Success in DevelopmentAttention to the Human Side [Archives:2007/1081/Opinion]

By: Hassan Al-Haifi
Anyone who scrutinizes annual or periodic world development reports issued by international or regional organizations will be quick to realize that countries that pay serious and monitored attention to the human side of development are the ones to realize the best results in the indicators of progress and development. This does not necessarily just mean development in the material sense; i.e., the accumulation of assets or an increase in services. More importantly, this should be viewed with heavy emphasis on the qualitative development of the population, in terms of educational attainment that leads to better living conditions and enhanced abilities of the population to generate income.

The attention to the human side of development is further viewed as the ability of a society to encourage public participation in all aspects of communal social interaction, which is regarded as the absolute prerequisite for success in all community oriented projects and the best means of providing monitoring for self-help community initiatives.

The human side of development is the guaranteed path towards progress and can only be realized when results reflect sound growth oriented economic conditions, with minimal unemployment and minimal poverty levels.

For Yemen, the attention given to the human side of development has been at best mediocre, with the obvious situation, manifested by increasing protest over many aspects of life: political, economic, social and even religious. An apparent lack of concern by the authorities as to the reasons behind these protests and an effort to dismiss them off as purely being acts motivated by political drives worsen the situation more. Surely, it is not hard to realize that with the vast majority of the population living at subsistence level or below the poverty line, an unemployment rate above 40% and rapidly rising prices, some of which have doubled in just under a year, there are enough grounds for the expression of discontent and frustration among the general population. It would seem rather naive to think that laws that work to curtail public expressions of discontent or the handling of public demonstrations as purely security matters would not add fuel to the fire. With the public at large showing signs of disapproval, it is clear that there are sufficient grounds for an obvious need by the government to find the real roots for such mounting discontent.

Large scale and widespread unfavorable public reactions can be used positively by Government to indicate how successful the policies and programs adopted by the latter have been. Therefore, public disfavor requires government officials at all levels to redirect their attention towards adopting those policies and programs that would produce the best results for the public at large and the least reasons for public discontent.

Moreover, with the public actually seeing only a very few people apparently getting most of the rewards of development, while the majority of the population is left out in the cold, it is understandable that some of the discontent can turn into anger and frustration emanating from hopelessness.

To make the point more clearer, the Yemeni people are really worthy of better performing government in the areas that truly have a wider ranging impact on their lives This would definitely exclude those areas that only tend to further narrow and selfish interests of quite a few in officialdom. The latter have forgotten that their own wealth is coming at the expense of greater poverty and despair for most of their fellow citizens.

Since the law and the relevant concerned government entities, including even our hibernating Parliament are unable to check this shady avenue to wealth, then it is not surprising that public demonstrations of disapproval of government performance should find their way into the list of adverse socio-economic conditions that Yemen is facing. This is further enhanced by a high rate of unemployment of mostly young people. Many of the latter find little to cling to in terms of hope of aspiring for a better future and a normal healthy family life; i.e. a better share of the pie now only enjoyed by a very small number of badly performing government officials and other elements of the chosen few comprising the elite, who have gained the latters' favor.

Those protestors after all come from the neglected majority, who are only asking for being regarded as human beings, no more and no less. Paying attention to their gripes is the best way to start paying attention to the human side of development. All other ways to deal with the protests only add fuel to the fire.

Hassan Al-Haifi has been a Yemeni political economist and journalist for more than 20 years.
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