A Users' Guide to Measuring Local Governance

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Good Governance for Local Development – GOFORGOLD Index
Producer
Independent Directorate for Local Governance
(IDLG), Afghanistan
History
A rapid assessment of the state of reporting
systems at the sub-national level in Afghanistan
was conducted in October 2007. Findings from this
assessment revealed, inter alia, that reporting is
along vertical lines only, without horizontal sharing
of reports; that there is a standard format for
financial and revenue reports, but that this format
does not prevent under-reporting of revenues;
that existing reporting formats do not reflect
principles of good governance; that reports are
activity-oriented rather than performance- or
results-oriented; that existing reporting systems
do not allow for analysis of sub-national
performance and for local governments to be held
accountable to local development goals and
priorities; and, that there has been limited donor
support to sub-national governments on reforming
reporting mechanisms for improved governance.
The GOFORGOLD indicators and reporting system
are being developed in response to these findings.
Objectives
This tool aims to provide a snapshot of governance
at the sub-national level, and more specifically, to
help monitor the governance situation in the
provinces, districts, municipalities, and villages
against benchmarks and governance indicators.
More specifically, the national government can use
the GOFORGOLD Index to benchmark sub-national
government performance, improve resource
allocation and justify department budgets or
services, as a basis for strategic assistance to
sub-national government and to identify good
local governance and sustainable development
practices. Provinces, districts, and municipalities
will be able to indicate where local government
has made progress and where improvement and
support is necessary. It can also be used by a local
government to demonstrate accountability to
citizens and to communicate its performance to
citizens and to the central government. Finally,
development partners and donors can use
the Index to track sub-national government
performance and the impact of capacity building
initiatives, as well as to focus assistance to
sub-national governments recording low scores on
the Index.
Applicability
GOFORGOLD is expected to be applicable to all
sub-national levels of government in Afghanistan.
More generally, it could be applied in any country
emerging from conflict, given a distinctive focus on
the local security conditions as one section of the
methodology.
Types and sources of data used
GOFORGOLD will use objective data such as
national and city statistics and regulations, and
available administrative data on population,
budgets and procedures. All data will be converted
into quantitative data of two types – single
numbers (expressed by averages, means, ratios,
percentages) and binary variables (expressed by
0/1 assessments).
Methodology
The GOFORGOLD Index comprises 25 indicators
(and 60 operational questions) grouped under
seven ‘good governance’ themes – representation,
participation, accountability, transparency,
effectiveness, security, and equity (see Table 6).
Each indicator is complemented by a set of
operational questions. For instance, the indicator
measuring the existence of a formal mechanism
for citizen participation in decision-making is
complemented by an operational question
assessing the decision-making level (municipality/
district/province) at which these mechanisms are
operating (to assess the actual impact of citizen
inputs in the decision-making process).
66 UNDP Oslo Governance Centre