Actionable Governance Indicators:

1. Actionable Governance Indicators: Anti-Corruption and Institutional Assessments to Inform Policy Reform Choices

2. Who We Are Global Integrity is an international nonprofit organization that works with in-country teams of experts to track governance and corruption trends around the world.

3. Our Mission “As an independent information provider, we collect and disseminate credible, comprehensive and timely information on good governance and corruption. We produce original reporting and quantitative analysis to promote accountable and democratic global governance that is in the public interest.”

4. What We Do Flagship national assessments: annual Global Integrity Report. Sub-national assessments as part of our Local Integrity Initiative. In-country stakeholder workshops: Global Integrity Dialogues.

5. Global Integrity Approach By its nature, corruption is almost impossible to measure with any degree of accuracy: difficult to measure what you can’t see. It is however possible to assess the laws, mechanisms, and institutions that should curb, deter, or prevent abuses of power, including their implementation. Our Integrity Indicators approach assesses anti-corruption/national integrity architectures of a country. They measure the medicine, not the disease of corruption.

6. The Demand for Metrics Whether we like it or not, there is a growing demand for quantitative corruption metrics. Demand is increasing with the rise of the “governance agenda” in development circles. Metrics seen as essential for tracking progress of reforms and for monitoring & evaluation.

7. Frequently Used Metrics Transparency International: Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI); Bribe Payers Index. World Bank Institute’s Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI). Freedom House’s Freedom in the World and Countries at a Crossroads data. Global Integrity, Open Budget Index, BEEPS, PEFA, DIAL, Ibrahim Index. First Generation Second Generation

8. The Challenge Virtually all existing governance/anti-corruption/corruption indicators are not suitable for cross-country comparisons or for tracking changes over time (Uses and Abuses of Governance Indicators, Arndt & Oman, OECD 2006). Yet, existing toolkits are often misunderstood and misused despite explicit warnings about their limitations. Misuse of indicators, coupled with serious time lags inherent in most data, undercuts political will for reform: why bother reforming if you can never catch up to a process you can’t affect?

9. Global Integrity data only really exist for 2004 & 2006…yet it is made to appear as if 2003, 2005, and 2007 do also!

10. Strengths & Weaknesses of the Most Widely Used Data Aggregate indicators (CPI, WBI): Easy to gather many voices and smooth out outliers, but not appropriate for tracking change over time or change across countries. Rarely yields “actionable” data. Global coverage a plus. Expert assessments (GI, OBI, FH, PEFA): Much more challenging and resource-intensive process, but far more “actionable” and accessible to policymakers and practitioners. Tracking change over time and across countries possible.

11. Black Box Corruption?

12. Black Box Outcomes Survey says, “You’ve got corruption!” Corruption?

13. Inputs Black Box Outcomes History Geography Economy Institutions & Public Policy* Survey says, “You’ve got corruption!” Corruption?

14. *Things we (including governments) can change. Inputs Black Box Outcomes History Geography Economy Institutions & Public Policy* Survey says, “You’ve got corruption!” Corruption?

15. *Things we can change. Civil Society Practices & Freedoms Media Practices & Freedoms Access to Information Political Participation Election Integrity Political Financing Government Accountability Budget Practices Civil Service Regulations Whistle-Blowing Measures Procurement Safeguards Privatization Safeguards National Ombudsman Government Auditing Taxes and Customs Practices State-Owned Enterprise Safeguards Business Licensing and Regulation Anti-Bribery Laws Anti-Corruption Agency Law Enforcement Oversight

16. INTEGRITY INDICATORS Civil Society Practices & Freedoms Media Practices & Freedoms Access to Information Political Participation Election Integrity Political Financing Government Accountability Budget Practices Civil Service Regulations Whistle-Blowing Measures Procurement Safeguards Privatization Safeguards National Ombudsman Government Auditing Taxes and Customs Practices State-Owned Enterprise Safeguards Business Licensing and Regulation Anti-Bribery Laws Anti-Corruption Agency Law Enforcement Oversight

17. Things we can’t change “How well or badly do you think your current government is handling the following matters: (choices)….Fighting Corruption in Government [very badly, fairly badly, fairly well, very well, haven’t heard enough]” – Afrobarometer “How problematic is corruption for the growth of your business?” – Business Enterprise Surveys “Is corruption in government widespread?” – Gallup World Poll Less-Actionable Indicators

18. INTEGRITY INDICATORS Up-to-date progress reports tracking incremental reform. “Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize”

19. Global Integrity Report: 2008 • 320 discrete questions per country (15,000+ data points in 2008) • “In law” vs. “In practice” – capturing the implementation gap • Each indicator has a score, an explanatory comment and a supporting • reference • Ordinal scoring (0, 25, 50, 75, 100) anchored by unique scoring criteria • Double-blind and transparent peer review comments for many indicators (15,000+ in 2008) • Margins of error for country-level scores • 110% transparency: all disaggregated scores, comments, references, • and peer review comments published.

20. 260+ contributors in 2008

21. How we choose our experts • Open annual global recruiting • Referrals from friends and colleagues in country/region • In-depth background checking by Global Integrity staff • Performance over time • Today: more than 700 experts in 92 countries

22. Global Integrity Report: 2008 In each country report: Corruption Timeline Reporter’s Notebook Integrity Indicators Integrity Indicators scores Commentary & References

23. Global Integrity Report: 2008 Datapoints in country rankings/Index Datapoints in full set of 15,000+ Integrity Indicators

24. Cambodia Indonesia ThePhilippines

25. Cambodia Indonesia ThePhilippines

28. Global Integrity Report: 2008 Key Findings (a sample of actionable findings)

29. Global Integrity Report: 2008 • Political financing is once again the lowest performing category worldwide A global actionable trend

30. Global Integrity Report: 2008 • Biggest performance lag in Arab world is poor access to government information. A regional actionable trend

31. Global Integrity Report: 2008 • The Philippines is a classic case of a world-class legal and institutional anti-corruption framework undermined by inconsistent implementation. Note the Very Large Implementation Gap Note the above-average legal framework A national trend

32. Top 7 Good Practices Set Appropriate Expectations Link Data to Appropriate Impact Do No Harm/Use Data Responsibly Avoid the “Ownership” Cliché, but… Use Local Experts Avoid the “Usual Suspects” Go Deep Rather Than Wide

33. Set Expectations Appropriately • Know what you want to measure • “Numbers” are not always the answer • No silver bullets • Don’t shy away from political-economy analysis Top 7 Good Practices

34. Link Data to Appropriate “Impact” • Not all governance reforms can (or should) be linked to measureable poverty reduction/MDGs. • Better approach: use detailed, rigorous household/firm/government official surveys and focus groups to show: • Changes in experiences (volume and frequency of bribes) • Changes in transparency- and accountability-oriented policies. • If possible in sector work, links to improved service delivery Top 7 Good Practices

35. Do No Harm/Use Data Responsibly Worst case abuse: “The contractor should deliver a 15% increase in the country’s score on the next round of the Corruption Perceptions Index.” Not only is this impossible, but also irresponsible and misleading to government. Top 7 Good Practices

36. Avoid the “Ownership” Cliché Country ownership only works when government is an honest broker, is serious about reforms, and has the capacity/political will to implement reforms. Country ownership in Philippines? Sure. Burma? No. Top 7 Good Practices

37. Leverage Local Expertise If not “country owned,” then at least make use of local experts to avoid the results being viewed as external “judging.” Top 7 Good Practices

38. Avoid the “Usual Suspects”Approach If PETS in Uganda, Citizen Scorecards in Bangladesh, and core drilling of roads in Indonesia were so formulaically successful, we would have seen more of those projects around the world. Their absence suggests they’re the exception, not the rule. Top 7 Good Practices

39. Go Deep Rather Than Wide Sub-national and sector assessments represent the bleeding-edge of the agenda. Very few templates/examples currently available, offering an opportunity for creative thinking and groundbreaking work. Top 7 Good Practices

40. Email: info@globalintegrity.orgWebsite: http://www.globalintegrity.org We’re blogging at the Global Integrity Commons:http://commons.globalintegrity.org