Governance to drive improved mental health outcomes in the Pacific: Creating Futures and the Leadership in Mental Health Course. In: State of the Tropics 2020 Report

[Extract] Our governance system drives decision-making in society in ways that can either improve or diminish social, economic and environmental outcomes for nations, states, communities, families and individual people (Thomas & Grindle, 1990). Having a robust governance system is itself central to achieving better outcomes for society as a whole. One of the key findings of the 2014 State of the Tropics report acknowledged that:Governance is about how companies, institutions and nations are organised to manage affairs, power and responsibilities. It is the process used to implement and monitor decisions, policies and legislation. Generally, the Tropics show a poorer result than the Rest of the World across governance indicators. However, there has been rapid improvement in recent decades (p. 14).