Effective Governance: Thematic Strategy

Effective governance, one of the strategic goals of the aid program, helps to achieve Australia’s goal of helping people overcome poverty. We support capable management of a country’s resources through building institutions and processes that are accountable, responsive and transparent. This allows participation of citizens and civil society in the processes of government. Effective governance also contributes to achieving other development goals, such as in health and education, as it supports partner government-led development efforts.

Australia’s support to effective governance falls into three pillars:

Delivering better services through improved government efficiency and effectiveness; and more accountable, open and responsive governments
Improved security and enhanced justice
Enhanced human rights

To ensure our support is effective, Australian work on governance will be informed by political, social and contextual analysis. We work with a wide range of partners, including various Australian Government agencies, and multilateral, bilateral and civil society organisations.

The governance thematic strategy informs Australia’s program decisions in this sector.

Publications

Australia’s work and achievements

Governance is about people, institutions and financing development: how people, through institutions, decide how to obtain, produce, use and distribute resources. Supporting good governance continues to be a priority for the Australian aid program.

Delivering better services

The Australian aid program aims to deliver better services through improved government efficiency and effectiveness and more accountable, open and responsive governments.

Recent achievements include:

Implementing Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability assessments in the Philippines, East Timor, Solomon Islands and Tonga, leading to a stronger evidence base for public financial management reforms.
20% increase in the number of tax returns in Tonga providing more revenue for service delivery
2,075 schools constructed across Indonesia by June 2010, using a community governance model which increased accountability, through training of school construction committees in financial management, publication of financial information, independent monitoring and increased use of audits, reducing the risk of corruption.

Strengthening the PNG public service

NBC radio during an outside broadcast at Vanimo, Sandaun Province. AusAID supports the PNG media industry through its Media for Development initiative. The program - jointly overseen by the PNG Government and PNG Media Council - aims to continually develop the sector by helping to address issues of access, content and voice. Photo: Jacqueline Smart Ferguson. AusAID

Under the PNG–Australia Partnership for Development, Australia is helping to strengthen the PNG public service by improving public administration through enhanced governance and service delivery assistance at national, provincial and district levels, including strengthening public financial management and improving public accountability.

Fighting Corruption with Transparency International

Australia supports Transparency International (external website) to strengthen and expand its network of national advocacy and legal advice centres in Asia-Pacific. These centres are a simple, credible and viable way for people to pursue corruption-related complaints. As well as helping to solve individual complaints, the centres identify areas where systemic reform is required (for example, advocacy led to improved traffic fine laws in Palestine). Since 2003 more than 60 centres have been set up in 50 countries, facilitating 95 000 corruption-related complaints.

Improved security and enhanced justice

Recent achievements include:

Increasing the number of female village magistrates in PNG from 10 to 384 since 2006
In Indonesia, more than doubling the number of cases, many involving women, heard by courts in remote areas between 2007 and 2009
Working with more than 12,000 women across 330 villages in eight Indonesian Provinces to improve their access to justice

The Australia – Indonesia Justice Partnership

The renewal of the AIPJ Memorandum of Understanding, illustrating the value courts in both Australia and Indonesia see in sharing experiences regarding access to justice, enhancing judicial capacity and improving court business processes. (Left to Right) The Hon. Patrick Keane, Chief Justice of the Federal Court, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Indonesia, the Hon. Dr Harifin A. Tumpa SH MH and the Hon. Diana Bryant, Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia.

The new five-year AUD50 million Australia – Indonesia Partnership for Justice program (2011–15) builds on Australia’s previous 10 years of assistance in the law and justice sector. The program will work with key Indonesian justice sector and civil society partners, and help the Indonesian Government move towards a more professional, transparent, accountable system that can supply quality legal services and address grievances. It will build on the partnership’s tradition of success in recent years: the number of cases heard by circuit courts in remote areas more than doubled over 2007-09; court fee waivers increased 10-fold including 86% for women, mostly in family law cases; and with Australian support, Indonesia’s courts have published more than 21,800 court decisions online.

Partnership with World Bank Justice for the Poor

Australia’s partnership with the World Bank Justice for the Poor supports community level research and pilot activities in Indonesia, East Timor, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. The evidence and analytical data generated by this research will help shape local justice and governance reform efforts. For example, in Indonesia, Justice for the Poor helped to provide new information about legal aid, court access and the links between formal and non-state justice systems, which was used by the Government of Indonesia in preparing their first ever National Strategy on Access to Justice, which was subsequently launched in October 2009.

Enhanced human rights

A woman votes in Indonesia’s 2009 presidential election. Actively supporting women’s full participation in political life is a key factor in reducing poverty, enhancing democratic governance and increasing the well-being of women, girls and their families. Photo by Josh Estey.

Recent achievements include:

Supporting three national elections during Indonesia’s democratic transition
Successfully training members of parliament in Solomon Islands to better understand and perform their roles, expanding the Parliamentary Secretariat, and strengthening the parliamentary research capacity to revitalise the committee system.
Increasing by 350% in 2009 the participation rate on talkback radio in Vanuatu with the Vanuatu Broadcasting and Television Corporation, on a range of topics such as political governance, land, women's rights and disaster risk reduction.

Developmental Leadership Program (DLP)

Australian supports innovative research and policy work on governance through its Developmental Leadership Program (DLP) (external website). This program is looking at the central role of leadership and coalitions in promoting institutional and policy reforms across the public, private and civil society sectors in developing countries. This will help inform policy and strategic approaches for Australian government and other development partners by providing a framework for understanding the underlying dynamics of development assistance.

Support for democratic institutions and processes

Australia continues to support democratic institutions and processes. Australia works with partner governments, and their citizens, to support parliaments, develop effective accountability mechanisms, provide civic education, strengthen electoral processes, and facilitate greater participation of women and other disadvantaged groups in political processes. Australia provides support to enhance democracy in the region through the Centre for Democratic Institutions (external website) and the Indonesian-led Bali Democracy Forum. Australia supports a range of partnerships, including with agencies such as the Australian Electoral Commission (external website), and provides grants to major political parties through the Australian Political Parties for Democracy Program (APPDP Guidelines PDF 155kb, APPDP Guidelines Doc 337kb). At a global and multilateral level, Australia contributes to the work of the United Nations Democracy Fund (external website) and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) (external website). Australia joined the Steering Committee of IDEA in December 2009.

Last reviewed: 24 November, 2011