Governance : Essential Readings

Nils Boesen (2010), Institutions, Power and Politics: Looking for change beyond the boundaries, the formal and the functional, in Ubels, J., N. Acquaye-Baddoo and A. Fowler (eds) Capacity Development in Practice, Earthscan, pp. 145-156

This chapter in the recently published resource volume Capacity Development in Practice offers a frank and refreshing perspective on governance by focusing on how stakeholders can stimulate change from the ''outside in', or demand-side. Boesen addresses the political dimensions that shape capacity by exploring effective change management approaches aimed specifically at this often murky area of intervention.  

Resource Corner on Enabling Environment - Incentive Systems, Drivers of Change, Political Context (LenCD)

This resource corner maintained by Tony Land builds on the observation that many sector-specific and results-focused efforts have failed or lack sustainability because of broad, cross-cutting governance failures. The resource corner highlights key literature, case studies and useful web resources on this topic. 

Scaling up local and community driven development: A real world guide to its theory and practice (World Bank, 2009)

Local and Community Driven Development (LCDD) is an approach that gives control of development decisions and resources to community groups and representative local governments with the goal of not only improving livelihoods, but people's empowerment and governance capacity, the lack of which is a form of poverty as well. A major challenge in LCDD is the issue of scale: how to achieve national coverage rather than a focus on development enclaves. This eBook includes historical background and analysis, lessons learned, and toolkits for developing supportive national policies and implementation programmes that fit the individual contexts of countries and localities. 

World Governance Indicators 1996-2009