Governance strategy for the Washington City Group Comments on draft proposal by Howard Meltzer (UK) February 19-20 Brussels

1
Governance strategy for the Washington City
GroupComments on draft proposal byHoward
Meltzer (UK)February 19-20Brussels
2
What is governance? What should it cover?

• System of decision making processes
• Roles - contribution made to the group
• Responsibilities - areas which show leadership
  and manage resources
• Accountabilities - the outcomes for which they
  are answerable.
• Roles, responsibilities and accountabilities are
  only meaningful in the context of the purpose of
  the group.

3
Relationship between governance and purpose

• The preamble to the draft proposal should be
  renamed Terms of reference and include a
  general statement of the main purpose of the
  group.
• The main purpose of the WCG is the promotion and
  co-ordination of international co-operation in
  the area of heath statistics by focusing on
  disability measures suitable for censuses and
  national surveys for the purpose of policy
  formulation and analysis.
• Expand purpose of policy to include conclusion
  of position paper.

4
From general purpose to specific aims

• The Terms of reference should include
  statements of the specific aims of the group.
• These specific aims should describe outputs (type
  of disability measures) with a prioritisation
  rating.
• Methodological issues represent operational
  qualifications of the implementation of the
  disability measures and as such are part of the
  WCG discussions but not a specific aim.

5
Evaluation of disability measures

• For high priority measures the WCG should assess
• the suitability of the indicator for policy
  purposes
• the technical properties of each measure
• general availability in a wide range of
  countries
• use for national policies and priorities (where
  known)
• frequency with which comparisons should be made.

6
Operating principles and structure

• Who are the stakeholders and what is their
  relative influence and accountability?
• What are the arrangements for reviewing and
  ensuring compliance with governance principles
  especially for a group where participation is
  voluntary?
• If meetings are held each year, what reports are
  expected and when?