Organisational framework of the project and related administrative procedures

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Measuring Progress in Democracy and Human
Rights Why? How? To whom? By Jan Robert
Suesser and Raul Suarez de Miguel Second OECD
World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge and
Policy Measuring and Fostering the Progress of
Societies Istanbul, Turkey, 27-30 July 2007
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INDICATORS OF PROGRESSIN THE AGE OF GLOBAL
HUMANISM
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AN EVOLVING PARADIGM OF PROGRESS

• Enlightenment knowledge and freedom (18th cent.)
• Modern science and technology (19th20th cent.)
• Economic growth / economic integration (40s-60s)
• Social integration / fair distribution of wealth
  (60s)
• Quality of life (70s and 80s)
• Human development (80s and 90s)
• Sustainable development (90s and 00s)
• Millennium Development Goals (late 90s and 00s)
• Now, happiness ?

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A GLOBAL PARADIGM OF PROGRESS

• Universally shared values
• Universally shared goals
• Universally shared tools

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THREE KEY DIMENSIONS OF PROGRESS

• Human rights
• Democratic participation
• Governance and accountability

THAT DESERVE PROPER MEASUREMENT
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A NEED FOR EVIDENCE-BASED ASSESSMENT IS EMERGING
WORLDWIDE

• Huge demand for robust data and meaningful
  indicators (national policy actors and civil
  society, international institutions, development
  agencies).
• Many measuring initiatives are being implemented
  in different regions of the world.
• Partly identified through a global survey, these
  initiatives are being documented in an inventory,
  available on-line in www.metagora.org.

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ON-GOING MEASURING EFFORTS INCLUDE

• Global initiatives to build indicators of
  democracy, human rights and governance
• Regional initiatives to set-up evidence-based
  monitoring mechanisms
• National and local initiatives to measure human
  rights and democratic governance

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THESE INITIATIVES PRESENT SEVERAL LIMITATIONS

• International indicators are of rather limited
  use in assessing the impact of national policies.
  Their sources and methods are often opaque and
  their comparative scope (ranking) is broadly
  questioned.
• Regional initiatives are still incipient.
• National and local initiatives are too often
  based on rather rudimentary quantitative methods.
  They are implemented with very limited human,
  technical and financial resources.

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2. THE METAGORA PROJECT APPROACH, METHOD AND
LESSONS
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CAN HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE REALLY
BE MEASURED ?

• By whom?
• With which methods?
• Under which conditions?
• For which purposes?

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METAGORA FORMULATES RESPONSES, RELYING ON ITS
2004-2006 EXPERIENCE
Several pilot national experiences were carried
out in various regions of the world.These pilot
experiences, which willingly addressed sensitive
issues, were selected by national stakeholders in
different political, social and cultural contexts
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A Decentralized Laboratory
Content
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• THESE PILOT EXPERIENCES WERE CONDUCTED BY
  SEVERAL ORGANIZATIONS
• gathering together and sharing their specific
  expertise within a North/South community

• Human Rights Institutions
• Research Organizations
• Civil Society Organizations
• National Statistical Offices
• Governmental bodies

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ADRESSING SOME BASIC QUESTIONS

• Can multidimensional human rights and democratic
  governance issues be measured through surveys?
• Will people respond to sensitive questions?
• Will the gathered information be statistically
  significant and politically relevant?
• Can official statistical agencies be involved?

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METAGORA METHOD OF WORK (1)A bottom-up approach
consisting of

• identifying with stakeholders national key issues
  for which evidence-based assessment could be
  policy relevant
• applying statistical methods adapted to each
  particular context
• assessing these methods for their capacity to
  provide policy-relevant results
• providing stakeholders with a shared knowledge
  on the policy issues at stake
• contributing to draw shared lessons from the
  pilot experiences.

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METAGORA METHOD OF WORK (2)

• The Metagora bottom-up approach complements the
  top-down global approaches to measure democracy,
  human rights and governance.
• It aims at generating measurement tools which can
  contribute at designing, implementing and
  evaluating national and local policies.
• Its primary goal is not to compare national
  performances or to make international ranking,
  but to address major national issues.

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ENHANCING NATIONAL CAPACITIES

• Metagora promotes and stimulates
• participatory processes based on large
  consultative mechanisms
• mutual learning among the national stakeholders
  and actors committed in national pilot
  experiences
• international transfer of skills
• fostering, through increased authoritative
  skills, the leading role of key national
  institutions and actors.

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DRAWING LESSONS FROM THE METAGORA PILOT
EXPERIENCES

• 1. Measuring human rights and democratic
  governance is technically feasible and
  politically relevant. Sensitive data on human
  rights, democracy and governance can be collected
  and analysed using statistical tools.
• 2. On the basis of this information, indicators
  can be produced that are relevant and useful for
  political decision and action.

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DRAWING LESSONS FROM THE METAGORA PILOT
EXPERIENCES

• 3. Quantitative data and qualitative information
  can and should interrelate to properly inform
  assessment of human rights and democratic
  governance.
• 4. Official Statistical Agencies can be
  efficiently involved in various forms in
  evidence-based assessment of human rights and
  democratic governance. Nevertheless the
  decision on such an involvement should be taken
  along a national coherent strategy for the
  development of the national statistical system.

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DRAWING LESSONS FROM THE METAGORA PILOT
EXPERIENCES

• 5. Quantitative indicators and statistical
  analysis bring a significant value-added to the
  work of national Human Rights Institutions.
• 6. Statistical methods can substantially enhance
  the research and advocacy of civil society
  organizations in the fields of human rights and
  democracy.
• 7. Available statistical data should be used to
  structure and inter-relate relevant indicators of
  social, economic and cultural rights.

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DRAWING LESSONS FROM THE METAGORA PILOT
EXPERIENCES

• 8. Indicators gain relevance when they
• Are related to specific public policies and
  programs
• make evident the accountability of identifiable
  public authorities
• allow to address specific human rights issues for
  specific populations
• serve as basis for democratic dialogue, policy
  design and decision-making processes.

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DRAWING LESSONS FROM THE METAGORA PILOT
EXPERIENCES

• 9. To become sustainable, statistics and
  indicators must
• be nationally based and owned (appropriation)
• Rely on independent and robust professional
  basis
• enjoy a broad social and political legitimacy
• be authoritatively institutionalised
• be financed through ad-hoc headings of public
  budgets.

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3. TOPICAL EXAMPLES OF WHAT CAN BE
MEASURED
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Example measuring irregularities, abuse of power
and ill-treatment in Mexico City (Federal
District)
Incidence of contact with public security and
procurement of justice authorities
Target population persons aged 15 or more living
in the Federal District (6,400,000
persons) Reference period events occurred
between November 2003 and October 2004
Measuring method random sample household
survey, conducted through face-to-face interviews.
Incidence of abuse
Type of abuse
Persons without abuse 47
Persons with contact 24
Persons with abuse 53
Persons with non-physical abuse 93
Persons with physical ill-treatment 7
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Example Non-physical abuse in contacts with law
enforcement authorities
(Survey results correspond to 2,300,000 contacts
experienced by 1,520,000 persons)
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Example Reasons for not reporting abuses
(spontaneous multi-answer)

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Example incidence of corruption within public
agencies in Peru
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Example levels of corruption and civil servants
wages in Antananarivo, Madagascar
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Example in Peru, support for democratic regime
weakens as corruption perception increases
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Example measuring dimensions of democracy are
they fundamental? Are they respected?
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Example comparing expectations for and respect
of democratic principles in French speaking Africa
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Example comparing support to democracy in Andean
countries
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Example how important is democracy for people in
Ecuador?
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Example linking quantitative and qualitative
approaches to assess indigenous peoples rights
in the Philippines
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COMPARING OFFICIAL STATISTICS WITH EXPERTS VIEWS

• Appended Module to Regular Household Surveys
  conducted by National Statistical Offices in
  French Speaking Africa (35,600 persons
  interviewed 4,500 for each capital city in
  average)
• Expert panel survey (Mirror survey) conducted
  by DIAL-France (246 persons surveyed 30 experts
  for each country in average).
• In Madagascar, results are drawn from the 2003
  survey.

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How far can we trust experts opinion ?
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How far can we trust experts opinion ?
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ASSESSING ACHIEVEMENTS, DOCUMENTING PILOT
EXPERIENCES AND PRODUCING TRAINING MATERIALS

• An independent panel of senior experts is
  monitoring the process and assessing the outcomes
  of the Metagora pilot experiences.
• Experiences, problems encountered and lessons
  learned were documented in the form of on-line
  training materials aimed at facilitating the
  replication and extension of the pilot
  experiences in other countries and other
  contexts.

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UPCOMING CHALLENGES

• Consolidating the working method
• Replicating and extending the pilot experiences
• Enlarging the Metagora community
• Enhancing the policy impact
• Enriching the methodology and tool box
• Financing field operations and analytical work

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Warm Thanks for Your Attention !