Governance for human development: The role of external partners

There is a positive correlation between democratic governance and human dev elopment. Democratic governance is governance infused with the principles o f, inter alia, equity, participation, rule of law, transparency and account ability. Human development is at its very core the expansion of people's ch oices and their increased participation in decisions that affect their live s. Therefore democratic governance reinforces human development, and human development reinforces democratic governance. External partners-those actor s outside of the national development process-can positively contribute to a country's transition to and consolidation of democratic governance (and, thereby, its human development) in a number of ways. External partners act through democratic governance entry points to deliver strategic services an d use indicators to measure their relative progress. Indicators can be valu able tools in informing external partners and recipients of assistance of w hat works, what does not work and why. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons , Ltd.