Our Purpose

A New Paradigm for National Development

We have witnessed remarkable growth in incomes and prosperity over the last century. But this growth has been uneven – while some nations have escaped the poverty trap, many others have been left behind. This affects the quality of life for billions of people and manifests in wasted potential.  
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The dominant paradigm in national development focuses on poverty alleviation. The prescriptions could involve providing financial aid or directly improving the quality of basic services. While these are important, we risk treating the symptoms without addressing the cause. We need a new narrative – from one of alleviating poverty, to one on building prosperity.

From Ancient Athens and Renaissance Florence to Silicon Valley, history shows that creative societies are prosperous societies. When people’s natural creativity is allowed to shine through, it enables the innovation that drives human progress.

Building prosperity also requires a thriving marketplace, which recognises and rewards individual enterprise, initiative and industry. Within this marketplace, individuals have – and believe that they have – the opportunities to improve their lives.

Governance is All

My experience from investing in emerging markets and engaging in philanthropic work in the last four decades has taught me that the quality of national governance matters more than any other factor in closing the prosperity gap between nations. Well-governed nations attract capital and talent, which are the catalysts for creative societies and thriving marketplaces.

That is why I established the Chandler Institute of Governance (CIG) in 2019 together with a dedicated team of government practitioners, who share my dream of building stronger and more prosperous nations through better governance.

I established CIG in Singapore to harness the knowledge and learnings of a small city-state that built its success upon good governance, anchored in a strong rule of law, public integrity and high societal trust. Singapore is one of the most prosperous countries in the world today, despite not having the natural resources that many others are blessed with.

A Better World through Better Governance

I believe that excellence in national governance is not out of reach for any nation. I hope that CIG can play a role in this regard, and in doing so, achieve its purpose of building a more peaceful and prosperous world.

Richard F. Chandler
Founder,
Chandler Institute of Governance