Local Governance Barometer

• Express the performance of a governance situation quantitatively;
• Compare the quality of governance in different situations;
• Track any changes in governance criteria and standards;
• Evaluate the effects of any changes in governance.

A KNOWLEDGE BASED MODEL

The LGB is built within a knowledge base: it is a Knowledge Model. This Model is as set of organized knowledge around and to answer the central question: What is the level of performance of a country/region/district/sector in terms of governance?

The LGB model has two layers: a Core Model that consists of universal criteria, identified through literature review and experts’ knowledge; and a Specific Model composed by local criteria and indicators as the local and specific ways to measure these universal criteria.

Each LGB knowledge base is representative of the experience of several actors. Each application of the LGB can use a different specific model.

The LGB model has two layers: a Core Model that consists of universal criteria, identified through literature review and experts’ knowledge; and a Specific Model composed by local criteria and indicators as the local and specific ways to measure these universal criteria.

LGB MAIN COMPONENTS

The LGB is composed by five main criteria linked by the Union logical relationship, assuming that they contribute together to good governance:

• Effectiveness &  efficiency;
• Rule of law;
• Accountability;
• Participation;
• Equity.

THE SCORING SYSTEM

The Model is organized like a tree; at the highest level is the Local Governance Index, followed by the 5 main criteria. At the next lower levels are the sub criteria and their subdivisions. At the lowest level are the indicators or data.

The LGB scoring system is based on two concepts: the Reference values and the Union logical relationship. Scores at the lowest level are calculated by interpolation between the real values (the data inputs) and the Reference Values corresponding to the ideal and the worst case situations. Scores at the higher levels are obtained by an arithmetic average calculation as the logical relationship is Union. All the produced scores have the same value range: 0 indicates the worst situation, 100 the ideal one.

The LGB uses quantitative as well as qualitative data inputs.

PARTICIPATORY IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS

The LGB is a participatory process. The LGB process sees effective and active involvement of Public sector, Civil Society and Private sector representatives from the identification of the local indicators to the interpretation and analysis of the results and the action plan development to improve the governance situation.

The LGB is relevant to performance assessments within a wide range of geographic scale and thematic intensity.  The type of governance situation being assessed could be a geographic area (e.g. a municipality) or a sector within a particular geographic area (e.g. a coastal fishery).

The LGB is relevant to performance assessments within a wide range of geographic scale and thematic intensity.  The type of governance situation being assessed could be a geographic area (e.g. a municipality) or a sector within a particular geographic area (e.g. a coastal fishery).

Also, the LGB process is flexible enough to be adapted to the available financial and human resources.

IMPLEMENTATION PHASE

The LGB process is designed and facilitated in a way that promotes local dialogue, facilitates learning, supports local leadership of processes, encourages local ownership of the results and fosters collaboration among key actors.

Understanding the context
This phase consists of

• the identification of the main beneficiary’s expectations and objectives;
• the governance main rationale/issues in the assessed sector and geographical area;
• The evaluation of the other existing tool to avoid duplication.

The preliminary operations

concern the identification and sensitization of the main stakeholders that will be involved in the process.

The implementation step

itself that consists of

• the specific model participatory development;
• the data collection, 3 main data collection methodologies are recommended: the desk research/literature survey, focus group discussion and surveys.
• the data processing: software is produced by the LGB technical team to allow local organizations and authorities doing themselves their data processing.

During the final operations phase:

• the results are presented back to the stakeholders;
• then, they are analyzed and interpreted in a participatory way;
• based on these interpretation and the assessment results, action plan is developed in order to improve the situation.