By Aditi Ranjan (Lal)
The concept of “governance” is not new. It is as old as human civilization. Simply put “governance” means: the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented (or not implemented). Governance can be used in several perspectives such as corporate governance, international governance, national governance and local governance. Since Governance is the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented, an analysis of governance focuses on the formal and informal factors involved in decision-making and implementing the decisions made and the formal and informal structures that have been set in place to arrive at and implement the decision.
Governance can be taken as a process by which a management guides an institution in the fulfilment of its mission and protects its assets over the course of time. Fundamental to good governance is the ability of individual managers to work with each other to accomplish an effective balance between strategic and operational responsibilities of the organization and elicit the best performance of individuals. The challenge for those in governance positions, therefore, is to employ the perpective and experience of management to maximize their overall contribution to performance. The saying ‘uneasy was the mind which wears the crown’ is applicable to all the managers whether pertaining to big or small organization. Those who are at the helm of affairs are expected to challenge the system (small or big), find the alternatives, select the best solution and implement that solution in the interest of organisation whether big (National Government/State Government/Big Companies) or small.
The challenge for all societies is to create a system of governance that promotes, supports and sustains human development — especially for the poorest of poor. But the search for a clearly defined concept of governance has just begun. Governance can be seen as the exercise of economic, political and administrative authority to manage a country’s affairs at all its levels. It comprises the mechanisms, processes and institutions, through which citizens and groups communicate their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their requirements and mediate their differences.
Recently the terms “governance” and “good governance” are being increasingly used in development prose. Bad governance is being increasingly regarded as one of the root causes of all evil within our societies. Major donors and international financial institutions are increasingly providing their aid and loans on the condition that reforms ensuring “good governance” are undertaken. Good governance has eight major constituents such as ‘accountable’, ‘transparent’, ‘participatory’, ‘consensus oriented’, ‘responsive’, ‘effective and efficient’, ‘equitable and inclusive’, and the ‘rule of law’. It assures that corruption is checked, the views of minorities are taken into account and that the voices of the most vulnerable ones in society are the guiding factors in decision-making. It is formulated according to the variable needs of society. Accountability is a key prerequisite of good governance. Not only governmental institutions but also the private sector and civil society organizations must be accountable to the public and to their institutional stakeholders.
Transparency means that decisions taken and their enforcement are done in a manner that follows rules and regulations. It also means that information is freely available and directly accessible to those who will be affected by such decisions and their enforcement. It also means that enough information is provided and that it is provided in easily understandable forms and media in practice, though, it may sometimes be necessary to place limits on the principle of transparency. In doing so, it may be helpful to distinguish information as a commodity from information as a process. For example, intellectual property rights may need to be protected in order to encourage innovation and invention; but decision making on the establishment of intellectual property and rights thereto (i.e. to whom they are granted and why) should be transparent.
The principle of participation derives from an acceptance that people are at the heart of development. They are not only the ultimate beneficiaries of development, but are also the agents of development.
There are several factors and many view points in a given society. Good governance requires mediation of the different interests in society to reach a broad consensus on what is in the best interest of the whole community and how this can be achieved. It also requires a broad and long-term perspective on what is needed for sustainable human development and how to achieve the goals of such development. This can only result through deeper understanding of the historical, cultural and social contexts of a given society or community it’s aiming to serve.
Good governance requires institutions and processes that serve all stakeholders within a reasonable pre-defined time-frame. Just as processes and institutions do, good governance produces results that meet the needs of society while making the best use of resources at their disposal. The concept of efficiency in the context of good governance also covers the sustainable use of natural resources and the protection of the environment.
All men and women have equal opportunities to improve or maintain their well-being. A society’s well being depends on ensuring that all its members feel they have a stake in it and do not feel the sense of being excluded from the mainstream of society.
Legal frameworks should be fair and enforced impartially, particularly the laws on human rights. Good governance requires fair legal frameworks that are enforced impartially. In this context it is imperative to look upon the governance of NGOs also as they have important role to play in the arena of civil society.
The forces of globalization and (re) emergence of civil society, among others, have brought about a phenomenon where Governments, albeit grudgingly, have started accepting the role of non-governmental organizations in the governance of society. Having realized that Government alone cannot cope up with today’s increasingly complex socio-economic challenge, Government around the world has embraced various types of NGOs as policy partners in many public policy areas. Increased prominence and greater influence expose NGOs to increased demand for governance from a wide variety of stakeholders: donors, beneficiaries, staffs, and partners among others, to effectively undertake tasks that were once considered an exclusive domain of the state.
At all levels of development, a flourishing NGO community (San fraudulent) essential to effective and efficient civil society. In the poorest countries, individuals pool their labour and modest financial resources to sustain more complex economic activities. In more developed countries, the organizational structures of NGOs become more formal, and participation broadens and deepens. Associations of NGOs may even be formed. Frequently, people working together for their economic interests will also seek out the support of Government.
The NGO community need to perform following functions: encourage official aid agencies and Government Ministries to adopt successful approaches developed in the NGO community; serve as a conduit for new technology and practices; educate the public as to their rights and entitlements under Government programmes; attune official programmes to public needs by acting as a conduit for public opinion and local experience; provide efficient operational collaboration with Government agencies and aid donors; influence development policies of national and international institutions, including support for decentralization and municipal reforms; and help national and local Governments and donors fashion for effective development strategy through strengthening institutions, staff training and improving management capacity.
Thus the NGO community have to rise above their myopic interests and need to embrace the eight guiding principles of good governance and ingrain these in their system. Conceptually, the eight vital constituents of governance specified here tend to be mutually supportive and reinforcing. Interrelated, these core characteristics are mutually reinforcing and cannot stand-alone. For example, accessible information means more transparency, broader participation and more effective decision-making. Broad participation contributes both to the exchange of information needed for effective decision-making and for the legitimacy of those decisions. Legitimacy, in turn, leads to effective implementation and encourages further participation. It is time when good governance is superlative but tricky to achieve. Very few countries and societies have come close in achieving good governance holistically. To ensure sustainable human development, moving towards this superlative state with the aim of making it a reality is extremely precondition in favour of all civil societies.
[TSE]
The concept of “governance” is not new. It is as old as human civilization. Simply put “governance” means: the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented (or not implemented). Governance can be used in several perspectives such as corporate governance, international governance, national governance and local governance. Since Governance is the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented, an analysis of governance focuses on the formal and informal factors involved in decision-making and implementing the decisions made and the formal and informal structures that have been set in place to arrive at and implement the decision.
Governance can be taken as a process by which a management guides an institution in the fulfilment of its mission and protects its assets over the course of time. Fundamental to good governance is the ability of individual managers to work with each other to accomplish an effective balance between strategic and operational responsibilities of the organization and elicit the best performance of individuals. The challenge for those in governance positions, therefore, is to employ the perpective and experience of management to maximize their overall contribution to performance. The saying ‘uneasy was the mind which wears the crown’ is applicable to all the managers whether pertaining to big or small organization. Those who are at the helm of affairs are expected to challenge the system (small or big), find the alternatives, select the best solution and implement that solution in the interest of organisation whether big (National Government/State Government/Big Companies) or small.
The challenge for all societies is to create a system of governance that promotes, supports and sustains human development — especially for the poorest of poor. But the search for a clearly defined concept of governance has just begun. Governance can be seen as the exercise of economic, political and administrative authority to manage a country’s affairs at all its levels. It comprises the mechanisms, processes and institutions, through which citizens and groups communicate their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their requirements and mediate their differences.
Recently the terms “governance” and “good governance” are being increasingly used in development prose. Bad governance is being increasingly regarded as one of the root causes of all evil within our societies. Major donors and international financial institutions are increasingly providing their aid and loans on the condition that reforms ensuring “good governance” are undertaken. Good governance has eight major constituents such as ‘accountable’, ‘transparent’, ‘participatory’, ‘consensus oriented’, ‘responsive’, ‘effective and efficient’, ‘equitable and inclusive’, and the ‘rule of law’. It assures that corruption is checked, the views of minorities are taken into account and that the voices of the most vulnerable ones in society are the guiding factors in decision-making. It is formulated according to the variable needs of society. Accountability is a key prerequisite of good governance. Not only governmental institutions but also the private sector and civil society organizations must be accountable to the public and to their institutional stakeholders.
Transparency means that decisions taken and their enforcement are done in a manner that follows rules and regulations. It also means that information is freely available and directly accessible to those who will be affected by such decisions and their enforcement. It also means that enough information is provided and that it is provided in easily understandable forms and media in practice, though, it may sometimes be necessary to place limits on the principle of transparency. In doing so, it may be helpful to distinguish information as a commodity from information as a process. For example, intellectual property rights may need to be protected in order to encourage innovation and invention; but decision making on the establishment of intellectual property and rights thereto (i.e. to whom they are granted and why) should be transparent.
The principle of participation derives from an acceptance that people are at the heart of development. They are not only the ultimate beneficiaries of development, but are also the agents of development.
There are several factors and many view points in a given society. Good governance requires mediation of the different interests in society to reach a broad consensus on what is in the best interest of the whole community and how this can be achieved. It also requires a broad and long-term perspective on what is needed for sustainable human development and how to achieve the goals of such development. This can only result through deeper understanding of the historical, cultural and social contexts of a given society or community it’s aiming to serve.
Good governance requires institutions and processes that serve all stakeholders within a reasonable pre-defined time-frame. Just as processes and institutions do, good governance produces results that meet the needs of society while making the best use of resources at their disposal. The concept of efficiency in the context of good governance also covers the sustainable use of natural resources and the protection of the environment.
All men and women have equal opportunities to improve or maintain their well-being. A society’s well being depends on ensuring that all its members feel they have a stake in it and do not feel the sense of being excluded from the mainstream of society.
Legal frameworks should be fair and enforced impartially, particularly the laws on human rights. Good governance requires fair legal frameworks that are enforced impartially. In this context it is imperative to look upon the governance of NGOs also as they have important role to play in the arena of civil society.
The forces of globalization and (re) emergence of civil society, among others, have brought about a phenomenon where Governments, albeit grudgingly, have started accepting the role of non-governmental organizations in the governance of society. Having realized that Government alone cannot cope up with today’s increasingly complex socio-economic challenge, Government around the world has embraced various types of NGOs as policy partners in many public policy areas. Increased prominence and greater influence expose NGOs to increased demand for governance from a wide variety of stakeholders: donors, beneficiaries, staffs, and partners among others, to effectively undertake tasks that were once considered an exclusive domain of the state.
At all levels of development, a flourishing NGO community (San fraudulent) essential to effective and efficient civil society. In the poorest countries, individuals pool their labour and modest financial resources to sustain more complex economic activities. In more developed countries, the organizational structures of NGOs become more formal, and participation broadens and deepens. Associations of NGOs may even be formed. Frequently, people working together for their economic interests will also seek out the support of Government.
The NGO community need to perform following functions: encourage official aid agencies and Government Ministries to adopt successful approaches developed in the NGO community; serve as a conduit for new technology and practices; educate the public as to their rights and entitlements under Government programmes; attune official programmes to public needs by acting as a conduit for public opinion and local experience; provide efficient operational collaboration with Government agencies and aid donors; influence development policies of national and international institutions, including support for decentralization and municipal reforms; and help national and local Governments and donors fashion for effective development strategy through strengthening institutions, staff training and improving management capacity.
Thus the NGO community have to rise above their myopic interests and need to embrace the eight guiding principles of good governance and ingrain these in their system. Conceptually, the eight vital constituents of governance specified here tend to be mutually supportive and reinforcing. Interrelated, these core characteristics are mutually reinforcing and cannot stand-alone. For example, accessible information means more transparency, broader participation and more effective decision-making. Broad participation contributes both to the exchange of information needed for effective decision-making and for the legitimacy of those decisions. Legitimacy, in turn, leads to effective implementation and encourages further participation. It is time when good governance is superlative but tricky to achieve. Very few countries and societies have come close in achieving good governance holistically. To ensure sustainable human development, moving towards this superlative state with the aim of making it a reality is extremely precondition in favour of all civil societies.
[TSE]
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