The Arab Human Development Report 2022 focuses on post-COVID recovery assessing long standing development challenges across the spheres of governance society and economy—tackling aspects of gender; youth; education and health; multi-dimensional poverty; impacts on economic sectors MSMEs and labour markets; displacement and migration; and nature and climate change challenges—to put the region on a resilient and sustainable human development path. The report also assesses adequacy and efficacy of response policies especially where the pandemic has led to widening inequalities and exacerbated existing challenges in such areas as public service provision including social protection care education healthcare and vaccine rollout. The report provides concrete recommendations on how to guide a resilient sustainable equitable and inclusive recovery. It calls on Arab States to act quickly decisively and at scale to assess evaluate and strengthen capabilities and capacities and build effective and trustworthy institutional structures that can support a new social contract to better help societies cope with future shocks and disasters.

Like the first Arab Human Development Report this fifth volume in the series undertakes a broad diagnostic of the state of development in Arab countries this time through the lens of human security. Adopting a more differentiated approach to the particular contours of sub-regions it shows that the concept of human security offers a relevant framework for refocusing the social contract in the Arab countries on neglected priorities. The Report analyzes interdependent threats and downturns that undermine the safety and development prospects of individuals and states alike and indicates policy orientations that Arab governments civil society citizens and international actors could adopt in response.

The Arab Human Development Report Series aims at building human development in the Arab world. The 2003 report surveys the most salient trends that influenced the process of human development in 2002-2003 and provides a thorough analysis of one of the major challenges the Region faces: its growing knowledge gap. The Report evaluates the current production of knowledge examines the sociological context of knowledge acquisition and highlights the landmarks necessary to establish a knowledge-based society in the Arab countries.