When it comes to human development, many people have their own opinions on what the goals should be, how to improve, and what human development is. Selim Jahan describes human development as “the development of the people, for the people, and by the people.” He adds more depth to the general definition of the term and expands on what he believes the main focuses of human development are. Throughout the podcast, Jahan mentions certain targetted issues that require focus throughout the world; the first one being youth employment. He mentions how “work” should transform from something that is done to make a living, to something that has more purpose and assists others. He re-structures the traditional definition of “work” into the meaning of social cohesion, insightfulness, and giving to others for the benefit of the whole. Next, gender roles are brought up and the differences between the stereotypical work women do (such as care giving and home making) vs. the stereotyical work men do. Following, he mentions work in agriculture and the rural economy, the informal sector, and ends with work done during crises/post-crises. The targetted issues are mentioned in order to bring attention to specific areas that require deeper assistance, which in turn would greatly influence how human development is expanding throughout the world.

In addition to mentioning targetted issues, Jahan deeply speaks on his view of what human development is. The main take-away he wants his audience to learn is that human development needs to transform from having an economic benefituary stand point, to a human good stand point. It is important to note that Jahan states the importance of income in the field of human development, but goes on to describe how the people should be the main focus. With human development being majorly influenced by big private companies, it is easy to make decisions that generate profit for the company rather than focus on truly enriching human life. He discusses how human development should enhance the choices of all people in all aspects of life, rather than the money-hungry economic based model it has now. The Human Development Index is also discussed by Jahan and he describes specific measurements that are reported in the HDI that layout each country’s achievements. He states that the most important measurement in the country’s eyes is the country’s overall ranking. The HDI puts out a list of all the countries in ascending order and according to Jahan, this ranking is the most sought after. Not only is the country’s own ranking important to them, but the second most important thing is the country’s main competitors’ ranking as well. Not only does every country want to be ranked the best, but they want to be assured that their score is ranked higher than their competitors score. Most importantly though, Jahan goes into detail about how The Human Development Index is merely a measure of human development. He breaks it down into measuable breadth aspects and non-measurable focus aspects. He goes into depth about the types of measurements such as infant mortality rates, unemployment rates, and many more. These measurments put together let people see the overall picture of human development in certain countries and societies. The HDI also focuses on specific non-measurable aspects such as “having a long and healthy life and a decent standard of living.” These are used in order to broaden the ability of human choices and make more detailed reports. The HDI is a big way that people gather data on the stance of a country’s human development.

In addition to Selim Jahan, Hans Rosling has viewpoints on human development as well. With his partially humorous take on the subject, he manages to provide the audience with important details regarding gathered data on human development among different countries. A main point brought up is how health can actually be a precurser to wealth. Rosling lists examples such as child survival percentages in China, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, and more. Through animated graphs and charts, Rosling enriches the audience with knowledge on the connection between health and wealth in countries throughout the world. He states how having money with no health is pointless if the county is dying. Rosling continues to warm us that using averages to describe development could be harmful. He states how the averages used may not be completely accurate and that the openly accessible data may not reflect its true nature. Each country has different needs and assets, and thus the averaged data would not readily address all of the information necessary.

Both of the men took the topic of human development into an anti-economic view. By sharing their viewpoints on the importance of human good rather than profitable businesses, the audience is enlightened with new information. According to Jahan and Rosling, human development is evolving into a more selfless market, focusing less on the need for money, and more on assisting people all around the world and their overall health. After listening to Jahan and Rosling, my view on human development has grown. I agree that money should not by any means be the focus of human development, and for real change to happen, the people must be the center of attention.