There is a growing awareness in the international community that new approaches to development. co-operation are required. Health, education and access to basic services cannot be seen in isolation but must be part of a development package that recognises the importance of governance. For too long the issue of governance in developing countries was ignored; we simply put in the provision of services, often in a vacuum created by corruption, a lack of respect for human rights and the lack of transparency. The very large increases in our budget for development co-operation in the last decade must be welcomed but we now have the opportunity to step back and look at this.