This has been demonstrated at each of the recent UN Conferences, which have examined issues of environment, social development, population, women, human settlements and food security. UNDP has been mandated by its governing body to develop national capacities to promote and articulate the concept and practice of SHD, with emphasis on poverty alleviation, sustainable livelihoods, gender equality and environmental sustainability. Good governance is the primary means to address these concerns. Good governance has many attributes. It is effective, participatory, transparent, accountable, equitable and promotes the rule of law.
Governance includes the state, but transcends it by taking in the private sector and civil society.
All three domains are critical for sustaining human development. The state creates a conducive political and legal environment, the private sector generates jobs and income and civil society facilitates political and social interaction and mobilizes groups to participate in economic, social and political activities. The shift toward SHD as the commonly accepted paradigm for development is still in the making. As demonstrated by recent Human Development Reports, many countries have managed to improve human development despite economic hardship. However, this progress in human development will not hold unless reinforced by economic growth.