A Users' Guide to Measuring Local Governance

4
Local Democracy Assessment Guide
Producer
International IDEA
History
In 2001, IDEA published a handbook titled
“Democracy at the Local Level: The International
IDEA Handbook on Representation, Participation,
Conflict Management and Governance.”This was a
comprehensive guide for local authorities, civil
society, and the international donor community on
the subject of local democracy. As part of its
thematic work on democracy at the local level,
IDEA has also developed a number of tools
designed to assist practitioners and assistance
providers in supporting democratic development
at the local level.The Local Democracy Assessment
methodology is one such tool, developed in
2002-03.
• give outsiders, such as peer reviewers, a tool by
which to conduct independent and impartial
evaluations of democratic governance at the
city level.
Applicability
It is currently being applied mainly in Africa and in
the Arab region, but can be used anywhere in the
world.
Types and sources of data used
The information needed for this assessment is
both objective and subjective. Primary data
collection is through meetings, workshops,
interviews and discussions conducted by local
teams. Publicly available data collected though
documentary sources is used to double-check
subjective information.
Objectives
The purpose of the Local Democracy Assessment
Guide is to systematically review and catalogue the
quality of representative as well as participatory
democracy in a city. In particular, it aims to:
• provide municipal officials, administrators,
partners (such as non-government
organizations), and civic leaders with a
practical tool to conduct self-evaluations of
democratic life in their city;
• identify the principal strengths and weaknesses
of democratic life and ways to further
consolidate strengths and to rectify weaknesses;
• investigate the contributions that local or city
level democracy makes toward overall
consolidation of democracy in democratizing
societies;
• stimulate further thinking on the ways to
define and describe the best ways to structure
and practice local democracy; and
Methodology
The Local Democracy Assessment comprises 15
‘assessment areas’ grouped under three themes:
the city in context, the quality of representative
democracy, and the quality of participatory
democracy (see Table 7). Each one of the 15
assessment areas is assessed based on a detailed
list of questions. The Guide is an interactive
questionnaire applied through participatory
research and which relies on an intimate
knowledge of local situations. Each theme is
assessed based on a fairly comprehensive set of
questions.
Assessment teams typically consist of a representative
of the national association of local municipalities, a
representative of the local authority, an academic
with an expertise in public administration, and an
individual from civil society. After completing the
questionnaire, the assessment team synthesises
the findings in a report and discusses them
critically, identifying areas where consensus exists
and where it does not. The most significant
problems are identified in each area, and
recommendations are made by the team in
the form of an “action plan” for improving local
democracy.
70 UNDP Oslo Governance Centre