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Measuring Democratic Governance: A Framework for Selecting Pro-poor and Gender Sensitive Indicators

Author: United Nations Development Programme
Date: 2006
Size: 60 pages

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Summary

How should we measure democratic governance? Most indicators are developed by external stakeholders to compare nation states and are not designed to help countries undertake governance reforms. This UNDP guide presents a framework for generating pro-poor gender sensitive indicators to help policy makers monitor and evaluate democratic governance at the country level. It argues that indicator selection is itself a governance process.

Measuring democracy is a complex task. Indicators help show how much progress is being made towards goals set out in national development plans. Even when indicators are developed by national stakeholders, they often fail to focus on poorer groups and the different experiences of men and women. The Democracy Assessment Framework from The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) is a useful source of basic principles. From it, key democratic values can be drawn: participation, representation, accountability, transparency, responsiveness, efficiency and equity.

There are four senses in which indicators may be considered pro-poor or gender specific:

• Disaggregated by poverty status or sex. For example, the ratio of male to female voters.
• Specific to the poor or gender specific. For example, the proportion of cases brought to trial from non-poor households.
• Implicitly pro-poor or gendered. For example, hours per day that polling booths are open (opportunity for labourers and shift workers to vote).
• Chosen by the poor or chosen separately by men and women. For example, the percentage of women who say they are given adequate information on their rights.

Three tools can be used to assess the need for pro-poor and gender sensitive indicators:

• A set of key questions themed around areas of governance
• A process flow chart showing steps within legal, administrative and political processes
• An integrated indicator matrix providing an overall picture of where gender sensitive and pro-poor indicators are needed.

The following points are important in relation to the implementation of this framework:

• The framework can be applied to seven areas of governance: parliamentary development, electoral systems and processes, human rights, justice, access to information and the media, decentralisation and local governance, and public administration reform and anti-corruption.
• Countries where no poverty monitoring system is in place can follow a timetable of activities leading up to indicator selection. This begins with an announcement of the intention to develop pro-poor gender sensitive ways of measuring governance.
• Substantial data is needed to support pro-poor and gender sensitive indicators. This may be from single or multiple sources including surveys, administrative data and qualitative methods. Second-generation indicators promise to improve the quality of statistics.
• These tools can only be used to promote pro-poor and gender sensitive governance if they are supported by a range of national stakeholders. Inclusive and participatory debate should inform indicator selection and processes of data collection and evaluation.

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Source: Scott, C. and Wilde, A., 2006, 'Measuring Democratic Governance: A framework for selecting pro-poor and gender sensitive indicators', United Nations Development Programme, Oslo