Kosovo Human Development Report 2010 - UNDP Kosovo - United ...

mechanism for mitigating poverty in
Kosovo.
The poor are geographically concentrated
in rural areas and in a few regions
of Kosovo. Many groups and individuals
living in rural areas are more
excluded in terms of access to health
care and education, as well basic utilities.
36 percent of households reported
that they do not have access to
one such essential service as tap water,
sanitation and electricity.
Members of the minority Roma,
Ashkali and Egyptian (RAE) communities
are more socially and economically
excluded than others. Employment
among these communities, for
instance, is much lower than the average;
just 75 percent of male youth aged
15-24 are unemployed. One quarter of
RAE children does not attend primary
school at all and the picture is worse
with regard to secondary school.
Other groups are also threatened
by exclusion from jobs, education and
health. The unemployment rate for
youth stands at 73 percent. This unemployment
is also marked by gender
disparity. The unemployment rate for
women is 55 percent, while for men it
is 39 percent. The number of students
that are pushed out of school continues
to be high, especially among
girls. Only 10 percent of children with
disabilities are enrolled in school. Pensioners
are often excluded from quality
services as their monthly pensions
are not sufficient to cover the costs of
regular care and essential medicines.
When viewed through the lens of
social inclusion, Kosovo’s reform and
renewal effort requires re-thinking to
prioritize its equity as much as (if not
more than) its speed. This is essential
to develop the potential of the people
of Kosovo – and achieve social inclusion
as it is understood across Europe.
In reframing the human development
process in Kosovo, objective measures
of social exclusion (e.g., disparities in
poverty levels, literacy levels, access to
public services, unemployment etc.)
and subjective measures of exclusion
(e.g., perceptions and opinions on exclusion,
satisfaction with services and
political representation, readiness to
participate in the democratic process)
are equally important as guides towards
future policy recommendations.
The following chapters elaborate how
such a re-framing might be achieved.
SOCIAL INCLUSION AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT - A CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUND
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