EC Governance Seminar, July 2011: Key Messages

Donors spend millions of euros on governance support but are often left assessing a mixed bag of results. Delegates at a recent workshop in Brussels considered why it is so hard to achieve reliably good results and concluded that the time is ripe for a change in approaches to supporting governance.

In July 2011, more than 20 representatives from European Commission delegations across the world took part in a special seminar on governance. They wanted to examine progress in the field to date, and consider why results are so often mixed.

Seminar leader, Jean Bossuyt of the European Centre for Development Policy Management, said that delegates agreed the time had come for donors like the EC to take a long hard look at their activities in this area and overhaul their approach.

“Governance is not a project, it’s a society transformation,” and trying to assist such a transformation from the outside is very difficult, according to Mr Bossuyt. “It’s now really time to say, ‘how do we fundamentally improve our approach to governance?’ and insist on building on the good experiences of the last ten years.”

Download the presentation wrapping up the seminar's key findings.