Governance for the future: democracy and development in the Least Developed Countries

A reference document on governance in Least Developed Countries (LDCs)

By: United Nations Development Programme; UN Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and the Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS)

Published by: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) , 2006

Via: Eldis

This report addresses the relevance of democratic governance for poverty reduction and the achievement of development goals in the most vulnerable of all the world's countries, the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). It includes country profiles for the 50 LDCs with extensive economic, social, and governance indicators. The report aims to first and foremost, serve as a comprehensive reference document for LDCs, but ultimately hopes to be useful for all developing countries and their partners. The report acknowledges that no single model of democratic governance may be suitable for all LDCs. However, it puts forward three central messages:

• effective governance is essential if countries are to sustain progress over the long term, and that it takes the combination of good governance and equitably distributed economic growth to engender human development


• issues of governance are part of the life of all societies. Development is intrinsically linked to individual and institutional capacities and their mutual interaction; and how a society is organised for productive and social change defines the governance system and how it functions


• the state bears primary responsibility for improving its governance system, along with its development responsibilities, and good governance begins with political will and decision-making at the national level, which confers enormous power on state actors to enhance their own governance systems.

The report also tackles the question of corruption, widely considered to be a primary impediment to development, and argues that strong political leadership is instrumental to fighting corruption. Also, there is an overarching need for capacity support efforts by development partners, and other non-state actors to bring about lasting change, taking into account the importance of local leadership, local knowledge, and local institutions.(http://www.undp.org/governance/docs/Policy-Pub-LDCReport.pdf)