United Nations Development Programme

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, held in June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, was probably the largest event in a long series of megasummits on environmental protection and sustainable development. Roughly 44 000 participants descended on Rio de Janeiro to take part in ten days of preparatory committee meetings, informal consultations, side events, and the actual conference. Yet despite this unprecedented high attendance by participants from governments and civil society, the outcome of the conference is less than many had hoped for. In this paper I review the outcomes of the 2012 Rio conference in detail, with a special focus on its contributions towards the reform of the institutional framework for sustainable development. Following this review, I discuss the way ahead and options for structural reform to restrengthen earth system governance.

As the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) points out, the science is clear and the debate is over: climate change is happening and there is a need to act now. World wide research is being done for developing green and ecofriendly constructional materials. The present paper puts forward the thermal and structural experimental results of using bamboo as a construction material and as a solar energy collector. The thermal behaviour of bamboo was quantified experimentally by observing the temperature inside the cubicals made of 'half split bamboo', 'half split bamboo-concrete composite' and was compared with the cubical made of bricks with cement concrete roof while its structural behaviour was quantified by making bamboo bows (bamboo parabolic arches), which are the proposed beam elements, and tested for the load bearing capacity and deflections through experimentations. Half split bamboo panels were fabricated to harvest solar energy using air and water as the heat transfer agent. The design philosophy of bamboo structures is developed on the lines of concrete and steel and attempt is made for the possible replacement of steel with bamboo. The experimental results present a strong possibility of using bamboo as a green constructional material which can not only reduce the 'indoor temperature' thereby reducing the building energy requirement and combating the urban heat island effect but also will reduce the GHG emissions which can help in fighting global warming and climate change. Its paves the way for its high value application in construction which can make bamboo cultivation an economically viable way of greening the vast wastelands and thereby improving the environment.

Discusses the arguments given by environmental advocates in support of establishing a world environment organization. Better coordination of global environmental governance; Improvement of financial and technology transfers; Implementation and development of international environmental law; Three models of a world environment organization. INSET: The United Nations Environment Programme.

This study presents a tool for monitoring the underlying dynamics of conflicts in Iraq beyond a mere analysis of violent episodes. Through inquiring towards the so-called epicenter of conflicts, concrete potentials for local, regional and national peace initiatives are the core interest. This United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) pilot study provides a basis for applying an innovative approach to conflict analysis - elicitive conflict mapping (ECM) - in broader contexts. Recommendations fostering spaces which are facilitating peace and conflict transformation, truth telling, alternative forms of justice-seeking, and dynamics of relational security have been identified. This study presents an evidence-based approach to future programme and policy development as well as a possible basis to monitor and further develop the impact of future conflict transformation activities under the umbrella of the United Nations.

"If you are not a state, you are nobody in world politics"
Questa tesi intende illustrare il caso del Somaliland, regione a Nord della Somalia, che non viene riconosciuto dalla comunità internazionale come Stato indipendente rispetto alla Repubblica somala. In particolar modo questo studio intende far emergere in maniera esemplare come la normativa internazionale non riesca, in alcuni casi, a promuovere la tutela di diritti fondamentali, nello specifico, il diritto all'autodeterminazione dei popoli. Le recenti vicende politiche della regione denominata Somaliland, dal nome del protettorato inglese del Britsh Somaliland, sono esemplificative per analizzare il vuoto del diritto internazionale in merito ai processi di fallimento dello Stato, come nel caso dello Stato somalo, e le relative rivendicazioni di autodeterminazione e indipendenza. La regione del Somaliland, situata a Nord-Est dell'attuale Repubblica Federale somala, ha le proprie origini dal protettorato inglese del British Somaliland, dichiaratosi indipendente dal Regno Unito nel 1960. Dopo appena un anno dalla dichiarazione d'indipendenza, lo Stato si unì con l'ex Somalia italiana per formare la Repubblica Somala, nata con la firma dell'Atto di Unione nel 1961. Con un colpo di stato, Siad Barre, generale dell'esercito somalo, instaurò una dittatura nel 1969. Ne nacque una fiera resistenza di tutti i clan somali che, durante gli anni '80, si opposero al regime con costi umani ed economici. Il governo fu rovesciato nel gennaio del 1991 grazie alla forza combinata di diversi movimenti di liberazione, i quali asserragliarono Barre presso Villa Somalia 2 e lo costrinsero alla fuga. Queste brevi premesse storiche costituiscono l'antefatto del caso di studio poiché dopo l'uscita dalla Repubblica Somala nel 1991, il Somaliland è esistito come Stato de facto, non venendo riconosciuto a livello internazionale da alcuno Stato. Al background storico è dedicato il primo capitolo della tesi, mentre nel secondo l'analisi si rivolge alle condizioni attuali della regione: il paese ha un proprio governo, 1 Martha Finnemore è una docente universitaria di Scienze Politiche, specializzata in Diritto Internazionale, presso l'Università George Washington (Washington, DC). 2 Una villa, situata a Mogadiscio, costruita dagli italiani nel periodo coloniale. Ora è la residenza ufficiale del Presidente della Repubblica somala.

Since the beginning of the 21st century southern countries have been experiencing a sustained period of development, allowing hundreds of millions of people to get out of poverty and expanding different forms of South-South Cooperation (SSC). As underlined by the 2013 Human Development Report published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the growing group of Middle-Income Countries (MICs) has benefitted from economic growth, greater trading opportunities, as well as increasingly sophisticated information and communication technologies. Countries such as China, India and Brazil but also Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey are now proof of a multipolar world in which the MICs have an accumulated capital of experiences and solutions on how to promote sustainable human development. The publication at hand is embedded in this dynamic global context and provides a first account of the different ways through which the UN supports Mexico’s South-South Cooperation (SSC). As one of the first joint country-level analyses of UN SSC activities in the Latin American region, it identifies elements to improve both the scale and quality of this multilateral effort.

Governance is thought to be a key determinant of economic growth, social advancement and overall development, as well as for the attainment of the MDGs in low-and middleincome countries. Governance of the health system is the least well-understood aspect of health systems. A framework for assessing health system governance (HSG) at national and sub-national levels is presented, which has been applied in countries of the Eastern Mediterranean.

A complexity-friendly, SenseMaker-based approach to understanding how to build sustainable livelihoods and communities in conditions of high uncertainty and change. The tool also detected underlying attitudinal change among participants in UNDP Yemen programmes.

Tout premier instrument régional juridiquement contraignant relatif au déplacement interne ayant été adopté au monde, la Convention de Kampala représente une avancée historique pour promouvoir la responsabilité de l'État dans la protection et l'assistance aux personnes en situation de déplacement interne. Chaque année, les conflits, la violence, les catastrophes et les projets de développement contraignent des millions d’Africains à laisser leur foyer, leur communauté et leurs moyens de subsistance derrière eux. La Convention de Kampala met en place un cadre juridique africain pour prévenir les déplacements internes, pour protéger et aider les personnes pendant le déplacement, et pour fournir des solutions durables aux personnes déplacées. Cette étude se base sur les tendances actuelles du déplacement interne en Afrique de l’Ouest et met la lumière sur le contenu des obligations qui incombent aux Etats parties à la Convention vis-à-vis de leurs déplacés internes. Elle réaffirme également que la prise en compte des déplacements internes dans le cadre d'initiatives communautaires plus larges représente une opportunité pour les Etats membres de l’espace CEDEAO.

In this article, the authors report a secondary analysis on a cross-cultural dataset on gender differences in 6 emotions, collected in 37 countries all over the world. The aim was to test the universality of the gender-specific pattern found in studies with Western respondents, namely that men report more powerful emotions (e.g., anger), whereas women report more powerless emotions (e.g., sadness, fear). The authors expected the strength of these gender differences to depend on women's status and roles in their respective countries, as operationalized by the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM; United Nations Development Programme Human Development Report 2002). Overall, the gender-specific pattern of women reporting to experience and express more powerless emotions and men more powerful emotions was replicated, and only some interactions with the GEM were found. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to

In this article, the authors report a secondary analysis on a cross-cultural dataset on gender differences in 6 emotions, collected in 37 countries all over the world. The aim was to test the universality of the gender-specific pattern found in studies with Western respondents, namely that men report more powerful emotions (e.g., anger), whereas women report more powerless emotions (e.g., sadness, fear). The authors expected the strength of these gender differences to depend on women's status and roles in their respective countries, as operationalized by the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM; United Nations Development Programme Human Development Report 2002). Overall, the gender-specific pattern of women reporting to experience and express more powerless emotions and men more powerful emotions was replicated, and only some interactions with the GEM were found. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to

This is the Draft Table of Contents for my forthcoming book (Lexington--hopefully December 2016): Eco-Nihilism: The Philosophical Geopolitics of the Climate Change Apocalypse.

I post it here to give my readers--for whom I'm tremendously grateful--a preview of the book's themes and argument.

This paper seeks to make a contribution to the latest round of reform of the United Nations by assessing the strengths and weaknesses of Secretary General, Kofi Annnan's latest reform package 'In Larger Freedom: towards development, security and human rights for all'. More particularly Recommendation 162 dealing with the United Nations relationships with NGOs. It does this by evaluating the relationship between the UN and member states, the relationship between member states and civil society; and the formal and informal relationships between the UN and civil society.

Environmental unsustainability is due to both structural features and historically specific characteristics of industrial
capitalism resulting in specific patterns of production and consumption, as well as population growth. Sustainability
literature criticises the established corporate and political power hegemonies, interested in maintaining economic growth,
as well as inability or unwillingness of citizen-consumers to counteract these hegemonic tendencies. Yet, official policies are
still targeted at social and economic ‘development’ as a panacea for unsustainability challenges. Instead, renewed accent on
social and economic objectives are outlined by a set of sustainable development goals (SDG) that include objectives of
fighting poverty, promoting better health, reducing mortality, and stimulating equitable economic growth. What is less
commonly critiqued is the underlying morality of unsustainability and ethical questions concerned with the ‘victims of
unsustainability’ outside of socioeconomic discourse. The achievement of SDG goals, as will be further elaborated on in this
article, is unlikely to lead to greater social equality and economic prosperity, but to a greater spread of unsustainable
production and consumption, continuous economic as well as population growth that has caused environmental problems in
the first place and further objectification of environment and its elements. This article argues that an invocation of ethical
duty toward environment and its elements is required in order to move beyond the current status quo. Such ethical approach
to unsustainability can effectively address the shortcomings of the mainstream sustainability discourse that is mainly
anthropocentric and therefore fails to identify the correct locus of unsustainability.

PREVI (​ Proyecto Experimental de Vivienda​) was the first star-architect led incremental housing project in Latin America. PREVI set the precedent for projects like Elemental's social housing in Chile and other contemporary architect-led incremental housing programs that have become popular across the world. The general approach with these types of projects, clearly inspired by PREVI, has been a neighborhood plan based on low rise, high density, single-family dwelling units. The architects design innovative housing that provides the framework for low-income neighborhoods to grow into thriving communities over time. Low-income families are then expected to expand their houses as individual family units over time. Today PREVI has serious issues that derive from it's reliance on the single-family dwelling as the basic unit for neighborhood growth. By upholding private property ownership for single families the burden of expansion was unfairly put on the individual families instead of on the community collectively. I will analyze the failures of PREVI and propose the FUCVAM cooperative model in Uruguay as a solution to the problems found in PREVI. Recommending solutions to the problems of PREVI will serve as a starting point for a more equitable incremental planning method for the future. My critique of PREVI can also shed new light on contemporary incremental housing projects and the problems they may face in the future.

With the adoption of the 2030 Agenda which defined the development goals for the next 15 years, the United Nations and its Member States considered that it is necessary to adjust the way the UN has addressed the development issues in order to ensure that it is "fit for purpose”. In the context of my internship at the Portuguese Mission at the United Nations headquarters in New York held between January and June 2016, this report analyzes the evolution of the development agenda at the United Nations, focusing on the Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals. It also reflects on the indispensable changes in the United Nations Development System in order to cope with the new challenges of development, concluding that the current functioning of the UN will not allow the successful implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the possibilities of adapting Islamic microfinance into a complex situation such as international refugee crisis while reviewing the nature and practices of Islamic microfinance. The methodology of this paper consists of critical review and examination of existing literature and experiences. The results indicate that Islamic microfinance has huge potential to address the refugee crisis but the practice is relatively very few. The study witnessed few experiences but mostly limited and short lived as well as focused only on one or two financial contract mainly Murabaha mode of financing. The experiments show that the practice in refugee camps is highly risky due to number of reasons including geographical, political, and legal and other unsolvable obstacles. Yet, the demand is increasing due to increased high volume of refugees around the world and their idleness inside the camps. On the other hand, United Nations, international humanitarian and charitable organisations including Zakah and Waqf funds spend huge amount to provide assistance to refugees. The main purpose of this thesis is to connect these two realities while providing long term and sustainable solutions.

The Philippine Commission on Women furthered campaign in promoting gender equality in the Philippines which has been a socio-cultural issue over the past years. The strict implementation of the law may have caused Filipino women to speak up and report abuses against them. The study determined the model for the trends,a sample forecast for the next 10 years,and relatedness of the reported crime of violence against women and the Gender Gap Index (GGI) in the Philippines. It retrieved data from the reports of the Philippines Statistics Authority and of the World Economic Forum from 2006 to 2017 through data mining. This study employed descriptive methods via time trend analyses using Minitab R and Symbolic Regression using Eureqa Pro R . Using time trend analysis, the reported cases of violence against women fits the Quadratic Trend Model (MAD=1968) while the quality of gender equality in the Philippines fits the Linear Trend Model (MAD=0.00306). Both reports are forecasted to be increas...

The Philippine Commission on Women furthered campaign in promoting gender equality in the Philippines which has been a socio-cultural issue over the past years. The strict implementation of the law may have caused Filipino women to speak up and report abuses against them. The study determined the model for the trends, a sample forecast for the next 10 years, and relatedness of the reported crime of violence against women and the Gender Gap Index (GGI) in the Philippines. It retrieved data from the reports of the Philippines Statistics Authority and of the World Economic Forum from 2006 to 2017 through data mining. This study employed descriptive methods via time trend analyses using Minitab R and Symbolic Regression using Eureqa Pro. Using time trend analysis, the reported cases of violence against women fits the Quadratic Trend Model (MAD=1968) while the quality of gender equality in the Philippines fits the Linear Trend Model (MAD=0.00306). Both reports are forecasted to be increa...

Through statistics published by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), the paper explores why oilfield sabotage from 2009 to 2015 remains a problem in the Niger Delta, despite the 2009 amnesty programme. It explains why some of these incidents are a direct result of the failure to implement socioeconomic development in successive state agencies due to corruption, a consequence of the natural resource curse. The article then explores why and how a Nigerian Non-Renewable Revenue Special Fund (NNRSF) overseen by the United Nations Development Programme should be established which would not only manage a portion of oil revenue funds from the Niger Delta but also initiate valid social and economic projects in order to help reduce the prevalence of sabotage and instability in the region.

The United Nations Plan for Our Children
On September 10, 2003 in Prague at the International Conference on Education for a Sustainable Future, the United Nations declared 2005 through 2015, “The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).” To nobody’s surprise, the UN also named UNESCO (The United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) as the lead agency for this global effort. The official launch ceremony took place on March 1st, 2005 in New York City.
Few Americans paid attention. They should have. On June 12, 2002, President Bush had announced that America would rejoin UNESCO and “…participate fully in its mission….”
According to UNESCO, “The Decade of ESD is a far-reaching and complex undertaking… that potentially touches on every aspect of life. The basic vision…is a world where everyone…learns the values, behavior, and lifestyles required for a sustainable future and for positive societal transformation.”
What is Sustainable Development?
The term “Sustainable Development” (SD) was introduced in 1987 at the World Commission on Environment and Development. Their report entitled, “Our Common Future” defined Sustainable Development as: “Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Behind this noble sounding goal, however, was a radical agenda that had more to do with controlling the economy, education, population control, and society than sustaining development.
Strategic Imperatives:
Our Common Future, for example, revealed that SD involves “…ensuring a sustainable level of population… the challenge now is to quickly lower
population growth rates [in Third World countries], especially in regions such as Africa, where these rates are increasing… and developing countries will also have to promote direct measures to reduce fertility, to avoid going radically beyond the productive potential. In fact, increased access to family planning services is itself a form of social development. (p. 51-56),“…a progressive transformation of the economy and society (p.43), …international interdependence (p.47), …redistribution [of wealth] (p.50) …less material and more equitable growth (p.50-52), …merging environment and economics in decision making (p.62); …and a new ethic that will include the relationship between man and nature above all (p.71). Clearly there is more to SD than simply “good stewardship” of natural resources.

Данное пособие представляет собой структурированное руководство для организаций гражданского общества (ОГО), объясняющее сущность роли, которую они могут играть в процессе осуществления демократического надзора над органами сектора безопасности. В частности, в книге четко и ясно описывается, каким образом ОГО должны планировать и организовывать свою работу.

Участие общественности в работе сектора безопасности является жизненно необходимым условием для создания и существования сильных, независимых демократических институтов, а значит, и
привлечение организаций гражданского общества (ОГО), заслуживающих доверия, к формированию политики сектора безопасности влияет на подотчетность органов сектора безопасности и организацию их работы. Активная позиция в этом направлении организаций гражданского общества на местном уровне позволяет им противодействовать незаконной деятельности органов сектора безопасности, а также открывает широкие возможности для участия в формировании стратегии
органов сектора безопасности. ОГО должны играть важную роль не только в странах с установившейся демократией, но и в постконфликтных, поставторитарных и недемократических государствах, в которых деятельность ОГО все -таки может оказывать влияние на политические элиты, монополизировавшие власть.

Gillian Youngs discusses some of the broad themes featured in The United Nations Development Programme : A Better Way? by Craig Murphy. She looks at the central role of the concept of human development in the progress of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the pivotal contribution of the annual Human Development Report published by the UNDP from 1990 onwards.

The multidimensional view of human well-being has a growing influence on research on inequality and poverty. This development owes much to the conceptualisation of the “capability approach” by Sen (1985, 1987), but the shift has not been confined to academic circles and has extended to policy-oriented analysis. The United Nations Development Programme has challenged since 1990 the primacy of GDP per capita as the measure of progress by proposing the Human Development Index (HDI), which combines income with life expectancy and educational achievement (e.g. UNDP, 2005). The World Development Report 2000/2001: Attacking Poverty opened with the statement that: “This report accepts the now traditional view of poverty...

this paper, presented at the United Nations Association of New Zealand
2017 National Conference: Sustainable Development for All? in Wellington on 29 June 2017, sketches an outline for examination of relations between the United Nations and the small island states of the Pacific region

This paper develops a framework for understanding significant changes to the political economy of global trade at the onset of the Cold War. These changes were shaped by the establishment of the world‘s first export processing zone
(EPZ) regime in 1947 in Puerto Rico. which would become a role model for the various US administrations' policies towards the (capitalist) Third World. The EPZ regime in Puerto Rico was investor friendly in various ways and was promoted by sponsored invitations of developing countries‘ officials to that Caribbean island. The example of successful export-oriented development was ever more important in the
1960s and 1970s as an increasing number of independent nation-states considered closing off their markets to Western corporations and goods and saw this as a way to complete the process of decolonisation. Outlining how the EPZ-regime spread around the world with further hotspots of diffusion
emerging in postcolonial Ireland and Taiwan, I show how EPZs became an institutionalised model in development economics and global development policies. This model significantly changed global political economic interaction, not least when it became central to the opening of the Chinese economy in the late 1970s. EPZs then provide important examples for the economic calculus of (in-)dependent relations between ex-colonisers and ex-colonised that would shape development policies during the Cold War and foreshadow the neoliberal era that would end the Cold War.

This study analyzes the legal status and the fundamental rights of the so-called Non-Self-Governing Territories, according to the Articles 73 and 74 of the Charter of the United Nations (1945). This paper particularly investigates the responsibilities of the management States regarding the rights of the Non-Self-Governing Territories to not be exploited and to have ensured, with due respect for the culture of the peoples concerned, their political, economic, social, and educational advancement.

The impact of technology in achieving sustainable development cannot be overemphasized.The United Nations recognized its importance and has mandated countries to develop their technology infrastructure as a tool to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Its use in developed countries has created an effective and efficient means to achieve an all-round development affecting the state, its people and its environment. There is however, a greater need for developing countries to embrace the use of technology by investing in its development across the country. This would help to solve some of its major challenges with less cost and within a reasonable period of time. Developed countries are saddled with the responsibility to support domestic technology development, research and innovation in developing countries. This essay has therefore considered the application of technological tools to the SDGs in order to aid its achievement most especially in developing countries.

A study of the role of the UN in the world today. Students will obtain experience in practicing diplomatic skills in a mock setting. Prepares students to represent accurately a member state of the UN in regional competition. The course may be taken three times for credit." (2014-2015 Undergraduate Catalog,

The United Nations Development Programme and the Republic of the Maldives, a small Muslim country with a constitutional democracy, commissioned this project to craft the country's first system of codified penal law and sentencing guidelines. This article describes the special challenges and opportunities encountered while drafting a penal code based on shari'a (Islamic law). Such comprehensive codification is likely to bring more dramatic improvements in the quality of justice there than in many other societies, owing in large part to the problems of assuring fair notice and fair adjudication in the uncodified shari'a-based system in present use. Challenges faced by the project team included a particular need for clarity and simplicity presented by the relative lack of codification experience and training in the islands. However, this lack of experience and codification tradition also had unexpected advantages in that it gave drafters the freedom to invent new codification forms that would be difficult to adopt in a society with an entrenched codification history.

While it was a concern that any shari'a-based code could conflict with international norms, in practice it became apparent that the conflict was not as great as many would expect. Opportunities for accommodation were available, sometimes through interesting approaches by which the spirit of the shari'a rule could be maintained without violating international norms. In the end, this shari'a-based penal code drafting project yielded a Draft Code that can bring greater justice to Maldivians and also provide a useful starting point for modern penal code drafting in other Muslim countries.

Moreover, the code drafting project may have much to offer penal code reform in non-Muslim countries, for the structure and drafting forms invented here were used to solve problems that plague most penal codes, even codes of modern format such as those based upon the American Law Institute's Model Penal Code, which served as the model for most American penal codes. The challenges of accessible language and format, troublesome ambiguous acquittals, overlapping offences, combination offences, and penal code-integrated sentencing guidelines have all been addressed.

The following review explores Intercultural Information Ethics (IIE) in terms of comparative philosophy, supporting IIE as the most relevant and significant development of the field of Information Ethics (IE). The focus of the review is threefold. First, it will review the core presumption of the field of IIE, that being the demand for an inter- mission in the pursuit of a founding philosophy for IE in order to first address the philosophical biases of IE by western philosophy. Second, a history of the various philosophical streams of IIE will be outlined, including its literature and pioneering contributors. Lastly, a new synthesis of comparative philosophies in IIE will be offered, looking towards a future evolution of the field. Examining the interchange between contemporary information ethicists regarding the discipline of IIE, the review first outlines the previously established presumptions of the field of IIE that posit the need for an IE as grounded in western sensibilities. The author then addresses the implications of the foregoing presumption from several non-western viewpoints, arguing that IIE does in fact find roots in non-western philosophies as established in the concluding synthesis of western and eastern philosophical traditions.

From the educational reform in 1928 1 , with an abrupt interruption in 1929, up to Gui Bonsiepe's design development for the Production Development Corporation (Corfo) 2 , interrupted in September 1973, we can distinguish a period in both Chilean and Latin American history where different design definitions emerged as the main axis for a possible and effective self-determination. This meant that various public policies, with greater or lesser continuity, were gradually consolidating development through added value. Symbolically at least, public policies focused on reversing the process of dependence on small economies, countering the endogenous system of exclusive production of raw materials with little added value. Within this period we witness two conjunctures that come together as exceptional situations that go beyond the adoption of an external productive system.

Short VIDEO (45 sec.): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDWKTcvEOJM

ABSTRACT:
This book provides a critical deconstruction of the human development framework promoted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) since 1990. Taking the Human Development Reports of the UNDP as its starting point for reflection, this book investigates the construction of this framework as well as its political function since the end of the Cold War. The book argues that the UNDP’s discourse on development relies on essentialist philosophical, cultural, and political assumptions dating back to the 19th century and concludes that these assumptions – also present in the MDGs and SDGs – impede a full grasp of the complex and multi-layered global problems of the current world. Whilst development critiques traditionally relied on liberal, Marxist or Foucauldian theoretical frameworks and focused on epistemological or political economy issues, this book draws on the post-foundational and post-structuralist work of Ernesto Laclau and Jacques Derrida and proposes an ontological and relational reading of development discourses that both complements and further develops the insights of previous critiques. This book is key reading for advanced students and researchers of Critical Development Studies, Political Science, the UN, and Sustainable Development.

To cite this paper:  Ehrlich, James, Chris Ford and Larry Leifer. "ReGen Villages: Development of Design Features & Software Applications for Integrating Regenerative Lifeline Resource Systems in Residential Communities," Brief for SDG Philanthropy Platform, United Nations Development Programme, July 02 2018; https://www.sdgphilanthropy.org/Regenerative-Resilient-Decentralized-Neighborhoods

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To sustain life in the built environment, infrastructural resource systems have been designed and constructed to provide a regional population with “lifeline” resource units such as food (KCals), communications (MHz), energy (MWhs), water (MGDs) and to also extract waste (tons).  These systems are essential for dwelling in the built environment, yet are structurally and operationally independent of one another, with some nodal exceptions.

Both gender and equality are contentious and evolving terms. Considering the respective long-standing debates on these two terms, it is not surprising that their combination has been just as challenging to conceptualize and measure. 1 Indeed, there has been a persistent and increasing dispute on which specific parameters could accurately measure gender inequality in a temporally and spatially comparative context. The appearance of gender equality indices is relatively recent, having started to garner attention in the 1990s. On the one hand, attention to measuring gender inequality is a very welcome development because only by using such measures can we assess the important and widespread social phenomena of sex-based discrimination. On the other hand, the complexity of the endeavor is enormous, and lacking agreement on what to measure and how we should perform the measurements. These debates have led to numerous interpretations of gender equality, and possibly more, rather than less confusion regarding how to measure and interpret it across countries and through time. In addition to social scientific interest to measure the state of gender equality across countries and time, the position a country reaches according to the gender equality indices may also serve as the indicator of international ranking, and thus signify an implied or explicit manner to promote certain gender arrangements as " best practices " .