Ending Hunger in America, 2014 Hunger Report Full Report | Page 172

and the extent of their engagement in five domains, each with indicators that are assessed
individually. These are production (e.g., the degree of autonomy a woman has in agricultural production); resources (e.g., access to credit and equipment); income (e.g., control over
expenditures); leadership (e.g., comfort speaking in public); and time (e.g., satisfaction or
dissatisfaction with the amount of leisure time available). It measures these dimensions both
for women independently and relative to men in the same household. A woman is assigned
an empowerment score, and the man also gets a score. “We’ve developed a tool that can
dramatically reshape our policy response,” says Emily Hogue of USAID’s Bureau for Food
Security.35 “There really is nothing like this.” Having this information will enable USAID
and its partners to tailor strategies to make the most difference in helping women overcome
the barriers they face.

Good Governance, Effective Institutions and Local Capacity
Strengthening

File photo

The U.N. Secretary
General has endorsed a
post-2015 development
agenda that includes
a goal on peace and
effective governance.

162? Chapter 5

n

Governance and accountability, though not formally mentioned in the MDGs, are recognized as crucial dimensions of development and should be incorporated throughout the
post-2015 development agenda.
Cross-country evidence has shown
how poor governance and corruption harm a country’s population.
Corruption siphon off resources
needed to provide services to poor
people and equip them to improve
their lives. Each time poor people
are forced to pay bribes, they are
stripped of what little income they
have. Corruption also leads to the
misuse of government resources
that could serve the public good.
Corrupt officials, wherever in the
system they may be, undermine
confidence in government institutions and the very idea of government itself.
Improving governance is essential to further progress on development; “big issues” surrounding governance, political will, capacity, and leadership need to
be thoughtfully incorporated into the approach to a new set of global development goals.
The topic was conspicuously absent from the MDGs, which said in effect that it doesn’t
matter how countries reach targets as long as they get there. This may be good enough
to cut hunger and poverty in half, or maybe more—but actually eliminating hunger and
extreme poverty will mean dealing with difficult issues that stall progress. The corrosive
effects of government corruption are just one example of how governance problems under-

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