Starting the report

A national or regional HDR should pioneer a theme that is strategic and timely in terms of addressing current national or regional development needs. Such a theme will spark attention and public discussion, and the HDR will have more occasion to foster awareness, exert influence and have an impact. According to this message, economic growth, enhanced trade and investment, and technological advances are means, not ends of development. The building of human capabilities to help people lead productive, meaningful lives is a more fundamental goal. Indeed, in a sense, the principal theme of any HDR is human development: the process of enlarging people’s choices by expanding their ability to remain healthy, become educated, gain knowledge, enjoy decent standards of living, participate actively in community life and be creative in an environment of dignity and freedom.

The theme should be amenable to analysis that highlights the advantages of the human development approach to national and regional problems. Issues of gender, the environment, and human security, for example, cut across many development areas and may provide new avenues for a comprehensive application of development policies. In many countries and regions, the search for ways to reduce perennial barriers to social or economic development can benefit from this approach when it is well supported by new data and research. The selection of the specific theme may involve one or more of the following approaches:

1. Undertake a thorough review of previous global, regional and national HDRs.
   
   
   Examine the possible application and impact of these reports at the national or regional level. The review might be used as guidance in the selection and elaboration of the specific theme.
2. Carry out an exhaustive review of current development strategies and policies.
   
   
   The theme should be sufficiently robust to help formulate sound policy recommendations to deal with development problems of national or regional interest. Development problems are likely to be persistent because past and current policies have not addressed them adequately. One frequent failure is a focus on the resolution of development issues principally through macroeconomic policies without due regard for human development. One aim of the report is to influence policy makers to adopt the human development approach.
3. Implement a consultative process among human development actors to winnow down possible HDR themes.
   
   
   The process should include the UNDP Country Office, Regional Bureau, or Regional Centre. as well as consultation with the government. The theme should reflect the country’s or region’s particular development aspirations. The consultation process should therefore involve meetings with policy makers and other key stakeholders and partners to discuss national and regional development priorities and sensitive development issues facing the country or region.
4. Once a specific HDR theme has been tentatively determined, prepare a concept note to focus consultations.
   
   
   The concept note should center on issues of national or regional human development associated with the theme and justifications for the selection of the theme, including the availability of appropriate data, the ability to collect new and meaningful data quickly to support findings and recommendations, and the interest of stakeholders and funders. It should include a work plan.
   
   
   While theme selection for a national HDR is a prerogative of the UNDP Country Office and national partners, it is advisable to inform the relevant Regional Bureau and the Human Development Report Office on proposed themes at the beginning of an HDR process through the concept note. The selected theme and the HDR process should also be endorsed by key UNDP counterparts in local academic institutions, civil society and government, including national statistics agencies. Likewise, discuss the concept note with other United Nations organizations, local community leaders and other stakeholders across all segments of the population to gauge the views of these partners. The engagement of all these partners will be critical in the production of the report and in the subsequent advocacy initiatives.
5. Announce the selected theme at a public event designed to draw attention to the significance of the theme to national or regional human development needs. Consider the announcement as a chance to solicit participation, begin advocacy and encourage funding. Invite major stakeholders, potential funders, representatives at various levels of government and civil society, and the media.
6. The presentation of these initiatives in figure 2 is schematic and relates only to the selection of the theme. Undoubtedly, it will also be necessary to initiate outreach, begin mobilizing resources and form parts of the national or regional report team and other HDR support structures even as the theme is being selected.

UNDP core resources normally account for a majority of the funding for national and regional HDRs. They may be combined with donor funds as appropriate. HDRO and the Regional Bureaux and Regional Centres may signal additional sources of funding. UNDP resident representatives and regional directors are responsible for ensuring that sufficient human and financial resources are mobilized to produce high quality reports.

Several steps may be taken to initiate the mobilization of resources, as follows:

1. Write a project document.

   The project document should offer background information on the theme and the HDR process, including past and current initiatives or projects in the country or region that have addressed the theme or related issues. It should also sketch in the projected financing needs for report preparation, launch and follow-up and outline the various responsibilities and lines of authority among the institutions and individuals involved in the HDR process. To encourage funding, consider segmenting funding areas according to donor interests, such as research, data collection, outreach and so on. It may be beneficial to describe the methodology that is to be used in carrying out the research for the report.

2. Using the project document, hold consultations to assess the potential for funding, including with UNDP and other United Nations organizations, regional development banks, bilateral organizations, private sector entities, and non-governmental and civil society organizations.

   The government should be viewed as an essential partner; therefore, early on, engage in consultations with the appropriate government departments on process and funding.

Establish the main structures associated with the production of the HDR. These include management structures, the core report team (the HDR team) and internal partnership and consultative mechanisms (table 1). Though the names of the specific entities may vary, these types of structures have been used in most HDR processes. It will be up to the lead institution, the HDR team, the steering committee, or some other entity that has been assigned executive authority to determine the precise mechanisms that are the most appropriate in a given context.

Table 1: Organigram of the HDR Team and Related Structures

Management structures

Lead institution (government, independent institution, or UNDP)

Steering committee (HDR process supervision, policy input)

Core report team

Team leader (may be the lead author)

Institutional focal point

Lead author(s)

Researchers and analysts (gender specialist, statistics expert, etc.)

Coordinator (monitors deadlines)

Content editors and proofreaders

Internal partnership and consultative mechanisms

Advisory committee (substantive quality assurance)

Reader and reviewer group

Validation groups

Follow-up group

1. After deliberation with national and regional counterparts and other key constituencies, establish management structures.

Draw up terms of reference for each of the entities that are to be created.

The lead institution is responsible for supervising the report process and linking with appropriate advisors, consultants and experts, including institutional actors. Several configurations are possible (box 1).

Box 1: The lead institution

The steering committee is a decision-making body that coordinates the HDR process and has overarching responsibility for HDR production, launch, advocacy and follow-up. It typically comprises a senior representative of each of the principal sponsoring organizations, including the government, significant national organizations or groups, UNDP, other United Nations organizations and so on. National ownership requires that the composition of the steering committee should be inclusive. Committee membership should therefore extend beyond the government or UNDP to encompass significant representation among local and national or regional policy-making communities, technical experts in the area of the report theme, and non-governmental and civil society organizations. The inclusive membership of the committee can be instrumental in assessing political sensitivities, championing the human development approach and encouraging the buy-in of decision makers, including in analysis that may be critical of current social and development policies. Indeed, inclusiveness should be a characteristic of all HDR structures, including the core HDR team (box 2). The committee should foster partnerships that are able to advocate for the integration of the report findings and recommendations into policies and contribute to capacities to debate and analyze substantial development issues. The effectiveness of the committee will depend on who takes part: ideally, people with decision-making experience, who are not too politically engaged and who possess some insight into the theme of the report and the human development approach.

Box 2: Inclusive participation and ownership

The terms of reference for the steering committee should define milestones for the committee’s work. These milestones might cover the following:

1. The periodicity of committee meetings and the circumstances under which the committee might hold special meetings (dispute resolution, unexpected process bottlenecks, issues with the appropriateness of the consultation process, and so on);
2. The responsibilities of the committee in approving or determining the selection of the HDR team, the outline of the report, the overall timeline and work plan, and the consultation process;
3. The committee’s responsibilities in the review of the initial findings of the report and the first draft;
4. The authority of the committee over decisions on additional work;
5. The responsibilities of the committee in approving the final draft; and
6. The responsibilities of the committee in defining the distribution strategy and the advocacy strategy.

2. In cooperation with the steering committee, establish the core national or regional HDR team to be responsible for drafting the report.

The HDR team will include some or all of the following:

• In cooperation with the steering committee, select the team leader, who is responsible for supervising the preparation of the report on a day-to-day basis.
• The focal point is normally located within the UNDP Country Office, Regional Bureau, or Regional Centre. The focal point is responsible for routine interaction between the UNDP Country Office, Regional Bureau, or Regional Centre, the lead institution, and the national or regional HDR team.
• In consultation with the steering committee, the institutional focal point, the lead institution and the principal national or regional partners, including the UNDP Country Office, Regional Bureau, or Regional Centre, select the lead author(s) and contributing authors. In the selection, preference may be given to local experts because this may add to the sense of local ownership, but this need not be a condition. Criteria including knowledge of the theme and the local context, professional reputation and technical skills, are most important. The authors and other experts and consultants engaged in writing the report will seek to retain intellectual independence, within broad parameters set by the country of regional office, and are expected to show objectivity in the arguments and conclusions of the report. The lead author should meet regularly with the advisory committee, as well as other members of the core HDR team, for advice and feedback. The lead author and the team leader may, in some cases, be the same individual.
• The core group of researchers and analysts should include a gender specialist. It should also include a statistics expert able to work with the Human Development Index and address other statistical issues.
• In consultation with the steering committee, the institutional focal point, the lead institution and the team leader, appoint a coordinator to monitor production deadlines. The coordinator should be associated with the institutional focal point or located in the lead institution.
• In cooperation with the steering committee and the team leader, select professional content editors and proofreaders.

3. After deliberation with national and regional counterparts and other key constituencies, as well as the internal management structures, establish internal partnerships and consultative mechanisms.

Draw up terms of reference for each of the entities that are to be created. These mechanisms may include some or all of the following:

• The advisory committee’s primary function is quality assurance. It provides thematic insights and assistance in framing the content of the HDR. It also supplies technical input on the report methodology and on the approaches to be adopted in analysis, particularly in terms of national or regional interests and ongoing debates. The committee usually includes local academics and opinion leaders, as well as representatives of partner organizations with interest and expertise in the theme of the report and related issues. When stakeholders are well represented, the committee helps guarantee credibility and ensures that the contents of the report do not become an instrument of any single entity but are owned collectively.
• The advisory committee’s primary function is quality assurance. It provides thematic insights and assistance in framing the substantive content of the HDR. It also supplies technical input on the report methodology and on the approaches to be adopted in analysis, particularly in terms of national or regional interests and ongoing debates. The committee usually includes local academics and opinion leaders, as well as representatives of partner organizations with a clear interest and expertise in the theme of the report and related issues. The committee may rely on consultations with the national Millennium Development Goals Report team and individuals and organizations working on the Common Country Assessment, the United Nations Development Assistance Framework and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. When stakeholders are well represented, the committee helps guarantee credibility and ensures that the contents of the report do not become an instrument of any single entity, but are owned collectively.
• Validation groups are among the innovative methods HDR teams have adopted to test hypotheses and findings among people on the street. These methods might include local, national or region-wide workshops, reality check meetings among citizens, discussion groups, and reader circles of people in remote areas.
• The follow-up group helps shape and implement outreach, communications, advocacy and impact monitoring. The group typically includes representatives of the steering committee, the advisory committee and the core group of researchers and analysts, plus advocates for the educational system, the private sector, the media, women’s groups, community associations and other actors within the target audience.

1. Begin building human development alliances and other consultative processes that embrace the full range of key external partners.

Outreach involves cementing ties with key partners, including national, regional and international actors who are specialized or have an interest in the theme or the related issues to be examined within the report. The focus should also include relevant media actors and outlets. Outreach is ongoing. Eventually, the outreach should support a media and communications strategy. Consider the outlines of this strategy during the initial steps and begin taking advantage of every opportunity to draw the attention of partners, stakeholders and the media to the issues to be raised in the report.

Such alliances and processes help generate public interest and mobilize action. They serve as mechanisms for impact monitoring and for sustained advocacy and follow-up for HDR policy recommendations and human development more generally. The establishment of these human development communities is being encouraged in all countries, along with regional networks that are able to foster exchanges of data, analysis, experiences and good practices across regions.

Box 3: Training among the HDR and related structures

• The UNDP Country Office, Regional Bureau, or Regional Centre should be a partner in the HDR process. It can play the role of convener and facilitator in the formation of the HDR team; provide guidance, orientation and training (box 3); act as a gateway to international expertise and good practices; and support advocacy and follow-up. It can be helpful in establishing ties with local and national governments and other key actors. Because of the responsibilities for review and endorsement within UNDP, the Country Office, Regional Bureaux, Regional Centres and HDRO should all be kept informed at critical points throughout the HDR process.
• Form alliances with local, national and regional institutions involved in the theme of the HDR. These institutional links will be essential in data collection, during the drafting of the report and in dissemination and advocacy.
• Establish contacts with a broad spectrum of practitioners, researchers, policy theorists, statistics agencies and statistics experts, academic leaders, professional associations, and other experts.
• The participation of other stakeholders — local communities (for example, through focus groups), local government officials, civil society organizations, social workers, rural associations, representatives of marginalized population groups, labour, policy makers and parliamentarians, local media, the private sector and so on — is equally important for information sharing, the full consideration of policy options and the implementation of recommendations. (See the research and analysis modules for more detail.)
• Links should also be established with Millennium Development Goals Report processes and with the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper process.
• Non-governmental organizations, bilateral organizations, international organizations, donors, international financial institutions, and other United Nations organizations should be sought out as useful partners.
• Finally, consider whether the report is to be published by a commercial publishing house or a publisher affiliated with the government or UNDP and begin exploring the relevant links. This search and the related negotiations may take some time; so, this step should be initiated at this stage. Consider even whether a hard copy is necessary. In some countries an electronic version may suffice.

Assemble broad media lists.

Initiate and nurture contacts with key media interested in the themes and issues of the HDR (newspaper editors, reporters for specialized publications on economic, social and development topics, columnists, radio and television personalities and so on). Consider involving select media representatives as substantive partners in the HDR process, for example, by acting as moderators or panelists in workshops, discussion groups, or media events. A media focal point might be designated early on to act as a reliable source for journalists on development issues year-round.