Geo Core 5: Human Dev and Diversity

Development Indicators - HDI

0 (worst) - 1 (best)

• Composite indicator

1. Life expectancy (HEALTH) → indirectly suggests healthcare/diet

2. GNI per capita PPP (WEALTH)

3. Number of Years of Schooling (EDUCATION)

4. Literacy Rate (EDUCATION)

TOP 3:

1. Iceland 0.972

2. Switzerland 0.970

3. Norway 0.970
   

BOTTOM 3:

1. South Sudan 0.388 (world’s newest country)

2. Somalia 0.404

3. Central African Republic 0.414

PROS

• Multiple variables (holistic)

• Can be compared - quantitative number 

• PPP → allows GDP comparison across countries

CONS

• Data may be unreliable/unavail from LICs

• Doesn’t measure disparities within countries

• Doesn’t consider environmental

Development Indicators - HPI

0 (worst) - 100 (best)

• Composite indicator

1. Wellbeing

2. Life expectancy

3. Inequality

4. Ecofootprint

TOP 3:

1. Vanuatu 57.9

2. Sweden 55.9

3. El Salvador 54.7 

BOTTOM 3:

1. Central African Republic 13.7

2. Botswana 14.7

3. Lesotho 15.6

PROS

• Multiple variables (holistic)

• Can be compared - quantitative number 

• Only dev. Indicator looking at environmental impact

CONS

• Wellbeing is VERY subjective

Affirmative Action - Rwanda Female Empowerment

1994 genocide left 70% of population as female

EDUCATION

• 2000 EFA (Education Free For All) policy means required education, targeting to send girls to school as well

• 2022 equal girls and boys enrolment rate - 98%

LABOUR

• Microfinance lessons ($100-1000) for women to start up businesses

• 48% workforce is women

POWER

• 2003 constitutional gender quota - 30% women in parliament seats REQUIRED

• 2008 - 64% women - first country in world to have majority female parliament

CHALLENGES

• Rural urban divide → 70% pop. in rural → limited education

Affirmative Action - NZ Maori

• Makes up 17.4% of NZ pop.

• Historically, colonisation led to cultural marginalisation, land dispossession

LAND POSSESSION

• 1995 Office of Treaty Settlements - reimburses for settlements, totalling to $1.3 bil  → included cash, returning of land, land mgmt rights

• 14,000 hectares of land returned

EDUCATION

• 10,000 scholarships awarded annually for Maori students

• 10% uni spots reserved for Maori (in competitive programmes)

EMPLOYMENT QUOTAS

2020 Public Service Act - 17% Maori employees

2025 - only reached 16%

CHALLENGES

• Economic disparity between rural and urban, rural often has higher (20%) poverty rates than avg. national (10%)

Social Enterprises (Microfinancing) - KIVA

: approach to develop, fund, and implement solutions to existing global issues

• Allows people to lend money via the internet

• 70 countries

• $1.27 bil in loans funded

• Money is then REPAID and can be REINVESTED (96.9% repayment rate)

PROJECTS

1. Env. Resilience 

Solar Sisters - Tanzania 

• Aims to bring clean affordable energy

• Wants $200,000 to sell solar powered products

• Aids productivity (providing electricity for people to access the internet) and development (can earn money, invest in community, reduce poverty)

• Allowed group to develop, now employing over 6,000 people 

2. Agriculture

Woman in Vietnam

• Asking for $1,550 to buy organic fertilisers for crop growth

• Wants to sell more crops for stable income and send children to school - breaks cycle of deprivation

ISSUES

• Disparity - KIVA accessed through internet, people who don’t have access in LICs cannot use this directly

• Long term sustainability: borrowers may struggle to sustain business without support from lenders

Social Enterprise (ATN) - FairTrade

• Aims to improve living and working conditions for farmers

• Rebalance distribution of profit by setting a consistent minimum wage for farmers

• Over 30,000 FairTrade products (chocolate, coffee, bananas)

• 1.5 mil workers worldwide

• FairTrade products sold in 125 countries

MINIMUM WAGE:

• Allows for a stable income

• Can send kids to school

• Premium is invested into community (eg. healthcare, education, improving sanitation) to aid development and break the cycle of deprivation

SIRET TEA COMPANY

• Based in Kenya, been with FairTrade since 2007

• Small scale tea farm

• After working with FairTrade, farmers now own 12.8% of company shares

• Ensures a healthy labour force

• AFFIRMATIVE ACTION - TEACHING WOMEN TO KNOW THEIR RIGHTS

Corporate Social Responsibility - The Body Shop

• UK based skincare/beauty products 

• Started in 1976

• Big focus on female empowerment 

COMMUNITY FAIRTRADE PROGRAMME

• Their version of fairtrade, launched in 1987

• Ensures constant wages (stable income)

• Working with women led cooperatives, prioritising female empowerment, like their shea butter suppliers run by a Ghana based female company

• Reinvests profit into local communities 

GENDER EQUALITY

• Over 60% of suppliers from women led groups

• 2019 ‘Dream Big’ campaign - 18 month programme to give girls in LICs education to start up businesses 

  • Worked with 1500 girls

OUTCOMES

• Reduced UK branch’s gender pay gap to 1.5%

• 60% female beneficiaries

Cultural Diaspora - Chinese in US

• Over 5 mil Chinese people in the US, 3rd biggest immigrant pop.

• Moved for better QOL, economic and job ops, better education

• first wave in 1850 for mining, current for job ops and better QOL

PRESERVING CULTURE

• Chinatown: goods, food, culture, celebration of festivals - over 50 chinatowns in US - NYC, San Francisco, Chicago

• Martial Arts: spread of traditional activities and hobbies

• Language: Saturday School to ensure language is preserved with younger generation

• Media/Entertainment: Chinese TV stations, growing popularity of Chinese movies

EFFECTS

• Multiculturalism

• Widening cultural diversity (cultural integration, sharing of traditions and beliefs)

• Preservation of culture for younger generations 

LOCAL IMPACTS

Economic:

• Drive local economic development

• Contribute $300bil to US GDP in 2019 via consumer spending

Social:

• Mandarin learning has surged in US by 216% on Duolingo in 2025

GLOBAL IMPACTS

Economic: Immigrants hold 25% of new Silicon Valley startups, highlighting how Chinese population contributes to the global economy

Cultural: global spread of Chinese practices like Chinese medicine adopted in 183 countries

Cultural Imperialism - Disney

• Established in the US in 1923

• (re)telling of stories, promoting a homogenised worldview and promoting Americanisation

• Representation of global cultures through an American lens → unrealistic portrayal - soft power

• Movies are then dubbed in different (or original) languages of the culture, making it seem more credible as if it were created by that culture, when they are in fact Americanised versions (Tarzan movie)
  

Inaccurate portrayals of culture:

• Chinese culture in Aristocats

• Native Americans (and use of derogatory/racist terms) in Peter Pan

Disney’s response:

• As a response to this, Disney has now put a disclaimer at the start of their movies warning about inaccurate portrayals and description

HOWEVER, they continue to make money off these films

Homogenisation and Built Landscape - HK

• Known as ‘Asia’s World City’

• Built landscape (espc financescape), developed by globalisation and rapid urbanisation is becoming homogenised, leading to increasingly uniform urban forms

• HK as a cross between traditional Chinese and British colonial architecture, to a switch to a homogenised CBD skyline/landscape

Eg.

• CBD: developed with many retail/shopping opportunities

• Financescape: HSBC building developed by Norman Foster, that was also the architect for London City Hall and The Gherkin (NYC), showing architectural similarities, HK intl airport also designed by them, looks similar to Beijing, London Stansted

• Transport: MTR and similar underground metro railways

• TNCs such as McDonalds, Starbucks, Disney, making their way into the HK landscape

LOCAL IMPACTS

• Replacing traditional HK/Chinese culture and traditions, building styles → cultural eradication

• Economic pressures/gains from globalisation and pressure for uniformity of buildings 

GLOBAL IMPACTS

• Homogenisation facilitates global trade and globalisation as places become more interconnected - eg Shenzhen HK FTZ easily connected through MTR for one belt one road initative to connect w Africa and Europe

• Americanisation/westernisation

Cultural Hybridity - India

• Under British colonial rule until 1947

• Where Western education fused with local culture/traditions

• Development of IndoSaracenic culture and architecture

LOCAL IMPACTS

• Promotes creativity by adapting global elements into local cultures

• Bollywood - fusing classic Indian culture with Western entertainment, and creating new genres that can appeal to younger generations - valued at $500mil in 2023b

HOWEVER - can lead to eradication of local cultures and risks cultural appropriation, promoting materialism

GLOBAL IMPACTS

• Bollywood reaching 3bil viewers worldwide - spreading of culture and educating/fostering pride in Indian culture

• Celebration of festivals like Diwali to increase appreciation and diversity

Younger generation especially prefers Western content (media), eroding local culture and heritage