DDPA, a comprehensive assessment tool for development projects

3.7.5. Human Development Index

Since the United Nations introduced the Human Development Index (HDI) in 1990 as the reference to measure development across countries, which is published annually in the Human Development Report (HDR) it has frequently been criticized. Earlier attempts to measure development had even only taken into account the GDP as the decisive factor.

Paying attention to the multidimensionality of human development, the HDI is based on three socio-economic indicators, reflecting three main aspects of development: life expectancy at birth, literacy rate and standard of living (Despotis 2004).

3.8. DDPA, a comprehensive assessment tool for development projects

The above presented instruments for measuring rural development might be useful to indicate the development as a whole, however, when assessing a specific project a slightly different route must be taken. A model assessing the impact of a specific project on development of a limited community of people needs a quite different setup. The model to be developed in this paper does not follow the purpose of representing a generally applicable measuring instrument for development, but rather to assess the impact of a

specific project, in this respect, a rural electrification project on the development of the local community. It has to be assessed what impact a project can have and only this. All other factors that have contributed to development in the same period of time must be counted out. Furthermore, development is not compared across communities or regions in general. A comparison can only be made, when the same or a similar project is involved in two or more communities. However, the model can be adapted flexibly to different projects.

In order to measure development certain factors are identified, which can be influenced by the project. These factors are evaluated starting before the implementation of the project and again after a certain time period, e.g. annually. In order to being able to assess the project, a clear correlation between the electrification and the change must be proven. When implementing a rural electrification project it firstly must be assessed who are the beneficiaries and secondly the degree of benefits must be measured. Furthermore, one has to analyze whether any negative impacts have occurred. In order to assure an objective analysis 25 criteria have been developed in order to measure the impact of the electrification project. In detail the evaluation method tries to get a grasp of the outcomes of the project. It is assessed who are the main beneficiaries of the electrification, what the electricity supplied is used for, and the specific benefits the people get from the electrification.

These criteria are categorized in six fields, namely economy, social well-being, health, education, environment, and freedom and try to cover all possible positive as well as negative impacts of electrification on development of a rural community as mentioned above. All the criteria are connected to specific questions, giving the detail of the evaluation; a key question, a specific sub question and a quantification. Analysis of the outcomes is made on a qualitative level and wherever quantification is possible, also quantitatively. Please see Table 1 for the evaluation matrix containing all criteria.

Table 1: DDPA Project Evaluation Matrix

POSITIVE IMPACTS

Evaluation Criteria

Key Question Specific Sub Question Data Collection Methods/Tools

Data Source Method for Data Analyisis linked to the project been created?

Which kind of jobs? How many? How many?

Have new workplaces indirectly linked to the project been created?

Which kind of jobs? How many? How many?

Have new business

opportunities been created?

Which kind of business? How many?

Which turnover?

How many?

Which turnover?

Has the use of electricity led to higher efficiency/productivity of

Social

Has the use of electrical appliances resulted in more time for social activities?

Which appliances?

Has the social divide been reduced through

Which facilities? For how many

patients?

For how many patients?

Has the exposure to hazardous indoor/outdoor pollutants been reduces through the application of modern energy technology?

Which pollutants? Decrease of

pollutants by how much per capita?

Decrease of pollutants by how much per capita?

Has storage of vaccination and medication been facilitated by electrical refrigeration?

Which

medication/vaccination?

Which quantity? Which quantity?

Education Extend the opportunity for a better education

Have schools been supplied with power?

Which schools? For how many

students?

For how many students?

Can students study at night? Which student (income class)

How many? How many?

Has the use of electrical appliances resulted in more time for young people to study

Which appliances? Are there more

enrolments/less dropouts?

Are there more enrolments/less dropouts?

Has the supply of electricity led to the use of educational (information) technology?

Has a reduction in emissions been achieved?

Which emissions? How much? How much?

Has a reduction in use of

Can energy be saved by using more efficient electric appliances?

Which appliances? How much? How much?

Freedom Enhance the freedom of the individuals/com munity

Has a greater level of freedom been achieved for the

Key Question Specific Sub Question Data Collection Methods/Tools

Data Source Method for Data Analyisis

Which health impacts? Number of

affected people?

Number of affected people?

negative impacts on the health of the community

Have any accidents attributable to the project occured?

Which accidents? How many? How many?

Environment Avoid any project related negative impacts on the environment

Have emissions increased? Which emissions? How much? How much?

Has hazardous waste emerged Which hazardous waste?

How much? How much?

Freedom Avoid any unnecessary constraints on the freedom of the individuals

Have any unnecessary dependencies arisen through the project?

Which dependencies? To which extent? To which extent?

Source: Adapted from Kanagawa et Nakata 2008, UNDP 2007, Rahadian 2010, Andria 2010, Tomoyuki 2010