauge the funding possibilities for the HDR process, but also to encourage the participation of partners in other areas during the process. The project document is necessarily a more in-depth analysis of the theme and the proposed HDR process.

In the project document, the description of the report’s strategic elements should cover the following:

• Critical guidelines to help the national or regional team negotiate all steps required in the preparation of the report from the beginning; these should highlight especially any considerations of a local nature, such as policy implications, gender impacts and effects on human development
• Anticipated HDR milestones so that the Human Development Report Office, the Regional Bureau and the United Nations Development Programme Country Office may share relevant experiences and provide timely, targeted support
• An outline of the tentative budget expected to be required to achieve the strategic elements

The project document does not need to be exhaustive, but it should enable UNDP management, other advisors, potential providers of funding and other current or potential partners to understand the envisaged content and process without burdening them with all the details. It should be more comprehensive than the concept note. The suggested length is at least 10 pages.

A flexible approach should be adopted in applying the points in the following sections, which lay out the main headings of the project document. A minimum of one or two paragraphs per point may be sufficient.

1. Background

Briefly describe the context of the report. This should include the following:

• A description of the country or region, including location, size, population, composition of the population (elderly, children), life expectancy, level of human development (including the Human Development Index and other relevant development indicators), economic growth, relevant recent history, political situation, and so on
• More detailed economic information, including poverty indicators, income distribution, urban-rural differences, and so on
• More detailed social indicators, including infant, under-5 and maternal mortality rates, educational attainment, health indicators, social welfare initiatives, and so on
• Key development issues; this should not be limited to issues related to the theme of the HDR. It should be an expert, honest appraisal of current development problems facing the country or region

2. Justification

Describe the theme, including the following key issues:

• Outline the previous national or regional HDRs and the reception they obtained, the rationale for the selection of the theme and the consultations already undertaken.
• Why has the theme been chosen? How is it relevant to national or regional stakeholders, including the government? Why is it critical and timely for the country or region? For timeliness, be sure to indicate that the length of the report preparation process has been taken into consideration.
• Who is the target audience? Be specific in identifying the public institutions, policy makers, vulnerable groups, civil society organizations and international stakeholders that would benefit from advocacy on the issues to be raised in the report.

3. Objectives

The focus of this section should be on providing stakeholders, potential providers of funding and current or potential partners with the means to understand that the report will find a significant niche and be able to add substantial value to the public discourse on the theme and the search for solutions to the related problems. This section should highlight the following:

• What is the report trying to achieve? Identify key objectives in terms of the potential to use the report to advocate for specific policy changes, to have an impact on specific initiatives, or to influence the public discourse in critical areas.
• Define the main concepts relevant to the theme and the issues and describe the policy implications.
• Analyses of the human development implications involved in the theme and issues; this should include any analyses in national, regional and global HDRs.

4. Methodology

The project document should explain the methodology that is expected to be applied to address the theme. The focus should be on the following:

• Outline the analytical approaches that are expected to be applied to examine the theme and determine appropriate responses. Highlight relevant gender analyses that may be associated with the theme. Discuss the theme and issues in terms of monitoring the country’s or region’s progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Examine the steps to be taken to provide an in-depth analysis of the human development issues associated with the theme.
• Discuss the main assumptions and key considerations that will form the logical framework of the proposed analysis of the theme and issues.
• Describe the methods to be applied to collect new evidence and other information on the theme; thus, the national or regional report team might commit to plumbing national, regional and international data sources, including qualitative sources such as focus groups, to gather meaningful data on the theme and help in analysing the local situation.
• Lay out the methods to be used to measure human development indicators and gauge development inequalities within the country or region, including geographical inequalities and inequalities across social groups.

5. The Management of the HDR Process

Describe the process planned for the preparation of the report. This should include the following:

• Outline the management structure responsible for the HDR process; usually, this involves a major role for UNDP and extensive consultation and coordination with the government.
• Describe the composition of the national or regional report team, for example, the research institute or team of academics and experts consulting on the report, the team leader responsible for the day-to-day research and drafting of the report and the statistics experts who will ensure the proper calculation of the main indicators.
• Describe the consultations to be undertaken during report preparation, including with local, national and regional institutions, civil society, expert groups, policy makers and parliamentarians, the national statistics office, local communities and their leaders, international organizations, and so on; be precise in the identification of stakeholders based on their concrete interest in the theme.
• Describe the planned review process, which should involve the advisory committee, national, regional and international reviewers and so on.
• Describe the outreach strategy, including how advocacy and outreach events, media events, public debates and so on will be used throughout the HDR preparation, to support the launch of the report and as part of the follow-up effort.

6. The Tentative Budget

This section might take the form of one or more tables. In any case, it should describe the expected funding needs for report preparation, launch and follow-up and for other key elements in the projected HDR process. It should highlight any funding already obtained. The section might lay out two or three scenarios describing the process depending on the availability of less or more funding. To encourage funding, consider segmenting funding areas according to donor interests, such as research, data collection, outreach and so on.

Back to top

2013 Report