Human development is an approach that was introduced by the first human development research in 1990 to advance human wellbeing. It is a process through which people’s opportunities and freedoms are enlarged (Nelso, 2018). Human development approach focuses on improving people’s lives rather than assuming that other factors such as economic growth will result in a greater wellbeing. It is focused on people and their choices as well as opportunities (Outreach HDRO, 2016). It is about giving people more freedom to lives they value. That is, developing an opportunity for someone and giving them a chance to use it. For example, IEP gave some recommendations that they believed could help Keith to live well with his eye conditions without many complications.
The foundation of the approach is to enable people to live long with access to resources they need in life. This approach stresses that once the basics of human development are achieved, more opportunities for one to progress in life are obviously opened. It requires that an individual is provided with opportunities. How he or she uses them is primarily their own choice (Outreach HDRO, 2016). Therefore the process of human development should create a conducive environment for one to be able to explore what life has in store for them. In the case study of Kenneth Jackson, the doctor in charge of his eye conditions tried to do all he could to help Kenneth be able to use his eyes without many complications. IEP also ordered an assessment of his condition. This meant providing him with more opportunities in life on how to survive with his problem.
The capability is the central concept of human development. What one can do determines their achievement in life (Nelso, 2018). According to Kenneth, his glasses were broken, yet this did not hinder him from performing his daily chores. This made him acquire a significant improvement in his vision even without the glasses. From this scenario, it is clear that once if one trusts in themselves and goes ahead to try out issues in life, definitely success will come out of such trials. This is because our capabilities are either expanded or constrained by our very own efforts to explore or try out issues.
The condition of the society and institutions in which one grows in also matters a lot regarding their development (Nelso, 2018). It was through the directive that the IEP gave for Kenneth Jackson to be assessed that, his problem was outsourced and several recommendations on how to help him were issued. People born with good capabilities have all they need to make their dream life a dream come true while those with less or are poor in capabilities are less able to explore their capabilities and thus their human potential often remain unexplored or unfulfilled unless helped.
The capability approach is used to analyze one’s wellbeing (Nelso, 2018). It is through this approach that the IEP was able to identify the ability of Kenneth Jackson regarding his vision ability. This approach is usually applied to determine and understand human development complications like Keith’s visual problem. The core demand of this approach is that one’s wellbeing should be defined based on one's real and actual capabilities of doing what they think is right. Through this freedom, the researcher can well understand the respondent’s wellbeing. It is through this approach that the teacher was able to realize that after Keith had stopped wearing glasses, there was an improvement on his eyesight as he appeared to view items just as his peers could do in the class.
References
Nelso, A. (2018, March 29). About Human Development. Retrieved from Measure of America; A Project of Social Science Research Council: https://www.measureofamerica.org/human-development/
Outreach HDRO. (2016). What is Human Development? Retrieved from Human Development Reports: https://hdr.undp.org/en/content/what-human-development
