Maseru
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), alongside a couple of Lesotho Ministries, launched the 2025 Human Development Report in Maseru this week. The first ever UNDP HDR was launched in 1990 and this year’s phase is a continuation of the May 6th Brussel.
Themed “A matter of choice: people and possibilities on the age of artificial intelligence”, the report focuses on people and developments around them and how these developments affect them in all aspects of life.
The Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Dr RetselisitsoeMatlanyane, noted at the event that since the inaugural Global Human Development Report of 1990, “Lesotho has released three Human Reports.”
“The reports focus on human security, poverty and food security and the third one focuses on leveraging the power of the youth,” Dr Matlanyane said.
She continued to say in 2024, the country evaluated human progress and identified technology and innovation to provide solutions for the country’s way to development.
The 2024 report, Dr Matlanyane said, provides innovative, ground breaking analysis on a wide range of critical development issues and serves as an advocacy platform for all development stakeholders in national development processes to ensure sustainable development outcomes.
With the launch’s focus pinned on engagement and inclusion on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), speeches and panel discussions were centred onbreaking down how Basotho could be more active in the use of AI.
”The 2025 Global HDR takes a people-centered approach that considers how ideas, knowledge and information are central to human development. The knowledge or information environment is being reshaped by innovative technologies, creating new challenges, opportunities and the societal transformation driven by digitalization, including more powerful and far-reaching AI applications,” Dr Matlanyane continued.
She told the attendees that the 2025 report will therefore use a human rights lens to shed light on tensions that may emerge around preserving freedom of expression or association with a fundamentally reshaped information environment, adding that it will also examine the implications of lack of diversity in the data used in AI algorithms.
Hnourable Nthati Moorosi, the Minister Information, Communication,Science, Technology, and Innovation (MICSTI), admired the 2025 report for being a reminder that human development is fundamentally about enabling people to live a life of value.
“In a world increasingly shaped by AI, the freedom to choose comes not only as a core component for development but also as a pathway to advancing it,” Moorosi said, expressing her appreciation towards the convenience of the report which she said came at a time when AI usage is rising rapidly globally, reshaping societies and the whole world.
The Minister quoted part of the report, revealing that it says “one in every five people in the world are ready to use AI”. She said it further states that two thirds of lower developed countries expect to use AI in education, health or work within the next year.
“For us as the government of Lesotho, our call is to ensure that we get the climate ready for all citizens to access internet and services provided by it,” she asserted, indicating that the proper way to go about this is bridging electricity and internet gaps in communities to urgently give Basotho a chance at an advanced way of doing things.
“But access alone is not enough, the real divide will be in how effectively AI compliments what people do.” She said.
Honourable Moorosi said the report has brought to light two sobering realities; slow progress in human development and the ever expanding inequality gap between rich and poor countries. However, she noted that the report suggest ways in which countries can take to come into play to revert these challenges.
“It brings hope as it proposes four key actions among which we must built an economy where people collaborate with AI rather than compete against it and shift from technology-driven to people-centered approaches in AI development,” she remarked.
The report also advices countries and individuals to harness AI to accelerate Science and Innovation, not by replacing creativity but by improving it. Honourable Moorosi therefore encouraged responsible stakeholders to “modernise education and health systems to equip people with capabilities to thrive in an AI driven world.”
The MICSTI has led the development of AI policy supported by the UNDP and other collaborating partners. In the governance policy, talent development and infrastructure are said to be emphasized while also addressing risks such as bias, data privacy, ethics and job displacement. But to manage the risks, the ministry has adopted a decentralized market driven approach to AI regulation.
The 2025 Human Development Report lays foundation for building a human institutional and regulatory capacity needed to ensure AI empowers individuals, strengthens communities and drive sustainable progress. It includes a logical framework and implementation plan that will guide Lesotho until 2030 when it will be refreshed to remain relevant.”
