People-centered development

People-centered development is an approach to international development that focuses on improving local communities' self-reliance, social justice, and participatory decision-making. It recognizes that economic growth does not inherently contribute to human development and calls for changes in social, political, and environmental values and practices.

In 1984, David Korten, a former regional advisor to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), proposed a people-centered development strategy that incorporated the values of justice, sustainability, and inclusiveness. According to Korten, the prevailing growth-focused development strategy is unsustainable and inequitable. He calls for transformations of our institutions, technology, values, and behavior, "consistent with our ecological and social realities."

Published in 1989, The Manila Declaration on People's Participation and Sustainable Development sets forth principles and guidelines for enacting these transformations.

The concept of people-centered development gained recognition at several international development conferences in the 1990s, such as the Earth Summit in 1992, the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994, and the Summit for Social Development of 1995. The concept was first widely promoted in the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) Human Development Report in 1990, in which countries' level of development was measured by the Human Development Index (HDI). The UNDP's report deems economic growth a necessary means to achieving sustainable development.

Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in its 1996 official development assistance (ODA) report that the objective of people-centered development is, "helping humankind lead an affluent and happy life." "Shaping the 21st Century," a report published by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1996, made people-centered development a target policy for all member countries. It stressed the importance of local ownership, participation, and capacity building while attaining economic growth.

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