Government

Good governance

Good governance is about the capacity of governments to ensure safety and security for their people, to be able to get things done, to give people the chance to be heard and to respond to what they want. It's about creating a climate in which people - local and from abroad - will want to invest their money and get the economy going, creating jobs and opportunity for a better life. It’s about ensuring the rule of law and effective policing.

Good governance is not just about government. It is also about political parties, parliament, the judiciary, the media, and civil society. It is about how citizens, leaders and public institutions relate to each other in order to make change happen. Elections and democracy are an important part of the equation, but equally important is the way government goes about the business of governing. Unless governance improves, poor people will continue to suffer from a lack of security, public services and economic opportunities.

Good governance is based on three things - capability, responsiveness, and accountability.

All governments need to be capable - to be able to get things done. Does government have the money, the will and the capacity to build wells, provide health services to villagers, offer good education to children and raise taxes to do all these things? When these are absent, countries and their people suffer.

Governments must respond to the aspirations of their citizens through some kind of representative government, and that includes respecting the civil and political rights of their people.

Governments must also be accountable. This means having to explain what you are doing, and answer questions on what you have done. It applies to public officials, to ministers and to governments.

What DFID is doing

DFID uses a ‘quality of governance’ assessment to monitor governance and our partners’ commitment to fighting poverty. It is based on discussions with partner governments, civil society and other international partners.

We use this assessment of ‘quality of governance’, as well as commitment to the three principles – reducing poverty; upholding human rights and international obligations; and improving public financial management, promoting good governance and transparency, and fighting corruption – to make choices about the way in which we give UK aid.

We work in partner countries to help improve the capability of state institutions and strengthen accountability to the poor. For example:

• Improving tax agencies and systems. In Zambia and Mozambique UK technical assistance and funding has helped raise revenue rates significantly. In Uganda, reforms led to a 35% rise in tax revenues. These taxes are helping to fund poverty reduction programmes.
• Improving how public finances are managed. In places like Tanzania, Ghana, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Vietnam, the UK is helping improve spending procedures, accounting and auditing. These changes help ensure money is spent for its intended purposes.
• Helping education, health and other ministries to recruit more staff, improve training, and use planning and monitoring to improve the way services are managed.
• Linking institutions between countries to share lessons and skills. UK organisations such as the police service and National Audit Office are working with sister organisations in poor countries. Exchanges between tax agencies within Africa are another example.

Links

• Governance, Development and Democratic Politics (616kb)
• Informal local governance in rural South Asia
• An Overview of Elections and Democracy from IDS Knowledge Services
• DFID Governance Research from IDS Knowledge Services