Human Development Report Office: 2023 in Review

In 2023, we delivered five flagship initiatives and dedicated ourselves to the upcoming HDR, which explores the current gridlock of slow collective action on key global challenges, exacerbated by a lack of trust and polarization, and proposes ways to address it.”

HDRO has spearheaded thought leadership through cutting-edge knowledge products, impactful publications, statistical and digital platform innovations, and new knowledge networks.

Produced and launched 5 flagship initiatives

2023 Gender Social Norms Index Report

Gender bias is a pervasive problem worldwide. The Gender Social Norms Index (GSNI) quantifies biases against women, capturing people’s attitudes on women’s roles along four key dimensions: political, educational, economic and physical integrity. The index, covering 85 percent of the global population, reveals that close to 9 out of 10 men and women hold fundamental biases against women.

The Corporate Human Development Community Of Practice

In addition, HDRO has supported the development of National and Regional HDRs, and has co-led the next generation of NHDR’s strategy in collaboration with regional bureaus and human development experts across the organization and beyond.

HDRO has actively broadened partnerships and collaborations, fostering meaningful relationships with key institutions and organizations at both global and local levels.

Engaged with over 40 institutions at all levels, including international organizations, universities, research networks, think tanks, private sector actors, governments, and others.

PRIO, IIASA, Harvard University, the German Development Institute, HDCA, CUNY, the Migration Policy Institute, OPHI, the Stockholm Institute, the University of Bristol, the University of Maryland, the LR Foundation, Planet, PRRM, OECD Save the Children, UNICEF, UNITAR, UNV, and many others.

Additionally, HDRO has participated in over 100 group or bilateral discussions with key experts and stakeholders.

HDRO has convened key experts and stakeholders in events and consultations that drove thought leadership and innovation.

Organized over 20 thematic and regional consultations and other events, with over 500 participants

2023 HDR Thematic Consultation: International Institutions in Radically Uncertain Times organized in collaboration with the Oxford Martin Programme on Changing Global Orders. The consultation brought together a multidisciplinary group of prominent historians, economists, sociologists, biologists, and political scientists.

2023 HDR Regional Consultation: Arab States jointly organized with UNDP RBAS, the consultation focused on government mismatches and the need for collective action. The consultation brought together prominent experts, academics, and practitioners from the region and senior managers and specialists from UNDP.

2023 & 2024 HDR Thematic Consultation: Our Shared Digital Future organized in collaboration with the Craig Newmark Center for Journalism Ethics and Security. It brought together prominent scholars and practitioners from the fields of political science, journalism, technology studies, law, philosophy, and biology.

2023 HDR Thematic Consultation: South-South Cooperation partnered with the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) and South-South Global Thinkers, a joint initiative by UNOSSC and UNDP, the technical consultation draw perspectives from the Global South, and brought together prominent experts, scholars, and practitioners in the field, along with senior managers and specialists from UNDP and UNOSSC.

2023 HDR Regional Consultation: Latin America and the Caribbean organized with UNDP RBLAC, the consultation addressed the topics of governance mismatches and investing in one another in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean. Prominent specialists, scholars, and practitioners in the region were involved in the discussion, together with senior managers and specialists from UNDP.

Signals of change shaping the landscape around collective action organized with the UNDP’s Strategy & Futures Team drew on UNDP’s global Futures Network to identify signals of change shaping the landscape around collective action - both enablers and obstacles, including interesting examples of collective action itself at community, country or international level.

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HDRO-produced knowledge has had a significant digital reach, and was referenced and utilized in the formulation of policy documents at both global and local levels, including policy briefs by the SG in preparation for the SDG Summit and the upcoming Summit of the Future, and the midterm review of the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and many others.

HDRO’s knowledge products have received widespread media coverage, strengthening both the brand and global recognition.

Publications, knowledge products, and events have had broad media coverage, often from the top tier global news outlets.

The Human Development Reports achieved an impressive average of over 3 billion monthly Unique Visitors (UVM), representing the combined potential reach of the news outlets with thousands of monthly media links, while the Human Development Index (HDI) had average monthly UVM of over 10 billion.