A Users' Guide to Measuring Local Governance

6
Methodological Guidelines for Local Governance Analysis
Producer
UNDP, Regional Project on Local Governance for
Latin America
History
In Latin America, the devolution of power from
central to sub-national government has been
uneven but steady. There has been a significant
increase in the volumes of funds managed directly
by regional and local administrations, which are
now responsible for providing basic social services.
Elections are also increasingly held at regional and
local levels. However, the formal authority and
responsibilities devolved to local governments
have not always been fully granted in practice,
sometimes due to capacity deficits in local
administrations, sometimes due to central
administrations holding on to their centralizing
tendencies.
As such, one of the most urgent tasks for local
governance in Latin America is to consolidate the
empowerment of local governments as they try
to redefine their role and identity in this newly
decentralized setting. In this context, the need for
a framework for assessing the state of
decentralization and local governance was
identified by UNDP, both as a normative reference
to guide the ongoing decentralization process, and
as a diagnostic tool to help identify governance
dysfunctions which could be addressed through
the design of development projects.
Objectives
The overall purpose of the Agenda on Local
Governance in Latin America is to help inform the
design of projects to enhance local governance
and to introduce an instrument to help monitor
and promote good governance processes at the
local level. The guidelines have two specific
objectives:
• to develop a diagnostic tool about local
governance conditions; and
• to help formulate an action plan to strengthen
or maintain the quality of local governance.
Applicability
The indicator set can be used by any group of local
stakeholders interested in undertaking a selfassessment
of local governance. The assessment
results and Guidelines are also expected to be
used by UNDP national offices in Latin America,
to help them incorporate activities aimed at
strengthening governance in ongoing local
development projects.
Types and sources of data used
The information collected is both subjective and
objective: citizen surveys (generally through
personal interviews); city (and national) statistics
and regulations; available administrative data.
Methodology
The guidelines suggest that good local governance
presupposes six specific requirements: strategic
vision, legitimacy and leadership, active and
positive relationships between actors, appropriate
institutional capacity, citizen participation, and
a focus on human development. These six
requirements are assessed based on specific
targets and indicators (see Table 9).
For each indicator, various evaluation criteria are
proposed against which the actors involved can
make the assessment. The evaluation involves
expressing a judgement with respect to the
various criteria, on a numerical scale between 1
and 5, while explaining the reason for the
response.The evaluation can include statements (1
= totally disagree,to 5 = totally agree) or percentages
(1 = 0-20%, 2 = 21-40%, 3 = 41-60%, 4 = 61-80%, 5
= 81-100%).
After analysing the results, the local actors involved
are expected to propose an action plan to
strengthen the quality of local governance.
78 UNDP Oslo Governance Centre