Outline

1. Institutionalizing the Production of Country-Level Governance DataUNDP’s Global Programme on Democratic Governance AssessmentsJoachim NahemProgramme Manager

2. Outline • Why UNDP supports country led governance assessments • Lessons learned from Africa and elsewhere • Next steps and proposed collaboration

3. 1974 76 78 80 84 86 88 90 92 94 96 98 00 02 04 06 08 Global governance indicators Global Accountability Report Indicators of Local Democratic Governance Institutional Profiles Database World Governance Assessment Democracy Index Human Rights Indicators World Democracy Audit Gender Empowerment Measure Weberian Comparative State Project Failed States Index State Failure Dataset Civil Society Index Countries at the Crossroads Women in Parliament Press Freedom Index Index of Economic Freedom Index of Human Rights CIRI Human Rights Databse Political Terror Scale Open Budget Index Global Corruption Barometer Commitment to Development Index of Democracy Rule of Law Index Global Competitiveness Index Journalists killed Governance Matters Integrity Index Economic Freedom of the World Bertelsmann Transformation Index Global Peace Index Polity BEEPS International Country Risk Guide CPIA Governance and Democracy Processes World Values Survey Opacity Index Press Freedom Survey Corruption Perceptions Index Freedom in the World Bribe Payers Index GAPS in Workers’ Rights 82

4. 80 82 1972 74 76 78 84 86 88 90 92 94 96 98 00 02 04 08 10 06 Fragility & conflict indicators Resource Allocation Index Country Indicators for Foreign Policy Index of State Weakness Bertelsmann Transformation Index Peace and Conflict Instability Ledger Battle Deaths Data Ibrahim Index Major Episodes of Political Violence Worldwide Governance Indicators Global Peace Index Conflict Barometer Barometro Political Instability Index CIRI Human Rights Databse Political Terror Scale State Fragility Index Failed States Index Correlates of War

6. Dearth of country-level governance data in Africa • Shortage of sound country-level governance data  use of global comparative indices • BUT these indices are constituted by ‘weak data’ • Mainly expert perceptions informed by anecdotal experience/media headlines, etc. • Wide gaps observed between expert’ perceptions (e.g. CPI) and citizens’ actual experiences (e.g. Global Corruption Barometer) • Bottom line: Expert perceptions cannot be used as a satisfactory proxy

7. Dearth of country-level governance data in Africa • Few countries have permanent monitoring systems that supply governance data • Impetus for governance surveys tends to be external • at the ‘suggestion’ of a donor • when external funding is available • unlikely to be repeated over time • Lack of time series data hinders govt efforts to implement good performance management

8. UNDP Supported Country Governance Assessments ● Mongolia ● Tajikistan ● Macedonia Barbados & ● Eastern Caribbean ● Iraq ● Bhutan ● Mexico ● Egypt ● Senegal ● Dom. Rep ● Nicaragua ● Djibouti ● Nigeria ● Rwanda ● Indonesia ● Malawi ● Angola ●Chile

9. Ten features of an effective country-led governance assessment • Alignment to national political priorities and processes • Assessment is country contextualized • Methodology is rigorous • Selection of indicators is transparent and participatory • Results are stored in a public national database • Indicators are pro-poor and gender-sensitive • Capacity of national stakeholders is developed • Cost-effective and timely • The results are widely communicated • The assessment is repeated UNESCO/Loock F.

11. The series offers: • A menu of indicators and tools ready to be used • Guidance to comparative indices • How-to conduct a country-led assessments • Case studies and good practices • Voices from the trenches Users’ Guides to Measuring

12. Africa Forum on Civil Society and Gov Assessments: “NSOs have an important [yet underappreciated] role to play” • Africa Forum on Civil Society and Governance Assessments (Dakar, November 2011) – jointly organized by UNDP, Trust Africa, Civicus, the African Governance Institute, and Congad • Forum highlighted the underutilized potential of African NSOs to help strengthen DG, by revealing the wishes of the public and empowering ‘voiceless’ sections of the population through the regular production of governance statistics • Particularly important for NSOs to play this role in countries where civil society struggles to take part in policy discussions

13. A ‘natural’ responsibility for National Statistical Offices Value-added of NSOs for collecting governance data through public surveys: • NSOs have technical expertise in household surveys; • Such surveys allow for the collection of both objective (actual experiences) ANDsubjective (perception, opinion and satisfaction) data on governance; • With relatively small random probability samples, NSOs can produce highly accurate and cost-effective results; • Governance data + socio-economic characteristics (income, occupation, gender, age, ethnic group, etc.)  disparities & discrimination revealed

14. A ‘natural’ responsibility for National Statistical Offices • Governance surveys serve a ‘public service mission’  therefore requires public funds [just like for the collection of socio-economic statistics] • Production of time series made easy through inclusion of governance modules into national statistical data collection system • Legitimacy and credibility of survey results in the eyes of government may be enhanced if data collected by NSOs (organs of the State vs. independent NGOs)  results more likely to be used by government

15. Proposed workshop in Dakar (follow-up to Nairobi) • Co-organized by UNDP & Afrobarometer • Oct. or Nov. 2012 • For NSOs of West and Central Africa[+others if interested] and UNDP staff • To strengthen the capacities of NSOs to collect governance data through statistical surveys • To demonstrate the policy relevance of such data • To demonstrate the ease of collection of such data

16. Proposed workshop in Dakar (follow-up to Nairobi) Framework for discussing opportunities & challenges for governance data collection by NSOs: 6 ‘best practices principles’ enshrined in the African Charter on Statistics

18. Thank you! joachim.nahem@undp.org