Role of social security fund scheme in enhancing the socio-economic development of Rwanda.

2.6 Sustainable Development

Sustainable development is a term widely used by politicians all over the world, even though the notion is still rather new and lacks a uniform interpretation. Important as it is, the concept of sustainable development is still being developed and the definition of the term is constantly being revised, extended, and refined.

According to the classical definition given by the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987, development is sustainable if it «meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.» It is usually understood that this «intergenerational» equity would be impossible to achieve in the absence of present-day social equity, if the economic activities of some groups of people continue to jeopardize the well-being of people belonging to other groups or living in other parts of the world. Imagine, for example, that emissions of greenhouse gases, generated mainly by highly industrialized countries, lead to global warming and flooding of certain low-lying islands--resulting in the displacement and impoverishment of entire island nations «Sustainable» development could probably be otherwise called «equitable and balanced,» meaning that, in order for development to continue indefinitely, it should balance the interests of different groups of people, within the same generation and among generations, and do so simultaneously in three major interrelated areas-economic, social, and environmental. So sustainable development is about equity, defined as equality of opportunities for well-being, as well as about comprehensiveness of objectives.

2.7. Measuring development

Studying development is essentially about measuring how developed (developed: economically, socially, culturally or technologically advanced) one country is compared to other countries, or to the same country in the past. There are many different ways of considering development, but the two most important are economic development and human development.

2.8 Socio-Development indicators

There is no simple, single way to calculate the level of development of a country, region, or people, because countries and economies, cultures and peoples differ so much. Instead geographers use a series of development indicators: Development indicators are factors that are used to compare the development of one region against another. Examples of indicators include GDP, number of doctors per 1000 people, adult literacy, and life expectancy to help them judge a country's level of development (RWANDA STATISTIC, 2006: p.46). For example:

Health

Do all the people in a country have access to medical care? What level of healthcare is available - basic or advanced? Is it free or paid for?

Industry

What is the most common type of industry? A Less Economically Developed Country has low levels of development, based on economic indicators, such as gross domestic product (the country's. The most advanced countries tend to focus more on tertiary industries - services businesses, such as banking and information technology.

Education

With this aspect of development, you want to analyse if all the people in a country have access to education? Is it free? What level of education is available (ie primary education, secondary education or further/higher education)? How many people can read and write? The animation below shows examples of these indicators.