A Users' Guide to Measuring Local Governance

8
Measuring Municipal Performance MIDAMOS (Paraguay)
Producer
AlterVida/GEAM with support from USAID
History
In 2001, CIRD, (Centro de Información y Recursos
para el Desarrollo), a Paraguayan non-profit,
launched a programme aimed at strengthening
democratic practices in Paraguay by strengthening
Civil Society Organizations. To do this, the
programme had for objectives to implement
permanent mechanisms that increase citizen
participation in the public decision-making
process, and to provide civil society with tools to
improve oversight of public institutions. One such
tool to promote accountability and transparency
at the local government level was promoted
through the application of a local governance
measurement tool, MIDAMOS, which was
developed under USAID/Paraguay’s Local
Governments Program.
Objectives
The goals of the scoring system MIDAMOS (“Let’s
Measure”) include promoting good governance at
the municipal level; encouraging citizens and civil
society organizations to develop the capacity to
understand and evaluate municipal administration;
and supporting the perception amongst authorities
and public officials that good governance
practices are in their professional, political, and
personal interests.
Types and sources of data used
Most data is obtained from objective sources, both
quantitative and qualitative, such as municipal
statistics and regulation, administrative data on
population, budgets and procedures. Interviews
with some key informants in the municipality and
with citizens are suggested to complement or
verify the objective data collected for some
indicators.
Methodology
MIDAMOS is a set of 31 qualitative and quantitative
indicators organised into 5 main themes of
municipal management. For each indicator, an
evaluation on a 1-5 scale and a relative weight
are provided. Municipal performance is then
calculated by adding up the weighted value of
each indicator score (see table below).
A specific “technical card” is established in order to
score each indicator on a 1-to-5 scale. This
card contains the description of indicators, the
performance parameters, the applicable formula,
the necessary documentation to assess the
indicator’s value, and the relative weight of each
indicator. Two examples of the scoring procedure
are presented below:
Once the assessment of each indicator and theme
has been completed, this information collected
by CSOs is presented to municipal officers and
council members in order to share the results and
include local governments’ comments in the
assessment.
In 2008, MIDAMOS turned to the use of the radio
to talk about the performance of municipal
governments where MIDAMOS was applied. The
idea is to inform and raise awareness amongst
citizens on the benefits of having objective
indicators on municipal government performance.
Key actors/stakeholders
MIDAMOS is intended to benefit municipal
officers, municipal council members, and
municipal administrations. For its application,
MIDAMOS relies on:
• an Authorised Evaluation Agency – such as a
research outfit or multi-stakeholder consultative
bodies – serving as facilitator of the assessment
process
• a municipal officer with sufficient responsibility
and authority to provide the AEA with all the
necessary information and documentation for
the assessment
86 UNDP Oslo Governance Centre