Welcome to the e-discussion for the 2025 Human Development Report!
The e-discussion is open from 15 August to 31 October 2024. The discussion will be moderated by UNDP HDRO and facilitated by UNOSSC. To switch languages, please use the translation function, available at the top right of the page.
The United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Human Development Report Office (HDRO) and the UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) are convening a consultation to inform the 2025 Human Development Report (HDR). More than producing a one-off product, the Human Development Reports act as a broad global platform bringing together multiple and diverse networks of policymakers, thought leaders, academics, CSOs, NGOs, and other stakeholders in deliberation, knowledge-sharing, and innovation.
The 2025 Human Development Report (HDR) is part of a trilogy that looks at a new uncertainty complex comprised of intensifying polarization, destabilized planetary systems, and expanding societal transformation driven by digitalization, including more powerful and far-reaching Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications. It takes a people-centered approach that considers how ideas, knowledge, and information are central to human development. The knowledge/information environment is being reshaped by innovative technologies, creating new challenges and opportunities. Navigating this new context in a way that expands capabilities and agency will shape the course of human development for the next decades.
Digital technology is fundamentally changing the overall economic and social patterns. It also contributes to Southern countries' sustainable economic and social development. Nevertheless, the penetration rate of digital infrastructure, particularly in Southern countries varies considerably, the utilization capacity and application of digital technology also vary greatly, and the accumulation of human capital brought about by digital technology is far from adequate.
The 2025 HDR will explore:
How a life stage perspective illuminates the different impacts of digitalization on various age groups, including people of all ages living with disabilities. It analyzes how digitalization is reshaping key areas of human development, including health, education, social norms, relationships, and agency, changing how societies operate and how human beings function. Early childhood, for instance, is a vulnerable stage of life, during which digital technologies shape developing brains and bodies. For school-age children, digital technologies bring exciting learning opportunities, both in school and at home, while also presenting risks that seem to be correlated with a deterioration of well-being amongst young people. At adult age, digitalization may radically shift the daily activities of work, care, and social interactions within families and with friends. Older people often have as much access to digital technologies as younger people, but how will digital technologies be used and shaped by the aging population in many countries?
How broader systemic aspects of digitalization shape economic and political processes, which constitute the foundation for individual flourishing. For instance, digitalization, and particularly AI, has the potential to disrupt political processes, but it can also enhance inclusiveness and transparency. The report uses a human rights lens to shed light on the tensions that may emerge around preserving freedoms of expression or association with a fundamentally reshaped information environment. It will also examine the implications of a lack of diversity in the data used to train AI algorithms. When it comes to the world of work, AI can both augment and replace people, so it is important to consider how to prevent emerging patterns of inequality in human development. New technologies offer the promise of new possibilities to address the challenges of the Anthropocene, but computational and material demands can also exacerbate pressures on the planet through natural resource extraction and energy consumption.
Societal transformations have required institutional and policy innovations in the past, while at the same time mobilizing new coalitions to empower people to navigate new realities. The report will lay out a road map that seeks to inspire people at large, as well as decision-makers, to harness digital technologies for human flourishing. Among others, this includes leveraging digital advancements to enhance human capabilities and implementing policies that enable people to exercise their agency in the digital space. The report may also examine the role of South-South and triangular cooperation in shaping the digital landscape for human development. As countries in the Global South increasingly become hubs of digital innovation, there are new opportunities for knowledge exchange and collaborative problem-solving.
The report can explore how these forms of cooperation can help bridge the digital divide, promote inclusive digital transformation, and ensure that the benefits of digitalization are equitably distributed across regions and populations.
South-South Consultations:
Since 2019, UNDP and UNOSSC have forged a strategic partnership to annually convene consultations with think tanks under the auspices of the South-South Global Thinkers initiative. The consultations aimed to bring together a diverse network of think tanks from across the Global South, serving as a vital conduit for incorporating Southern perspectives and insights into global development discourse and, at the same time, fostering a more inclusive, participatory, and representative narrative.
The consultation will be organized through an e-discussion, followed by a virtual consultation. These consultations will inform the HDR, reflecting and addressing the complex realities and pressing issues faced by countries in the Global South. By engaging the network of think tanks, we can ensure that a platform is provided for think tanks from developing nations (as well as from the North) to contribute their unique, context-specific insights and experiences. This collaborative approach aims to enrich the report's themes and analyses with a depth of understanding that can only come from lived experiences and local expertise. As a result, the HDR will become not just a document about the Global South, but one that genuinely speaks with and for it, fostering a more inclusive, participatory, and representative global development narrative.
The objective of the consultation:
The consultations on the 2025 HDR intend to start a conversation on the themes for the report and to seek input and advice on report content from thematic and regional experts. Consultations inform the report's development process and ensure that it speaks to key human development issues for people and policymakers.
Guiding Questions:
The discussions will focus on the digital technology and human development linkages, exploring how we can purposefully steer innovation and technological change in ways that advance human development. Some guiding questions for the consultation include:
How are digital technologies reshaping development prospects in your region? What are some challenges and opportunities?
What policies and approaches are needed to ensure that digital technologies help advance human development?
How can South-South and triangular cooperation facilitate sharing best practices and innovations in digital technologies for human development?
What role can South-South and triangular cooperation play in addressing digital divides and ensuring equitable access to digital technologies across different regions and demographic groups?
How can we leverage South-South and triangular cooperation to develop inclusive AI systems that reflect diverse cultural and socioeconomic contexts?
We look forward to a fruitful discussion!
Dear colleagues,
Welcome to the e-discussion on the 2025 Human Development Report (HDR). This year's report will explore the impact of digitalization on economic and political processes, highlighting the associated challenges and opportunities. As part of the Human Development Report Office (HDRO) research team, we are investigating how these factors influence human development. Our focus is on understanding how digital technologies transform knowledge and information, creating both challenges and opportunities for enhancing human capabilities and agency. While digital technology holds significant promise for sustainable development, disparities in digital infrastructure, varying levels of utilization, and gaps in human capital reveal an uneven impact across regions, particularly in countries of the global south.
In this first week, we invite your insights on how digital technologies are reshaping development prospects in your region. What challenges and opportunities are emerging?
We look forward to your valuable input, drawing on your research and experience. Let us engage in a virtual discussion that deepens our understanding of the current challenges and explores new perspectives.
Best Regards,
Moumita and Pratibha
Thank you for inviting our response. Digital technologies are indeed supporting all segments of society in various ways; however, access to these technologies remains a significant concern, particularly in South Asia. The digital divide in the region is a complex issue characterized by disparities in access, affordability, and skills. Women, in particular, face substantial barriers to accessing and using digital technologies, contributing to a pronounced gender digital divide.
South-South and triangular cooperation can play a crucial role in addressing these challenges by investing in infrastructure, providing affordable internet access, promoting digital literacy, and developing local content. Regional cooperation can also offer economies of scale by enabling South Asian countries to share human and financial resources. By working together, these countries can leverage digital technologies to improve education, create jobs, empower women, and promote sustainable development. However, it is essential to ensure that the benefits of digitalization are equitably distributed across the region (including violence prone areas), which will require among other things redistributive policy measures and public investment reform.
To effectively address the digital divide, South Asian countries need to adopt a multi-faceted approach that involves collaboration, knowledge sharing, and policy innovation. South-South and triangular cooperation can facilitate these efforts and help create a more inclusive and equitable digital investment and trade value chains. There are models of South-South and triangular cooperation that the region has yet to fully explore.
This is also where the think tank community in South Asia can make a significant contribution. Think tanks can play a crucial role by conducting research, advocating for policy reforms, providing capacity building, facilitating knowledge sharing, raising public awareness, and forming partnerships. Their efforts can significantly contribute to bridging the digital divide and ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to benefit from the transformative power of digital technologies.
To enhance the capacity of under-resourced think tanks working on digital sector policies in South Asia, it is important for development partners to increase support, for international organizations to provide skills, for public-private partnerships to be formed, and for think tanks to explore revenue-generating activities. The local private sector should also see value in the work of these think tanks. Additionally, capacity-building programs, knowledge exchange, mentorship, and access to resources are essential for strengthening the capabilities of these think tanks. Most leading conferences on digital technologies are in the north and access becomes difficult for southern researchers working on digital sector and its policies.
Digital transformation is not without its challenges. These include inadequate rural connectivity, the need for infrastructure investment, interoperability issues in digital government, data privacy concerns, cybersecurity threats, fostering innovation in the digital economy, addressing the digital skills shortage, ensuring digital inclusion, and tackling ethical concerns related to data privacy, surveillance, and algorithmic bias. Overcoming these challenges will require concerted efforts from governments, businesses, and civil society organizations to invest in digital infrastructure, develop digital skills, and address ethical concerns.
Thanks for starting this thread for e-discussions.
In my region, digital technological tools are reshaping the marketing strategies of micro-enterprises and business of Self-Help Groups (SHG). Use of smart phones and social media, messaging platforms are changing the modes of traditional purchasing styles. In general, products of youth community are mostly covered and dominated with digital market.
Micro-entrepreneurs are now building their capacities in the era of digitally influenced market. Integrated use of Digital Tools of Meta Business, Google, WhatsApp and even Telegram is becoming popular for Customer Relations Management (CRM).
Understanding facilities of digital tools for product promotion and sale is still a challenge for rural micro-entrepreneurs of my region. Now, it is started to address with training by the Community Service Organizations, Govt. Scheme implementation Agencies, and also with few competency development programs of the IT product companies. This eco-system is at the stage of development. Addressing a gap of Digital Divide among the rural and urban community Micro-entrepreneurship is still a Challege as it gives opportunity to training providers.
South-South and triangular cooperation can play a role to develop digital transformation polices contextual to demographic requirements and thus to direct for pilot exercises to frame impact assessment. Practice based research will play a vital role in this challeging era.
Dear Dr. Dipak Tatpuje,
Thank you for your valuable insights. Your observations highlight the evolving landscape of micro-entrepreneurship and the growing importance of digital tools. However, as you pointed out, the real challenge lies in ensuring that rural micro-entrepreneurs can effectively harness these tools.
Bridging the digital divide between rural and urban micro-entrepreneurs will require sustained efforts across several key areas. First, ensuring that rural areas have reliable internet access is crucial. This involves expanding broadband coverage and making data more affordable. Without this foundation, any attempt to train and support rural entrepreneurs in digital tools will be significantly hindered. Rural micro-entrepreneurs often face unique challenges, and access to mentorship from more experienced digital entrepreneurs can help them navigate these obstacles more effectively. Finally, digital tools and platforms need to be user-friendly, especially for those with low levels of digital literacy, and should be accessible on basic smartphones to truly meet the needs of rural entrepreneurs.
We would be very interested to know if there are any successful case studies or examples where such training has led to tangible outcomes. As you mentioned, a more coordinated and multi-layered approach is essential. Community service organizations, government agencies, and IT companies each bring unique strengths that can be harnessed through strategic partnerships. How can these partnerships be strengthened to provide more comprehensive support to rural micro-entrepreneurs? This conversation could also help identify new opportunities for collaboration and innovation that can bridge the digital divide more effectively.
Dear Moumita Ghorai,
Thanks to you.
My team and I recently trained 121 women micro-entrepreneurs in rural Maharashtra (India) in a hands-on workshop (Online and In Person) with digital tools as part of the EU India GENIE Project of TREC-STEP, Trichy. We assisted them with their micro-enterprises' online presence, as well as marketing using Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp Messenger & other IT Tools. Out of 121 female entrepreneurs, 105 have established a digital presence and expanded their reach outside geographical boundaries in order to enhance their consumer base. It is achievable with a smartphone and a mobile data pack. This experiment gave us motivation to replicate it in other regions. Competency mapping and curriculum is at stage of development with this pilot. This a small pilot case study of field work that I am sharing herewith.
Thank you very much for sharing this opportunity to be part of the e-discussion. Here, I would like to inform you that Partner in Population and Development (PPD) is an inter-governmental organization of 27 developing countries from four regions (Asia & the Pacific, Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East & North Africa, and Latin America) mandated to promote South-South Cooperation (SSC). (Web link - https://www.partners-popdev.org/)
Since PPD has four regions, I am responding from an overall perspective and sharing my observation on point 1 (How are digital technologies reshaping development prospects in your region? What are some challenges and opportunities?).
Digital technologies profoundly reshape development prospects in PPD member countries by transforming how health services, education, and social programs are delivered. These technologies offer unprecedented opportunities to enhance many aspects, but they also present challenges that must be addressed to fully realize their potential.
Opportunities
Challenges
Dear Tahrima Khan,
Thank you for providing such a comprehensive overview of how digital technologies are reshaping development prospects. Your insights into areas like telemedicine, mHealth, digital literacy, and the importance of data management systems are particularly valuable.
To take full advantage of these opportunities while being mindful of the challenges that come with them, what specific policies and approaches are needed to ensure that digital technologies effectively contribute to development across various sectors, such as health and education? Adidtionaly, how can governments and organizations collaborate to create an enabling environment for digital innovation while also addressing the challenges of digital divides, data privacy, misinformation, and infrastructure gaps?
Dear colleagues,
Thank you for all your wonderful insights.
This week we invite you to reflect and share your comments and feedback on:
We are looking forward to reading your comments and interacting with you.
Sincerely,
Moumita and Pratibha
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