The UNDP Administrator, Helen Clark, delivered a lecture on the importance of good governance for the achievement of development results, which should be equitable and sustainable.
13 March 2012: In a lecture on the importance of good governance for equitable and sustainable development, UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark highlighted the importance of active, effective, honest and fair governance at all levels.
She said active governance responds to the needs of citizens to participate in development challenges. Effective governance is about integrated policy-making capacity, and fair governance is about reliable and accountable governing institutions, free of corruption.
She indicated that the emerging development challenges are evolving and that there is much greater appreciation of the threat of climate change. She further indicated that countries that lack the capacity to adapt to climate change will suffer the most.
She highlighted that a sustainable response to the emerging challenges faced by countries must align economic growth, poverty reduction, social development, equity, and sustainability, rather than regarding them as competing goals to be traded off. She stressed that countries must face the “inconvenient truths” and look at development results beyond aggregate measures, as many of the poor live in unequal societies where extreme poverty persists. Clark indicated that the upcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) will provide an opportunity to revisit the current development models, focusing on what works and why. Rio+20 will also provide an opportunity to review the development framework beyond the target deadline for meeting the Millennium Development Goals.
The lecture, part of the Singapore Lecture Series, is a joint-initiative by UNDP and the Institute of Southeast Asia Studies. [UNDP Press Release]