Human Development and Capabilities

The Capability Approach: Background

The Capability Approach created by Amartya Sen defines capability as the freedom to achieve valuable beings and doings, and suggests that economic development should expand these freedoms. The Capability Approach has provided the intellectual foundation for new advances in areas such as human development, democratic participation, and culture. It has also spawned much research in moral philosophy, economics, and related spheres of education, health, and political theory.

The Global Equity Initiative is a major participant in an emerging global network of scholars working on the human capability approach, examining its policy insights, strengthening its purchase within economics, and encouraging broad based capability research and practice.

The human capability research at the Global Equity Initiative also focuses on income inequality, human agency, education deprivation, and health challenges.

Global Partners & Collaborators

Please visit the websites of these organizations and institutions at the forefront of the Human Development & Capabilities Approach

• The Human Development and Capability Association
  
  
• The Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford University

Capabilities at GEI

The Human Development & Capability program at GEI was begun by Sabina Alkire and is currently directed by John Hammock.

• Training on the Capability Approach - Along with collaborating institutions, the GEI at Harvard facilitates training sessions for individuals interested in learning more about this emergent academic field.
  
  
• Measuring Individual Agency & Empowerment - This page provides extensive information on Sabina Alkire's recent research project on measuring individual agency in multiple domains. Several extensive research papers are linked from here, along with background information on the study and the various researchers on the project.
  
  
• The Human Development and Capability Association - The HDCA promotes research on the capability approach and related fields and provides a clearinghouse for scholars, students, economists, social scientists, and others focused on this topic.