Degree Name

MA in Sustainable Development

First Advisor

James Levinson

Abstract

Recognizing that good governance is essential to eradicating poverty and facilitating real and enduring human development, good governance is not a notion, but rather a series of processes, institutions and customs, that have real world implications and can and must be measured. This study details the current governance assessment in the Eastern Caribbean, placed in the context of the larger efforts of governance assessments globally. This paper utilizes external and internal sources, interviews, and the author‟s experiences as a graduate intern with the United Nations Development Programme Barbados and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States. This paper not only seeks to answer the question of what constitutes a meaningful governance assessment, but more importantly, whether governance assessments can bring us as development practitioners and as global citizens closer to achieving national, regional, and global development goals. Further contextualization is analyzed in regards to the Eastern Caribbean‟s unique makeup of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and their own set of specific issues and vulnerabilities. A comparison with a United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-financed governance assessment in Indonesia underlines the vital importance of full government participation and ownership, and of explicit pursuit of specific and actionable indicators. Lastly the paper advocates for thoughtful implementation, with governments taking ownership of their own assessments in full recognition of the vital role those national and regional governments must play toward the goal of lasting human development.

Disciplines

Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration

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