COVID-19 and Human Development: Assessing the Crisis, Envisioning the Recovery

“The world has seen many crises over the past 30 years, including the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-09. Each has hit human development hard but, overall,  development gains accrued globally year-on-year,” said UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner. “COVID-19 – with its triple hit to health, education, and income – may change this trend.”

Global human development – which can be measured as a combination of the world’s education, health and living standards – could decline this year for the first time since the concept was introduced in 1990, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) warned. Concerted action with a focus on equity could still limit the impacts of this unprecedented crisis: closing the digital divide would reduce by more than two-thirds the number of children currently not learning because of school closures.

Read the "COVID-19 and Human Development"

Economic Impact Assessment of COVID-19 in BiH

The Economic Impact Assessment (EIA) report presents an overview of the current state of the BiH economy, with an emphasis on the economic situation of vulnerable social groups and industry-level consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The objective of this rapid assessment is to identify the impact of the COVID-19 containment measures such as quarantine, closing of businesses and the disruption of global supply chains on the BiH economy as well as business sector responses to this shock.

Finally, the objective is to identify options to address such impact for the private sector. Particular attention is paid to SMEs, export-oriented companies, as well as those in the services sector and agriculture/food production.

The assessment report is intended to inform relevant stakeholders for the purpose of their response and recovery interventions to help minimize the negative impacts on companies, institutions, communities and the society.

Establishing normal living conditions in flood-affected communities: assisting more than 610,000 people in BiH

On 15 August 2014 the European Union launched the EU Floods Recovery Programme for Bosnia and Herzegovina worth 43.52 million EUR, out of which the EU’s contribution is 42.24 million EUR, while UNDP participated with 1.28 million EUR.

Results: Rehabilitation of 4,640 homes for more than 16,240 people; Rehabilitation of 63 bridges, 51 roads, and 31 water and sanitation facilities, and the implementation of five risk reduction measures for more than 610,000 beneficiaries; Rehabilitation of 156 school and 12 kindergartens for more than 71,800 children and students; six health care providers for 288,381 users; four social work centres for 22,859 beneficiaries...

Socio-economic perceptions of young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The research on BiH youth’s socio-economic perceptions was conducted with the aim of examining their views and experiences on a wide range of current issues, including on employment and job markets, political awareness and activism, mobility and EU accession. It was commissioned under the framework of the global EU-funded, UNDP-implemented project on „Building and Consolidating Capacities for Conflict Prevention“.

What we do

UNDP is the UN's global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. We are on the ground in some 170 countries and territories, working with them on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they draw on the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners.