Indicators
To design a good system of governance indicators for a territory, it is important to:
- Raise awareness among local leaders about the importance of measuring progress in improvements to the territory’s governance
- Locally develop appropriate, easily measurable indicators
- Define parameters and goals
- Periodically collect data in the system
- Use the results in the development of territorial policies
Below we propose a series of examples of outcome and impact indicators grouped according to the key principles of good governance as proposed by the United Nations and other international agencies:
Equity: gender equality, policies supporting disadvantaged groups, access and equality in the use of resources, and social protection.
Equity: gender equality, policies supporting disadvantaged groups, access and equality in the use of resources, and social protection.
- Percentage of female mayors and council women in the local authorities and in key positions of power
- Percentage of public investments designated for improving the conditions of indigenous communities
- Regulations that take into account the needs of poor households in terms of access to basic services
- Statement signed and disseminated by the local authorities recognizing the right of citizens to basic services
- Percentage of registered indigenous citizens that can exercise their civil rights
- Number of indigenous congressmen, women and mayors that participate in validating municipal development projects and programs
- Number of indigenous professionals working in the management and coordination of municipal/territorial planning
- Sustainable development plans, programs and projects based on the cultural identity of indigenous communities
Participation: citizen participation is one of the fundamental factors for achieving good governance in the local sphere
Participation: citizen participation is one of the fundamental factors for achieving good governance in the local sphere
- Number of social participation organizations/mechanisms
- Existence of normative instruments that reflect the mayor’s political will or a national standard
- Number of spaces and mechanisms for participation in public management
- Number of workshops with territorial, functional and sectoral actors, for the development of the territory
- Number of activities that promote citizen participation in the activities of local institutions
- Index of citizen participation in local governments
- Number of registered civic associations per 10,000 people in the jurisdiction of the local authorities
- Percentage of executed municipal projects that have been prioritized by citizens
- Percentage of public budget executed by geographical distribution
Transparency, responsibility and rule of law: property rights, governance agreements, quality of budgetary and financial management, quality of the public administration, accountability, and controlling corruption
Transparency, responsibility and rule of law: property rights, governance agreements, quality of budgetary and financial management, quality of the public administration, accountability, and controlling corruption
- Perception of the citizens’ level of trust in the quality of the execution of contracts, property rights, policies and courts
- Existence of control of the highest levels of the local government and dismissal of councilmen and women from their positions
- Existence of a city-wide system of alerts, complaints and suggestions
- Citizen satisfaction with the local authorities’ public services
- Citizens’ degree of satisfaction and trust in public institutions
- Existence of an anticorruption commission to investigate and inform the public about cases of corruption
- Number of public services online; amount of open data from the local government
- Existence of board sessions open to the public
- Plans, budgets and public accounts available online
Efficiency and quality in the provision of public services and the promotion of local economic development
Efficiency and quality in the provision of public services and the promotion of local economic development
- Number of institutional agreements and strategic public-private partnerships with repercussions in the agricultural sector
- Per capita income of the local government (annual revenue collected, capital and recurring in the metropolitan area)
- Relationship between the recurring budget and real capital
- Increase in the percentage of municipalities that plan and conduct maintenance of construction work
- Relationship between the estimated taxes and real amount of taxes collected
- Relationship between investments in projects conducted by local partners and funds assigned from public sources
- Percentage of execution of planned projects in regard to the planned budget at the beginning of the period
- Perception of the quality of public services, the quality of the formulation and application of policies and credibility of the government’s commitment with those policies