A Users' Guide to Measuring Local Governance

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3 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
Table 6: Principles and indicators for the GOFORGOLD Index Representation 1 Elected Councils 2 Elected Village Leaders / Municipal Mayors 3 Voter Turn-out and Voter Participation by Sex 4 Women Councillors Accountability 8 Control by Central Government 9 Anti-Corruption Policy 10 Independent Audit 11 Codes of Conduct Effectiveness 16 Total Sub-National Budget and Expenditure 17 Predictability of transfers in Local Government Budget 18 Total number of Civil Servants 19 Published performance Delivery Standards Participation 5 Public Forum for Women, Youth and PWDs 6 Existence of Civic Groups 7 Citizen’s Capacity to Engage in Decision-making Transparency 12 Facilities for Citizens Complaints 13 Right to Public Information 14 Public Review of Budget and Financial Reports 15 Formal Publication of contracts/tenders Security 20 Conflict Resolution 21 Protection Against Crime and Violence 22 Territorial Boundaries 23 Security of Land Tenure and Land Use Equity 24 Affirmative Action for the Poor 25 Affirmative Action for Women Figure 2: GOFORGOLD Dashboards Accountability 65% Transparency 46% Low Medium Equity 56% High Effectiveness 53% Participation 38% Total 53% 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Overall State of Sub-National Governance by Province Mazar Maimana Herat Kandahar Kunduz Etc Key actors/stakeholders The data collection and analysis process is expected to involve a broad range of stakeholders. Data will be collected with the support of stakeholders such as municipal representatives, civil society organisations, private sector representatives and informal sector representatives. It is recommended that the data collected be verified with municipal officers, CSOs and local communities. A Users’ Guide to Measuring Local Governance 67
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A Users’ Guide to Measuring Local
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Contents Acknowledgements Acronyms
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Acknowledgements AUTHORS Alexandra
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Introduction This Guide is intended
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1 Assessments of Local Governance
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Decentralized governance for develo
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and local specificity. In order to
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A critical step in developing an as
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Box 5. Key phases in a governance a
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achieve the results. These can incl
Page 24 and 25: Gender-sensitivity in governance is
Page 26 and 27: 1.11 Key contextual factors influen
Page 28 and 29: findings of the assessment in ways
Page 30 and 31: for union parishads (UPs) comprise
Page 32 and 33: Box 14. Short-, Medium- and Long-Te
Page 35 and 36: Voices from the Trenches 2 2.1 Choo
Page 37 and 38: governments, and representatives of
Page 39: the assessment - in terms of social
Page 43 and 44: Case Studies 3 The following four f
Page 45 and 46: Case Study 2: Moving from governmen
Page 47 and 48: Case Study 3: Balancing comparabili
Page 49 and 50: Case Study 4: Ensuring uptake of as
Page 51 and 52: References • Aberbach, J.D. and R
Page 53 and 54: Source Guide
Page 55 and 56: The summary matrix also indicates w
Page 57 and 58: Summary matrix: Main features of to
Page 65 and 66: Table 3: UGI sub-indices and indica
Page 67 and 68: Weaknesses • While the UGI helps
Page 69 and 70: Table 4: Local Governance Barometer
Page 71 and 72: Table 5: Scale to assess local gove
Page 73: Jean-Michel Dufils, PACT (Madagasca
Page 77 and 78: Where to find it The initiative is
Page 79 and 80: Table 7: Local Democracy Assessment
Page 81 and 82: Poverty focus Not explicit. The onl
Page 83 and 84: Local governance performance measur
Page 85 and 86: Europe. They have first been used i
Page 87 and 88: Table 9: Methodological Guidelines
Page 89 and 90: 7 Governance Index (Indonesia) Prod
Page 91 and 92: Table 12: Example of form for colle
Page 93 and 94: Where to find it The initiative is
Page 95 and 96: Table 15: MIDAMOS’s themes, indic
Page 97 and 98: Table 17: Grading System Qualificat
Page 99 and 100: Table 18: Framework of module on
Page 101 and 102: Key actors/stakeholders The initial
Page 103 and 104: Table 20: Indicators belonging to t
Page 105 and 106: y the State and the municipality as
Page 107 and 108: 11 Council of Europe’s Guide to D
Page 109 and 110: Table 25: Evaluation and comments f
Page 111 and 112: 12 Citizen Report Cards (CRC) Produ
Page 113 and 114: Box 5: Citizen Report Card applicat
Page 115 and 116: 13 Social Audit of Local Governance
Page 117 and 118: Box 7: Sample indicators for Social
Page 119 and 120: 14 Social Audit of Governance and D
Page 121 and 122: Box 8: Report extract - The Social
Page 123 and 124: Table 26: Themes and issues analyse
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15 Local Governance Self-Assessment
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Table 27: EXAMPLES OF KEY ISSUES FR
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16 Governance for Local Development
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Coverage Following the pilot testin
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Table 32: PBGS in Uganda, Tanzania
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Table 34: Nepal - Summary of the st
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Manual for assessment of Minimum Co
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Table 35: LGPMS - perfofrmance them
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Coverage The LGPMS was field-tested
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19 Index of Responsibility, Transpa
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Gender focus Not explicit. Poverty
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Table 39: Dimensions for the standa
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21 Local Integrity Initiative Produ
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Table 42: Integrity Indicator score
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Figure 6: 2008 Scorecard Summary: L
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Table 43: Two examples of questions
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Where to find it Users’ Guide & s
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