Author: Jamshid Sharipov – 27/01/2024
HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT IS THE MAIN TASK OF THE “UZBEKISTAN – 2030” STRATEGY
Jamshid Sharipov
Head of Department – Development Strategy Centre, Uzbekistan
In today’s world, where science, technology and innovation play a key role in the development of countries, the importance of human capital is becoming more and more evident. In this regard, one of the main ideas of the implementation of the “Uzbekistan-2030” Strategy is the development of human capital, providing for the creation of a system of education, medicine and social protection that fully meets the needs of the people and international standards.
The overview of the implementation of the “Uzbekistan-2030” Strategy over the last year, demonstrate that the government has made significant progress in this direction.
One of the key elements of human capital is education, and here the “Uzbekistan-2030” Strategy focuses on the creation of a modern education system that meets international standards and promotes critical thinking, creative approach and professionalism.
Granting the right to pledge the building as collateral for bank loans and the possibility of organising pre-school education activities in multi-apartment buildings or individual houses for the private sector created on the basis of PPPs had a positive impact on increasing the number of preschool institutions to 33,942 units and increasing the coverage of children aged 3-7 years with preschool education to 74.0 per cent.
An important aspect in the field of education is also the involvement of the private sector in the development of general secondary education, a clear example of which is the offering of 4.79 hectares of land for the construction of non-state general education institutions through the “E-auksion” electronic trade system, which will further contribute to the development of diversity and quality of educational services.
In order to provide comprehensive support and increase the intellectual potential of young people, there has been launched a state service to reimburse the costs of international examinations for young people with high scores (35.6 billion sums have been reimbursed in the past period alone) and about 800 different contests, competitions and games have been organised for young people to spend their free time productively.
In order to train young people in modern knowledge and skills, as well as to create conditions for young people to work comfortably in high-income spheres, the courses of Coursera company (USA) were organised on the https://uzbekcoders.uz platform. As a result, more than 215 thousand young people were covered with the training.
In order to expand the coverage of young people involved in sports, competitions have been organised among young people living in mahallas in 11 sports in five stages, i.e., on the principle of mahalla-sector-district-oblast-republic, as part of the Five Initiatives Olympics.
The approval of a plan of targeted measures for low indicators recorded in the Global Innovation Index, indicates the desire to improve the innovative potential of the country. In the ranking of the Global Innovation Index for 2023, Uzbekistan retained its position at 82nd place among 132 countries.
An important aspect of the “Uzbekistan-2030” Strategy is also the development of the health care system. The health of the nation is the foundation of its prosperity. Investing in medicine, creating modern medical centres and ensuring access to quality medical services contribute to the formation of a healthy and productive society. It also implies the creation of conditions for caring for the physical and psychological well-being of citizens.
Tangible work has been done in the area of health care, in particular to further improve the measures on maternal and child health and disease prevention:
– 8.6 million women (92%) of reproductive age went through medical check-ups, 2.2 million pregnant and lactating women received 308,116 packs of iodine preparations, 5.9 million women under 35 received 636,129 packs of iron preparations and 168,389 packs of folic acid;
– 416,655 children aged 6-23 months in phase 1 and 175,592 children in phase 2, received 53.3 million (packets) of micronutrient powders, 8.4 million children aged 3-15 years received 847,371 packs of iodine preparations, and 6.3 million children aged 2-10 years (99%) were dewormed.
Social justice and diversity also hold a prominent place in the Strategy. Promoting equality, regardless of gender, social status or ethnicity, contributes to formation of a society in which every citizen can fulfil his or her potential.
In order to organize social protection at the mahalla level, provide social services and assistance on the basis of an integrated approach, increase the targeting and effectiveness of social protection, a new system of providing social services and assistance by groups of social workers through the “Inson” social service centres has been introduced in 28 districts (towns) since 15 October 2023.
A unified national interactive platform, Xotinqizlar.uz, has been launched to study women’s problems and provide systemic solutions. This platform provides for the receipt of online appeals on existing problems, forwarding them to the relevant State bodies for resolution and monitoring their implementation, providing online psychological counselling on matters of protection against violence and harassment, assisting in the employment of women, providing assistance with housing repair, housing provision, rental compensation, emergency medical assistance to women with disabilities, etc. At the end of 2023, 490,111 women’s problems have been identified through this platform, of which 472,458 have been resolved.
Thus, the analysis of the implementation of the “Uzbekistan-2030” Strategy shows that the government of the country is taking significant steps in the development of human capital, which is an important factor for sustainable economic and social development of Uzbekistan. This is not only an investment in knowledge and health, but also a strategic investment in the future, where educated, healthy and motivated people will be the driving force of sustainable development of the country in the near future.