Development as Freedom in Practice (full report)

This report details a new methodology for tracking and measuring outcomes that result from economic development investments. Using Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen’s concepts, which he describes in his book Development as Freedom, the methodology is comprised of multidimensional indicators that reflect the access people have to capabilities and freedoms or the barriers they face to living meaningful lives according to their values. Importantly, the methodology is grounded in individuals’ perspectives based on their own experiences. Understanding development through the eyes and insights of community members who are living through it is the only way of truly knowing whether economic development interventions are creating meaningful new opportunities or putting up barriers for community members that economic development interventions are intended to help.