Montenegro

Inauguration of National Human Development Report (NHDR) 2009:
Montenegro – Society for All

13 October 2009

In the presence of representatives of the government, non-governmental sector, academia, international organizations, embassies, unions, employers, etc., the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the President of Montenegro have inaugurated the National Human Development Report (NHDR) 2009: Montenegro – Society for All. To support Montenegro in fighting social exclusion and moving towards EU accession, UNDP Montenegro has prepared a comprehensive analysis on the current situation of social exclusion and poverty trends in terms of challenges, opportunities and responses for addressing social exclusion issues. 

The Report is based on quantitative and qualitative research conducted by Institute for Strategic Studies and Prognoses (ISSP), and inputs from public discussions, experts, and it contains the following data: Social Exclusion Index, Laeken indicators, poverty rates, Human Development Indexes, Quality of Life indicators, inequality measures, etc.. In addition, the Report provides special analyses of the six socially vulnerable groups: long-term unemployed, persons with disabilities, low-income pensioners, social welfare beneficiaries, RAE and displaced persons. The Report offers data, analysis and recommendations that will be used for evidence-based policy development and programming to primarily the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, but also other line Ministries, institutions in charge, civil society organizations and international actors in their efforts to tackle social exclusion.

“The first National Human Development Report 2009, prepared by UNDP, about social exclusion and vulnerable groups, represents an important contribution to the overall efforts that the state and our society are undertaking in order to achieve full social inclusion. We expect that the successful cooperation with UNDP will be continued, through further implementation of projects that refer to inducing entrepreneurship, development of small and medium enterprises in the sectors of tourism, agriculture and wood processing, employing of vulnerable categories of population, as well as projects in domains of information technologies and environmental protection,” said H. E. President Filip Vujanović, President of Montenegro at the inauguration of the Report. President Vujanović’s speech

Ms. Kori Udovički, Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator of UNDP and Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) said that UNDP’s study showed that Montenegro’s human development had made great progress over the past half decade. “However, in and of itself, the overall progress did not lift the poorest and those most vulnerable and at risk of exclusion. It is appropriate, hence, that policymakers in Montenegro are now turning their attention to focused, targeted social policies that can make a great difference to each one of these groups, as well as to the North of the country where poverty and unemployment are deepest, double and triple than the central and southern region, respectively. Now, during the economic crisis, is the time to protect those most vulnerable and to ensure that when the tide turns around again and high economic growth resumes – as I am sure it will – all boats are lifted towards prosperity and human development,” Ms. Udovički concluded. Ms. Udovički’s speech

Presentation of Mr. Andrey Ivanov, Human Development Policy Advisor, UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre: Human development, social inclusion/exclusion and poverty