Relevance for Development and Poverty Reduction
SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS IS ONLY POSSIBLE WITH GOOD GOVERNANCE
Cities and municipalities are the places to learn hands-on democracy. Source: KfW Photo Archive / photothek.net
Good projects do not in themselves guarantee development success. In order to have lasting effect, they also need a good political, economic and social environment - a factor that was often overlooked in the past. The focus was solely on the project itself, rather than on the whole political system. Nowadays, we are aware that a politically stable state, free from despotism and corruption, with an efficient administration, the rule of law and democratic decision-making processes, is the essential foundation for lasting improvement in the living conditions in developing countries.
Democratic states are more committed to fighting poverty than an authoritarian regime, because poor people also have the opportunity to express their interests. Furthermore, in a democracy, the public can peacefully vote out a government. After 20 years of multiple military regimes suppressing people and distributing wealth to corrupt factions, this has happened several times of late in South America.
Cities and Municipalities Are the Places to Learn Hands-on Democracy
Good governance also involves decentralisation, i.e. strengthening the local authorities, as cities and local communities are demonstrating democracy in action. In their own community, even people with little education can see what is happening in their environment. They can get involved and have a say, learning in the process how a community is organised and how decisions about building roads, schools or health centres are made. The people experience in a very direct way the workings of a democracy and peaceful conflict resolution.
When individual ethnic groups can make their influence felt at local and regional level, functioning decentralised structures can stabilise even states afflicted by ethnic conflicts - as has happened in Mali, for instance, where decentralisation has prevented the state from breaking apart.
Change in Sub-Saharan Africa
KfW Entwicklungsbank has been promoting development in Africa for decades, and has made good progress in some countries. Nevertheless, war, corruption and inadequate general conditions have undone some of the good work. In Africa more than anywhere else, it is blatantly obvious that supporting good governance is essential to achieving lasting success. The Africans themselves have recognised this fact. Alongside many countries of the former Eastern Bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa has undergone a democratic revolution that no other region of the world can match.
However, this progress has gone largely unnoticed by the general public, who are bombarded instead with images of hunger and war. In many cases, this process of change may not yet be cemented, but it is underway. In light of all this, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) affords very high priority to promoting good governance, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Further Information
Last updated: July 2011
