A Users' Guide to Measuring Local Governance

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Local Governance Barometer (LGB)
Producer
Impact Alliance (including PACT; IDASA – The
Institute for Democracy in Southern Africa; and
SNV – Netherlands Development Organisation).
History
The Local Governance Barometer was initiated in
2005 during a Local Governance Laboratory in
Pretoria, where the three partners active in
capacity development for good governance and
improved service delivery at the local level
identified the need to develop an instrument
which will assist them in assessing the state of
governance at local level and in identifying
capacity needs for improved governance. The
initial tool was developed in 2006 and was tested
in various countries and settings in Africa. Based on
these experiences the tool was revised in 2007 and
has since than been applied in more than 10
countries in partnership with local NGOs.
Objectives
The overall objective of the LGB is to describe,
analyse and understand local governance
situations, in order to develop the capacity of local
actors to promote and sustain good governance
and improved service delivery. By applying the
instrument in a participatory manner, it is both an
assessment and capacity building tool for local
level democratic dialogue. In particular, the Local
Governance Barometer aims to:
• Arrive at quantitative measures for good
governance indicators to enable a comparative
analysis between different situations, an
understanding of the evolution of factors of
governance, and to evaluate the impact of
interventions; and
• Ensure the participation of principal actors
during the design of governance models, as
well as the collection, processing, and analysis
of the information collected.
Applicability
The LGB can be used in any local governance
context with or without reliable quantitative
baseline and performance data, to assess (a) how
the government delivers its services to the local
population, and (b) how the local government
relates to citizens and other service providers. It
can be used as part of the process of localising the
Millennium Development Goals. The universal
governance model provided can easily be adapted
to different situations and contexts.
Types and sources of data used
Input data can be qualitative and/or quantitative,
subjective and objective, derived from multiple
data sources (review of available primary or
secondary data and reports, interviews and
surveys with sectoral experts, persons
well-informed on local and regional governance
issues, focal group discussions and citizens at large
– relying on a stratified random sample). Data
collection is outsourced to local organizations that
have the required skills and capacity. The criteria
used should ideally provide a combination of
criteria measuring the performance of formal
mechanisms against national standards as well as
criteria measuring the perception of the various
stakeholders against their ideal definition of “good
governance”. For example, a municipal government
in South Africa might allocate itself a high score on
“participation” since it has adhered the national
guidelines to consult the population before
adopting its Integrated Development Plan, while
Civil Society might give the same municipal
government a low score because the formal
consultation exercise was a mere formality and
didn’t influence the actual decision-making
process. The LGB helps to facilitate a dialogue
about the different interpretations of “meaningful
participation” between stakeholders.
60 UNDP Oslo Governance Centre