Provinces excelling in human development cited

The Human Development Network, in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme, will confer the third Gawad sa Makataong Pag-unlad at Malacañang today.

The award will be given to provinces with the best achievements and highest gains in human development.

The top achieving provinces were determined by calculating the human development index or HDI of each of the country’s 77 provinces.

The HDI, ranging from 0 (lowest) to 1 (highest), reveals how well a province has performed in the three basic components of human development: life expectancy, education and income.

This year, the best achievers in HDI are Rizal, Ilocos Norte, Bataan, Cavite and Laguna, which attained the highest computed HDIs for 2000. Rizal tops the ranking with an HDI of 0.758, dislodging previous topnotcher Bataan from the number one spot.

Meanwhile, the top gainers were determined by computing the percentage gap improvement in the HDIs of the different provinces.

The provinces that garnered the largest gap improvements for 2000 and this year’s recipients of the most improved award are Davao Oriental, Mt. Province, South Cotabato, Iloilo and Leyte.

Apart from the two categories, the Human Development Network, for the first time, will be giving a special award to Misamis Oriental, which topped the other provinces in terms of level, distribution and quality education. This award is initiated with the support of the Metrobank Foundation.

Former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and HDN president Solita Monsod said the special award was established to encourage local governments to pay more attention to the provision of education to their constituents.

The awarding coincides with the launching of the 2002 Philippine Human Development Report, which contains a full discussion of the country’s human development situation.

The Human Development Network is a network of individuals from the government, academe, international organizations, research institutions and civil society groups whose mission is to promote human development through research and advocacy.