A consideration of the Arab world illustrates the fact that there can be riches and "growth" with slow or stagnating human development and with significant levels of poverty, and that growth might "perhaps" be an engine of human development if there is "good governance." Good governance refers to the existence of means and mechanisms to ensure that a country is moving towards the principles set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and to the demonstrable ability of citizens of any nation to hold accountable those who govern their well-being and control the mechanisms that impact their lives and those of future generations. This article, by considering briefly some aspects of the Arab region, aims to: (1) Confirm that adult illiteracy is one of the conditions characteristic of the state of poverty "and" of the dynamics of exploitation and deepening impoverishment, and that where illiteracy rates are high the potential to move toward the "common standard of achievement of all peoples and nations" enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is critically undermined; (2) Propose that from a purely sectoral perspective, investment in adult literacy where this is an issue is "as necessary" as investment in education if governments and donor agencies are to deliver on article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, on the Millennium Development Goal 2, and on the objectives of Education for All; (3) Propose that in countries/regions where illiteracy rates are high--regardless of rates of economic growth--investment in the development and delivery of appropriately designed literacy programmes should be "a strategic priority," an intrinsic part of a coordinated set of pro-poor strategies, if any sense is to be made of the term "good governance"; and (4) Suggest that the tendency to link or "add on" adult literacy/non-formal education, etc. to programmes for educational (i.e. school) reform may not be useful, since the fact that about half of the population of the Arab world is illiterate is a social and political, not an educational, issue. (Contains 1 table and 9 notes.)