Good Governance and the Millennium Development Goals, the Case of Water and Sanitation

Sammanfattning: When adopting the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in 2000, the United Nations General Assembly recognised the importance of good governance in reaching them. This study examines the hypothesis that good governance has an impact on the achievement of the MDGs. It does so by conducting regression analysis on the impact of good governance on the MDG indicators for water and sanitation. The analysis uses data for 162 countries over the period from 2000 to 2015, the year when the MDGs were established to the year they were expected to be achieved. The Worldwide Governance Indicator for government effectiveness is used as a proxy for good governance. As such, the study will also be indicative of the role of good governance for achievement of the new internationally set agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and SDG 6 on water and sanitation. The findings indicate that good governance is positively correlated with access to improved drinking water, but not for sanitation. Also, for the rate of progress for improving water in low and middle-income countries, measured over the MDG timeframe, no clear correlation can be viewed, either when analysing correlation with the average level of government effectiveness and with the rate of progress of improving government effectiveness.