Defining Good Governance Assessment Frameworks

Objective 9.1 – Promote transparency, accountability and anticorruption

Objective 9.2 – Enforce the rule of law

Marie LabergeUNDP Oslo Governance Centre

Outline

1) Objective 9.2 – Enforce the rule of law• UNDP framework for assessing access to justice• Balanced baskets of indicators

2) Objective 9.1 – Promote transparency, accountability and anticorruption• Users’ Guide to Measuring Corruption• How to measure integrity (as opposed to corruption)• Survey data: Public servants (Afghanistan)

3) Relevant regional frameworks • Arab Democracy Index: What indicators are used?• Public survey: Arab Barometer

Objective 9.2 – Enforce the Rule of Law

Rule of law: What, why, how to measure it

1) Principle of equality:

• Ensure that no one is immune from the law

• “By ‘rule of law’ [we refer to] efforts to extend rights usually first enjoyed by elites to the wider population”

2) Particular importance in post-conflict setting:

• Rule of law is crucial to the legitimacy of the state

• When laws are too far detached from reality disillusionment within society about legitimacy of state (unable to enforce one set of rules)

Rule of law: What, why, how to measure it

3) Measurement implications:

• Need to go beyond assessing the mere existence of laws (de jure indicators)

• Need to measure whether a new constitution or a new set of laws leads to actual changes on how a government is run, business is done, conflict is managed, or criminal activity is curbed (de facto indicators)

Rule of law: What does the NDP say

Some key issues:

1) Regulations/instructions for the efficient implementation of the NDP

2) Division of powers between central and local governments

3) Leadership & decision-making power not concentrated into the hands of a few

4) Investment climate5) Fiscal decentralization6) Procurement procedures7) Fiscal policy

World Bank – ‘Rule of Law’ Indicator:

Measures the extent to which agents have confidence in and abide by the rules of

society, and in particular the quality of contract enforcement, the police, and the

courts, as well as the likelihood of crime and violence.

“Implementation efficiency” of the NDP (1)In order for ministries, related bodies and governorates to adhere to the implementation of the plan within the timeframes and estimated project costs, there should be legislation for the plan issued by the state along with certain regulations and instructions.

A) Expenditures:• Difference between actual expenditure and

the originally budgeted expenditure (in approved budget)

• Composition of expenditure compared to original approved budget (change in allocations to sectors of interest to the poor / vulnerable groups / women that have been)

“Implementation efficiency” of the NDP (1)

B) Planning:• Multi-year perspective in fiscal planning,

expenditure policy and budgeting • Existence of sector strategies with multi-

year costing of recurrent and investment expenditure

• Linkages between investment budgets and forward expenditure estimates

C) Control systems:• Coverage and quality of the internal audit

function. • Frequency and distribution of audit reports • Extent of management response to internal

audit findings

Define and separate the powers and functions of governorates and central ministries (2)

• Existence (and awareness/understanding by key actors) of laws that regulate the operations of governorates

• Existence and effective functioning of a

mechanism for coordination between central & governorate level

• Number of decentralized social services implemented in governorates (disag.)

• % key positions filled in the local civil service vs.

vacancies

Decentralized disbursement through governorate treasuries (5)

• Evidence of a transparent and rule-based systems in the allocation among local governments of transfers from central government (both budgeted and actual allocations)

• Timeliness of reliable information to local governments on their allocations from central government for the coming year

• Availability of information on resources received by service delivery units (health clinics, schools): Routine data collection or accounting systems providing reliable information on all types of resources received in cash and in kind

Assign powers and leadership at ministerial and governorate levels rather than limiting such authority to ministers, deputy ministers and governors (3)

For instance, who participates in the annual budget process? At which stage?

• Existence of and adherence to a fixed budget formulation calendar

• Extent of political involvement (& at what level) in the guidance on the preparation of budget submissions

Create a productive investment climate for local and foreign private sector (4)

Two useful methodologies to examine the quality of the ‘business environment’ (unofficial payments & corruption, crime, regulations and red tape, customs and taxes, labor issues, firm financing, legal and judicial issues, infrastructure)

1) Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS) – by WB & EBRD

2) ‘Ease of Doing Business’ index (WB)

Review & modify procurement procedures (6)

• Evidence on the use of open competition for award of contracts that exceed the nationally established monetary threshold for small purchases

• Extent of justification for use of less competitive procurement methods

• Existence and operation of a procurement complaints mechanism

Sound fiscal policy (7)

• Effectiveness in collection of tax payments

• The level of extra-budgetary expenditure (other than donor funded projects) which is unreported i.e. not included in fiscal reports (audit report)

• Public access to key fiscal information (annual budget documentation)

Open Budget Index

Open Budget Index (122 indicators)

A) Availability, timeliness of release & public access to budget documents (budget proposals, enacted budget, in-year budget execution reports, year-end financial statements, etc.)

B) Budget process:

• Opportunity for public participation in budget process?

• Legislative approval of the budget formulated by the Executive?

• Ability of key oversight institutions to hold the executive accountable? (e.g. Does the executive present more details on any budget proposal if members of the legislature (including from minority parties) request such information?)

And the justice system?

• How long does it typically take for the courts to resolve a criminal case such as petty theft? …to resolve a civil case such as tenant-landlord disputes?

• % citizens who say that they have access to the court system, disaggregated by gender, income level, region, etc.

• % citizens who say that the police will respond to them without requiring a bribe if called to resolve a dispute, disaggregated by gender, income level, region, etc.

• % accused persons legally represented at court appearances, disaggregated by gender, income level, region, etc.

• Ratio of prosecution caseloads in courts serving wealthier communities to those in courts serving marginalized communities

UNDP framework for assessing access to justice: Parameters

1. Citizens’ trust in the justice system

2. Legal protection of rights & remedies

3. Legal awareness

4. Legal aid and counsel

5. Investigation

6. Detention

7. Prosecution

8. Judicial adjudication

9. Administrative dispute resolution

10. Informal and traditional dispute resolution

11. Enforcement

12. Civil society & parliamentary oversight

The Arab Democracy Index• First governance index produced by an Arab

institution (Arab Reform Initiative) • Data collected by consortium of Arab research

centres & universities • Covers 10 countries• 40 indicators

Some measure the ‘tools’ (means) of democratic transition (legislation) – ‘de jure’ indicators

Some measure the ‘practices’ (results) of democratic transition – ‘de facto’ indicators

• Sources of data: Government & non-govt Citizen’s impressions used for 25% indicators

The Arab Democracy Index4 thematic areas:

1) Strong & accountable public institutions E.g. Separation of powers, accountability of

government2) Rule of law

E.g. Independence of judiciary, prevalence of arbitrary detention

3) Respect for rights & freedoms E.g. Freedom of political parties, ability to

organize demonstrations4) Equality & social justice

E.g. Illiteracy rates among men & women, % of male & female university graduates, etc.