Supporting country-led democratic governance assessments

Governance assessments have been an increasing priority for donors and national development partners alike, especially in the last five years. Country-led democratic governance assessments help to foster inclusive participation, strengthen accountable and responsive governing institutions, and ground governance in international principles of human rights, gender equity and integrity.

This publication outlines a strategic framework to support country-led governance assessments. It defines country-led governance assessments and reflects on lessons learned from assessment processes that have been undertaken and are ongoing. It also offers practical guidance for practitioners from donor organisations by providing a framework, with main support areas, for future interventions.

The paper provides the following findings:

• The value of a country-led governance assessment serves as a critical accountability and transparency mechanism for governance performance. Democratic governance is more likely to be sustained if targets for attainment and expectations of how governments should perform are formulated by those who live within the political system
  
• When local actors participate in the assessment process, it stimulates their demand for governance information and a demand for greater accountability from government
  
• Governance assessments must further the principles of accountability to local stakeholders; help broaden and promote representative participation; and increase transparency through access to information.

The paper also provides recommendations such as:

• For country-led assessments to provide more depth into a particular policy issue, they must integrate a focus on marginalized and vulnerable groups. Country-specific and disaggregated indicators will help identify specific institutions and practices that perpetuate unfair and sub-standard provision of services to these groups
  
• A key role for donor organisations is to support national partners in developing, undertaking and using contextualized assessments that conform to global standards, that are grounded in local ownership and that enable all stakeholders to monitor governance performance, especially its impact on vulnerable groups, within their country over time.