EuropaWorld 23/2/2001 Dr. Richard Jolly

Dr. Richard Jolly graduated from Cambridge in 1956 going on to complete a doctorate at Yale University in the United States. His speciality was economics. Despite his accomplishments in this field however, it is not for his contribution to economics that he has received most acclaim. Indeed, quite the opposite. Dr. Jolly has been a passionate pioneer in shifting the concept of development away from a purely economic focus to a more people-centred approach. As Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the United Nations Development Fund, recently commented, "Nobody has done more to help promote the concept of human development, and provoke thoughtful discussion and debate about how best to achieve it, than Dr. Richard Jolly."

Richard Jolly established his career in development in the 1970s, with the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Sussex, England - an Institute he was to head for nine years. In 1978, on secondment from IDS, he acted as Special Consultant on North-South issues to the Secretary-General of the OECD. He also had his first experiences of working within the UN system, as a Member and Reporter of the UN Committee on Development Planning. During this time, Dr. Jolly and his colleagues began to offer systematic critiques of existing structural adjustment and development policies, which were centred only on economic models. This work continued when Dr. Jolly was appointed as Deputy Executive Director for Programmes at the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in 1981.

At the same time as overseeing UNICEF operations in more than 120 countries, Dr. Jolly spearheaded efforts to direct attention to the needs of children, women and the poor in the making of economic adjustment policies. His groundbreaking study, 'Adjustment with a Human Face' introduced development parameters which extended beyond economic growth. By focusing on the related issues of social progress and human rights, the report presented a new concept of how to measure and evaluate development.

Recognising that development does not happen without resources, Dr. Jolly was also active in promoting practical strategies to ensure that such resources became available. Most notably, he championed the 20/20 Initiative, which calls for developing and donor countries to devote 20 per cent of government budgets and 20 per cent of aid allocations, respectively, to basic social services. These efforts were rewarded when the Initiative was endorsed by the international community at the 1995 World Summit for Social Development

Such dynamic contributions to the world's development did not go unnoticed. After serving for 14 years with UNICEF, Dr. Jolly was appointed Special Adviser to the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme where he became the architect of the widely-acclaimed Human Development Report, arguably the pinnacle of a notable career. The report presents a comprehensive framework for the analysis of development which stretches far beyond economic indicators. By focusing on the issues of empowerment, participation, equity, sustainability and human rights, the report provides the definitive alternative to the traditional focus on economic growth as an end in itself.

Earlier this year, Dr. Richard Jolly was recognised in the UK New Year's Honours List for his outstanding contribution to international development. He received the award of Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (KCMG) in recognition of his commitment to the rights of women, children and the poor and his work towards achieving a more inclusive and integrated world.

Dr. Jolly retired from UNDP last year and now serves as Co-Director of the UN Intellectual History Project at the City University of New York. The project is preparing a 12-volume history of the economic and social contributions of the UN, the first in-depth examination of this key aspect of the UN's work. The Project's first volume, an overview entitled Ahead of the Curve, will be published this spring.