Resource Database
Ready to innovate? Here are resources to help your team!
On this page, you’ll find four things:
Helpful guides on collaborating online via Google Docs and WhatsApp,
Useful articles and videos introducing what “human development” is, the Human Development Index, and the Human Development Report,
A list of suggested data sources by the UNDP Human Development Report Office (your proposal is required to use at least 1 data source published by UNDP HDRO — but it doesn’t have to be on the list below),
A list of other useful data sources for each Challenge Theme (Anthropocene, Systems, and Institutions).
How to collaborate online
Where can we write our proposal together?
We recommend Google Drive because it’s free, easy to use on computers and phones, and everyone can work on a document at the same time. All you need is a Google account (if you use gmail, you have one)!
Here’s the Google Drive website. If you have gmail, you should automatically login.
Here’s how to share your Google Drive documents with your team members.
Is your team submitting a written proposal? Click here to make a copy of our optional proposal template that can help you structure your ideas. There is absolutely no obligation to use this template.
How am I going to talk with my team?
We recommend creating a group chat on WhatsApp (or a similar messaging app) because it’s free and used across the world (it’s also where Solving for Humanity organizes our global participant community, which you can join by clicking this). If another app works better for your team, that’s great too!
To create a new WhatsApp group chat, you’ll just need your team members’ WhatsApp numbers.
2. What is “human development”?
In short, human development is an approach to global development that focuses on growing the opportunities, abilities, and well-being of all human life — not just the economy.
The United Nations has focused on human development as its main conceptual framework of global development since 1990. The UN measures and tracks human development through the Human Development Index. More on that below.
What is the Human Development Index?
Here’s a brief video explaining the Human Development Index (HDI) from the experts at the UNDP Human Development Report Office (UNDP HDRO), which develops the HDI for every country each year. They’ve also worked hard to advise the South-North Scholars team that organizes Solving for Humanity!
What is the Human Development Report?
Every year, HDRO releases the Human Development Report to explain and track major challenges to human development worldwide. Here’s a brief video explaining this year’s report, which focused on explaining a global trend of rising feelings of uncertainty in people’s lives.
Where can I learn more?
Solving for Humanity hosted a 1-hour official kick-off event with our United Nations colleagues at HDRO. Fernanda and Josefin presented a detailed presentation on their work in human development and shared some amazing insights about what your team should consider including in your proposal.
Registered after the event, or just want to watch it again? Here it is!
The UNDP Human Development Report Office (HDRO) is our main United Nations collaborator in organizing Solving for Humanity. Their experts work hard to generate high-quality information on human development and its relationship to issues like climate change, gender inequality, and peace/conflict/security.
Your team’s proposal is required to support your arguments by using at least 1 data source from HDRO. It does not have to be one of the sources below.
To help you get started, we put together some of the most popular and relevant HDRO data sources below. You can also go here to get all of their publications, and here is the HDRO Data Center with all of their data sources.
3. Data sources from HDRO
The Human Development Report 2021/2022
This is the major report released by HDRO to discuss global trends in human development. Here’s a short video summary of it.
You’ll find inside hundreds of data points you can use: charts, graphs, and statistics on the impact of climate change, conflict and war, AI and technology, and socioeconomic inequality.
Not only is there plenty of data, there are also insightful arguments to inspire your team’s proposal no matter which Challenge Theme.
Specific Country Insights
Wonder what your country’s Human Development Index is — or how it was calculated? Want to compare it with another country? You can do all of that here!
Check out HDRO’s profiles of each country, which give you convenient visualizations of many data sources:
Human Development Index (HDI)
Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)
Planetary pressures-adjusted HDI — a version of the HDI that takes into account climate impacts
Gender Social Norms Index
For each Challenge Theme, we’ve put together incredible data sources to get your team started, including some resources sent to us by experts at Oxford University, Duke University, and other global institutions.
Simply choose your theme and you’ll be on your way!
