Good Governance and Indigenous Peoples in Asia
Governance is at the heart of most development and poverty reduction efforts today, including those aimed at realizing the Millennium Development Goals, but it has failed to lift indigenous peoples out of poverty.Indigenous peoples are nearly always among a country’s poorest. One reason for this is that indigenous peoples are often associated with the concept of self-determination, which governments find threatening.The author discusses issues of good governance, which should be seen in the framework of self-determination. The author also discusses the problems faced by indigenous peoples in their struggle for inclusion and participation in the decision-making processes which affect them.The report examines the ways in which the governance policies of international development organizations affect the indigenous peoples of Asia. It argues that there are a number of structural problems, which continue to prevent indigenous peoples benefiting from efforts to improve governance to the degree that could be expected. The report ends with a set of recommendations for improved good governance.
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