A Users' Guide to Measuring Local Governance

1
Urban Governance Index
Producer
UN-HABITAT
History
The Urban Governance Index (UGI) was developed
as an advocacy and capacity development tool
under the umbrella of UN-HABITAT’s Global
Campaign on Urban Governance. Principles of
good urban governance and indicators were
identified through consultations with various UN
agencies, including UNDP, UN-HABITAT, UNHCHR,
UNDESA and UNICEF, from expert group meetings
and through contributions made by local
professionals taking part in the field tests.
Objectives
The UGI is a self-assessment tool for cities and local
authorities which can help to initiate a dialogue
with a wider range of governmental and nongovernmental
stakeholders – belonging to the civil
society and private sectors – on development
priorities. At the global level, the UGI aims to
demonstrate the importance of good urban
governance in achieving broad development
objectives (i.e. the Millennium Development Goals)
and those in the Habitat Agenda (i.e. provision
of adequate shelter for all and promotion of
sustainable urban development).
Applicability
• The UGI is best applied in those urban contexts
where the local government has the
willingness and capacity to take the lead in this
exercise. It is possible to use it both in
situations where civil society is strong and
active, and where it is weak. In the first case, it
can be used to build and increase the
relationships and mutual rapport and
confidence between the local government and
civil society.Where civil society is weak, the UGI
can encourage community participation and
strengthen the voice of Community Based
Organisations.
• It assumes an adequate level of technical
capacity in the city (either within the
municipality or in civil society) to operate the
UGI. Furthermore, it is based on the assumption
that stakeholders are interested and willing to
devote time, and share information, in order to
improve urban governance.
Types and sources of data used
The UGI uses publicly available data from mainly
objective sources: national and city statistics and
regulations, and available administrative data
on population, budgets and procedures. All
information is converted into quantitative data of
two types: single numbers (expressed by averages,
means, ratios, percentages), and binary variables
(yes/no expressed as 0/1 assessments).
Methodology
The UGI comprises 25 indicators grouped under
four themes corresponding to core urban
governance principles – efficiency, equity,
participation and accountability (see Table 3). Data
from each indicator are normalised (allocated a
value between 0 and 1) and weighted before being
aggregated into the 4 sub-indices. The UGI is an
average of the values of the four sub-indices.
The UGI approach emphasises the processes of
urban decision-making, the mechanisms and
institutions through which various stakeholders
articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights,
meet their obligations and mediate their
differences.The indicators also focus on the quality
of relationships between key stakeholders at the
local level.
UN-HABITAT strongly advocates the use of
participatory methods for the identification,
collection and analysis of indicators at the local
level. The data on the indicators is collected
through a stakeholder meeting where all key
urban actors are present. Participatory data
collection not only enhances access to data and
information, but also ensures collective ownership
of results and lays the ground for joint initiatives
towards governance reform. It also indicates
openness on part of the municipality and
improves its credibility with external partners and
donors.
56 UNDP Oslo Governance Centre