Water, pouring from the sky. Who knew Uzbekistan had a monsoon season?

We are in the midst of the most astonishing rainstorm. Thunder that is setting off car alarms all over the neighborhood, and enough rain to flood the streets and cause physical pain if you walk out in it. A rainstorm, in a desert country in July. It’s amazing.

“Worldwide, only 14% of parliament members are women. Time will tell if that is a good or bad thing.”

I spent this morning at the presentation of the Human Development report. The report, produced by UNDP, ranks all the countries of the word according to the opportunities they offer their citizens. You can find it online at hdr.undp.org. In case you were wondering, the top five countries are Norway, Sweden, Canada, Belgium and Australia.

This year’s HDR had tables that showed whether a country had advanced or fallen in the last ten years. Independence has not been kind to the countries of the former Soviet Union. Every single one has fallen in the rankings, even Russia. Moldova was hit the hardest – it has fallen 30 rankings since 1990. That surprised me. Well, Moldova didn’t surprise me – everyone knows it’s a depressing hellhole. But I am surprised the other countries fell, too.

The Human Development Report is a good thing. It looks at more than just GDP per capita or economics – it includes data intended to look at issues of freedom and human dignity. It recognizes that life is more than money. There all kinds of interesting things buried in the HDR data. Japan, for example, is way up in terms of income and life expectancy, but has a measure of female empowerment comparable to Latin America, Latvia and the Philippines.

After UNDP presented the Human Development rRport, a member of the Uzbek parliament had time to add his opinions of the report. My favorite quote from his speech was an earnest plea that government should implement civil society. My second favorite heads this section.

Mike went with me to the HDR presentation. I was hoping to introduce him to some useful people. That was a complete failure, but Mike swore that the presentation was worth it, so I guess I won’t complain. It’s nice to see Mike on a regular basis again, to have someone who calls just to talk.

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USAID is one of many donors for the project I work for. The views expressed herein are the author’s own views and do not necessarily reflect those of the author’s employer or especially those of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government. And I mean it. I probably give the US government heart attacks.