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Good governance

Areas of work: Promoting good governance in German development cooperation

Young family with child in Ecuador. Copyright: Photothek.netPromoting good governance means supporting partner countries in creating stable political conditions for social, environmental and free-market development, and encouraging the state's responsible use of political power and public resources. The aim is to enable state actors and institutions to shape policies which are pro-poor, sustainable and aligned with the Millennium Development Goals.

Through Financial and Technical Cooperation Germany helps its partner countries implement reforms in areas such as decentralisation, local development, establishing effective institutions in the public sector and tackling corruption. Germany is able to contribute its own experience of change processes and political reform.

Germany has agreed with 32 partner countries – around half of Germany's partner countries – to make "Democracy, civil society and governance" a priority area of cooperation. It is thus the second most frequent priority area of bilateral cooperation. In this area Germany works with government institutions such as ministries, parliaments, ombudsman services, anti-corruption authorities and associations of local authorities as well as directly with civil society organisations. The promotion of good governance is also a key theme of work in other sectors.

In the context of multilateral cooperation, Germany also strives to promote good governance. Germany finances around a one-quarter share of the European Union budget for the policy area of democracy and human rights, and supports global initiatives such as the Democratic Governance Thematic Trust Fund (DGTTF) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). At regional level Germany supports such initiatives as the African governments' New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).

Context-adapted strategies

There are no blueprints for promoting good governance. The sociocultural, historical, political and economic situation and the needs of partner countries must be taken into account, and their capacities developed to enable them to solve their own problems more successfully.

In countries with poor governance Germany uses its development instruments in such a way that existing power structures are not legitimised and consolidated. Good governance cannot be imposed from outside. In order to support political reform processes, cooperation with civil society organisations is therefore indispensable.

For each partner country the most effective combination of continuous dialogue, support and incentives must always be found and fine-tuned. Taking local realities as the starting point, the country's own responsibility for good governance must be reinforced, and governance must be considered as a key theme in all sectors.

For further information on this theme, see also the following topics:

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