‘Good Governance gives societies sound structures for economic and social development’

Kofi Anan, inauguration speech as UN Secretary-General, July 1997

What is ‘good governance’, and why do we want to establish it?
Good governance is a difficult concept to capture. There is no general excepted definition of good governance. Important international players such as the UN, European Union, World Bank, and the Dutch Government have formulated views on ‘good governance’. White papers have been written and good governance principles have been defined. The principles defined by the European Union are strongly related to the ones indicated by the UN, The World Bank and IMF. These five principles; openness, participation, accountability, effectiveness and coherence are each of great importance to establish democratic governance.
Furthermore, there exists a ‘universal’ vision that the quality of public governance has a fundamental influence on the quality of life of civilians. Good governance is the basis for sustainable and strong democracies; governments create the conditions in which governmental institutions, markets, private enterprises and civil society organisations function. The value of good governance and its positive effect on development is generally accepted. Hence the UN, World Bank, European Union and the Dutch Government devote substantial attention to good governance within their programmes and projects.

Good enough governance
There are miscellaneous bottlenecks that hamper good governance:

1. Culture/history
2. Nepotism and corruption
3. Lack of investments in key sectors such as education,
   healthcare, and agriculture
4. International interests in raw materials such as oil
5. Constant conflicts with neighbour countries
6. Position of army, police, customs and general court

The concept of good governance is difficult to quantify. It is difficult to measure by means of objective indicators. Also, there is no blueprint on how to implement good governance. The current existing (quantitative) analysis should incorporate the qualitative and political effects of good governance. One thing is certain; one cannot implement good governance in a day. It is a process of change on all levels of governments and requires long-term commitment.
The UN concludes that good governance is an ’ideal state’ and currently reached by only a handful of countries in the world. Therefore, more often one works towards 'Good enough governance'.

Good governance and BMC
BMC’ mission is to contribute to the quality of the public sector. Civilians, civil servants, politicians, care providers, clients, teachers, students, they all give face to the public value. BMC advises (local) governments, civil society organisations, educational institutions, and other public organisations keeping in mind public interests.

BMC’ significance within the Dutch public sector has strongly increased since the creation of its BBI, a Policy and Management control Instrument (PMI). PMI realizes an effective steering on political, administrative, management and executing level. This instrument consists of elements assisting good governance. These elements are (amongst others); keeping in mind the effects on society, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and accountability. 
Besides, BMC has significant expertise in areas such as budgeting, decentralisation, participation, HRM development, training and coaching of managers and politicians, to minimise the above-mentioned bottlenecks. In short: good governance is part of the hard core business of BMC. BMC has gained its expertise in the Netherlands as well as on international projects in Serbia, Croatia, Turkey, Poland, Hungary, etc.

BMC is currently working on a ‘good governance benchmark’. This benchmark analysis and describes the factors that indicate the level of good governance within weak democracies. After determining these factors, BMC formulates a programme to build capacity

For more information on good governance and the Good Governance Benchmark, please contact LeoPlatvoet@bmc.nl