Domain of Hecate

What is good governance?

One goal of good governance is to enable an organization to do its work and fulfill its mission. Good governance results in organizational effectiveness.

But good governance is about more than getting the job done. Especially in the voluntary sector, where values typically play an important role in determining both organizational purpose and style of operation, process is as important as product. Good governance becomes more than only a means to organizational effectiveness and becomes an end in itself.

Good governance is about both achieving desired results and achieving them in the right way.

Since the "right way" is largely shaped by the cultural norms and values of the organization, there can be no universal template for good governance. Each organization must tailor their own definition of good governance to suit their needs and values.

There is plenty of room for different traditions and values to be accommodated in the definition of good governance. At the same time, all is not relative. There are some universal norms and values that apply across cultural boundaries. The United Nations published a list of characteristics of good governance. They include:

• Participation: providing all men and women with a voice in decision-making
  
• Transparency: built on the free flow of information
  
• Responsiveness: of institutions and processes to stakeholders
  
• Consensus orientation: differing interests are mediated to reach
  a broad consensus on what is in the general interest
  
• Equity: all men and women have opportunities to become involved
  
• Effectiveness and efficiency: processes and institutions produce
  results that meet needs while making the best use of resources
  
• Accountability: of decision-makers to stakeholders
  
• Strategic vision: leaders and the public have a broad and long-term
  perspective on good governance and human development, along with
  a sense of what is needed for such development. There is also
  an understanding of the historical, cultural and social complexities
  in which that perspective is grounded.
  

# posted by Domain of Hecate @ 5:29 PM