Abstract

A critical issue in international development is how donor-funded programs can support sustainable and long-lasting changes in assisted countries. Among the factors associated with sustainability is improved governance. However, many donor-funded initiatives are focused on achieving results in specific sectors, such as health, education, and agriculture. How can how governance interventions contribute to achieving sector-specific results? This brief explores this question and discusses how international development practice has incorporated recognition of the links between governance and sector outcomes. The brief develops a stylized continuum of how governance elements relate to sector interventions and contribute to expected outcomes. We discuss factors that either impede or impel governance integration and close with some observations regarding prospects for integrated programming. The audience for the brief is the international development policy and practitioner communities, and secondarily, academics with an interest in the topic. Key take-aways include: (1) there is ample evidence of positive contributions from improved governance to sector-specific outcomes, but few guideposts exist for practical and effective governance integration; (2) barriers to integration include urgent sector priorities that overshadow governance concerns, requirements to demonstrate progress towards ambitious sector targets, and complex choices related to measurement; and (3) sustainability and self-reliance are major drivers for integration and are facilitated by the flexibility and adaptation that governance integration enables.

Highlights

  • International development officials, practitioners, and researchers increasingly recognize governance as an essential contributor to outcomes in health, education, water, and other sectors

  • This brief explores evidence from the literature—as well as from projects implemented by RTI—indicating that governance interventions do contribute to achieving sector-specific results

  • We discuss how that evidence has influenced international development practice, presenting a stylized continuum of how governance elements relate to sector interventions and expected outcomes

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Summary

Introduction

International development officials, practitioners, and researchers increasingly recognize governance as an essential contributor to outcomes in health, education, water, and other sectors. Increased government expenditure on health services substantially reduces mortality rates.[14] Many of these analyses are essentially “black box” assessments pointing to macro-level associations between governance and sector outcomes. Wise and Darmstadt, studying impacts of weak governance and political instability on neonatal mortality, aim “not to isolate the specific statistical contribution of any given governance variable...or to single out any particular country; rather, the [results] are intended to emphasize the presence of the strong general relationships that exist.”[15] Given such findings, sector specialists may reasonably be skeptical that governance should be considered a target for direct intervention rather than a contextual feature to be maneuvered around. The study indicated positive and credible links between governance interventions to increase transparency and civic participation and service delivery outcomes in health, education, agriculture, and natural resources management

A Governance-Integration Continuum
Conclusion
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