Sectors
International development and disaster relief are often grouped into sectors, which correlate with the main themes of international development (and with the Sustainable Development Goals, which are included in the descriptions below). There is no clearly defined list of sectors, but some of the most universally accepted ones are detailed here. These sectors are highly interrelated (for example, adequate water supply to a community is difficult if there is no energy supply), which complicates the problems being addressed.
In development terms, this is the provision of water and sanitation (toilets, sewage) in sufficient quantity and quality to provide an acceptable standard of living. This is different from a relief response, where it involves the provision of water and sanitation in sufficient quantity and quality to keep those affected alive and prevent epidemics from breaking out.[34].
The provision of water and sanitation is an engineering, economic and political challenge. It is closely related to housing and human rights.
The seventh Millennium Development Goal is to ensure environmental sustainability, including halving the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and achieving significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers, by 2020. UN-Water, a body of 26 UN agencies working on water issues, is responsible for the triennial Global Water Development Report, which monitors progress towards the water-related Millennium Development Goals. The Global Water Assessment Programme, which produced this report, has articulated how 8 of the MDGs are linked to water resources.[35].
In terms of international development, the health sector (or sanitation) tries to provide the population with access to quality healthcare, in an efficient, consistent manner and in accordance with their needs. The standard and level of provision that is acceptable or appropriate depends on many factors and is very country and location specific. For example, in a large city (whether in a developing or developed country), it is appropriate to have a high-level hospital that can offer a full range of treatments; In a remote rural community it may be more practical to have a health professional visit periodically, possibly with one rural clinic serving several communities.
The provision of medical care is both an engineering challenge - as it requires infrastructure (hospitals, transportation systems...) - and an education challenge, as it requires qualified health workers and educated patients.
The fourth Millennium Development Goal is to reduce by two-thirds the mortality rate among children under five years of age.
The fifth Millennium Development Goal is to reduce maternal mortality by three quarters.
The sixth Millennium Development Goal is to stop and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS and stop and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other serious diseases.
Achieving these objectives is also a management challenge. Health services must make the best use of limited resources while providing the same quality of care to all people everywhere.
Examples of organizations that work in health are:
In terms of international development, the education sector typically focuses on providing free primary education, but also covers secondary and higher education. The lack of access to education is one of the main obstacles for countries to develop, and is closely related to other sectors. Almost all development projects include aspects of education or training of the people who benefit from the project.
The second Millennium Development Goal is Provide universal primary education.
The provision of education is in itself an educational challenge, as it requires qualified teachers who must be trained in higher education institutions. However, donors are reluctant to support higher education because their policies now target the MDGs.[36] The result is that students are not trained by qualified teachers and, what is worse, when they finish primary education, they move on to secondary education that often cannot accommodate them.
In international development terms, the accommodation sector is concerned with providing adequate and sustainable housing for families and communities. It is highly dependent on culture, location, climate and other factors. It is also very different from emergency accommodation, which attempts to protect people who have lost their homes due to a disaster from inclement weather, and which can do so through tents or barracks, as a short-term solution while permanent housing is being built.[34].
Examples of organizations specializing in accommodation are:.
In terms of international development, the human rights sector is concerned with ensuring that the rights recognized by international human rights instruments are respected for all people everywhere.[37] There are many of these, but the most important for international development are:.
Human rights cover a wide range of topics. Some of the most relevant to international development include rights associated with gender equality, justice, employment, social welfare and culture.
The third Millennium Development Goal is to “promote gender equality and empower women” by “eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015.”
Achieving this goal could have helped in achieving 5 of 8 other MDGs. Goals 1 to 6 were in direct correlation with the status of women in communities in problematic countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, sub-Saharan Africa and many of the developing nations. The low social recognition of women there reduces their abilities to impact the development of their community. Considering the relationship between mother and offspring, objectives 1, 4 and 5 are hindered by low social status. A sick mother simply cannot bear a healthy child and, without proper nutrition, much less nurse a sick one back to health. Mothers usually take on most of the care of their children. Therefore they must have the resources not only to support themselves, but also another human being.
On a different spectrum of social norms, Millennium Goals 2 and 6 were hampered by the custom of preferring that, in a family, boys go to school, while girls stay at home. This results in a reduced opportunity for them to prosper economically. Providing women with equal access to adequate education moves closer to universal primary education. Along with this education will come the proper dissemination of knowledge about safe practices to avoid illness. Women are increasingly victims of HIV/AIDS for easily avoidable reasons. Increasing the availability of appropriate education for women will be remarkably beneficial on a variety of fronts. Promoting gender equality is promoting progress towards global development.[38].
In international development terms, the livelihood sector is about ensuring that all people can earn a living for themselves and have an adequate standard of living, without compromising their human rights and maintaining dignity.
The first Millennium Development Goal was to halve the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day and halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.
The concept of livelihoods is drawn directly from the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) to international development. The approach and subsequent practical framework are attributed to Robert Chambers, who in his writings from the mid-1980s onwards was interested in fostering efficiency in development cooperation. This approach was later developed and used by the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID). The approach is considered to be more comprehensive than previous theories and methodologies. Core concepts include: taking a holistic view, building on community and individual strengths, focusing on linking macro and micro level thinking, sustainability and maintaining a dynamic and constantly evolving framework. [1] Archived July 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
In terms of international development, the finance sector is concerned with providing all people in a country, even the poorest, with access to financial services: savings, payments, credit and insurance.
The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank, which he founded, for their work in providing microcredit to the poor.