International centre for human development to come up in Shimla

Centre to focus on adaptation of good practices to local context

An international centre for human development analysis and approaches will be set up at the Indian Institute of Advance Study (IIAS) in Shimla under of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Human Resource Development Ministry (HRD) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) here, on Wednesday.

The MoU was signed by UNDP resident representative Lise Grande and  IIAS director Peter Ronald deSouza in the presence of Union Minister Kapil Sibal and institute’s chairman Gopal Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and former governor of West Bengal.

“We are delighted to be partnering with the UNDP in launching the international centre for Human Development which will provide valuable support to efforts of national governments in the South (developing countries) to collectively share, learn and realise the objectives of human development,” Sibal said.

The centre will provide policy advisory services based on national and international evidences to ensure that human development concerns become integral to planning process and policy making. The centre will focus on moving from human development analysis to action and on adaptation of goo­d practices to local context, besides providing a range of capacity development tools and services with special emphasis on monitoring and evaluation of human development processes and outcomes.