World Peace: Assessing-2

Sustainable development. The questionnaire of ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives) addresses many issues that can be used as the basis for indicators of sustainable development. Here are some of the highlights :

* Is there a municipal council decision for a local sustainable development process or plan, and, if so, what resources have been made available (dedicated staff, time from other staff, budget allocation, in-kind support) and over what time period?

* What other stakeholder organizations have been involved and to what extent (business associations, small to medium enterprises, large companies/industry, job recruitment agencies, trade unions, community groups working with particular constituencies, religious and other non-governmental organizations, environmental organizations, municipal departments of public services, utilities, etc., schools and universities, etc.)

* Does the local authority provide training (and if so, how much) on sustainable development issues to: councilors? senior staff? other staff? stakeholders?

* Does the local authority raise awareness of sustainable development issues in the community (if so, how much) through: local media? newsletters? leaflets? websites? public lectures? open days? exhibitions and festivals? events with specific target groups such as schools or business? Creative approaches such as arts and theatre?

* How many of the following issues are addressed in your local government process/plan for sustainable development: local economy? green business? social economy? employment? social cohesion? health & safety? natural resources? energy? waste & pollution? fair trade? sustainable lifestyles, global climate protection? public and alternative transportation? land use? urban management tools? [editor's note: I would add here another important issue which is local agricultural development and markets, including organic farming]

* Has measurable progress been achieved in terms of policy and/or tangible results in the preceding list of issues?

* To what extent is the local authority networking with other local authorities on local sustainable development issues?

Human rights. As mentioned earlier, the City of São Paulo (2008) has measured human rights in the 31 sub-prefectures of that city for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006. General socio-economic indicators included income levels, sewer access, literacy, housing, employment and infant mortality. Violence indicators included homicide, assault and deaths by police action. Indicators for children and youth included levels of education, hospitalization for acute respiratory infection, illegal acts and institutionalization for aggression. Indicators for women included comparisons with men for level of unemployment and income, votes for female candidates for city council, and rates of abortion, teenage pregnancy, death in childbirth, and access to prenatal care. Indicators for Blacks were, for the most part, similar to those for women: comparisons with whites for level of unemployment and income, rates of teenage pregnancy and access to prenatal care, as well as a comparison of homicide rates of Blacks and whites.

The maps of São Paulo, according to the human rights measures, provide a remarkable picture of the progress towards human rights in that city. Over the three years measured, there has been a measurable progress: in 2004 only three subprefectures had high levels of human rights while six were precarious. By 2006, the situation had reversed and seven had high levels while only two were precarious. The São Paulo data have policy implications. They identify the neighborhoods where the city needs to concentrate its efforts regarding each of the various aspects of human rights. In this regard, each subprefecture has its strong points and its weak points. No subprefecture has a high rating in all five components. For example, while Aricanduva, Vila Mariana, Pinheiros, Sé, Lapa, Butantá and Santana/Tucuruvi are high in the socioeconomic rights, they are all low on the dimension of Negro rights, where instead the highest scores are those of Campo Limpo, Cap.Socorro, Cidade Ademar, Cidade Tiradentes, Guaianases, M'Boi Mirim and São Mateus.

Democratic participation. The International Observatory on Participatory Democracy (2006) has produced a methodology for evaluating participatory democracy which is available on the Internet. In addition to participatory budgeting, it provides suggestions for the evaluation of other municipal processes such as the preparation of strategic municipal plans, local economic development, sustainability, and education projects.

Although it does not provide specific quantitative indicators, the OIDP methodology does provide general principles for evaluation of specific initiatives and processes, which include the following: consensus, initiative and leadership; integration in the municipal system, clarity of objectives, planning and resources, number and diversity of participants in initiatives, openness of the process, relevance to people's lives, level of participation including capacity to make proposals, quality of information provided, results implementation and feedback, improvement of relationships among participants, and training. For details, see their website (International Observatory on Participatory Democracy, 2006).

Women's equality. A specific list of indicators for women's equality has been published by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, as mentioned earlier. Here are some of the gender-specific items. The full list is available on the Internet (Federation of Canadian Municipalities, 2004).

Affirmative action policies in municipal political parties and parity in committees, commissions and para-municipal enterprises

Network of elected women representatives

Council-adopted policy on gender equality developed through public consultation and carried out via annual municipal plan of action

Public consultation policies with mechanisms to encourage women's participation

Policies and commitments to fight violence against women and increase their safety

Gender perspective in all programs including annual municipal budget and sectoral budgets

Annual gender equality action plan with specific goals, indicators, budget as well as access to gender-disaggregated data on all urban issues and gender impact assessment of urban policies, programs and service delivery

Training in gender mainstreaming for elected officials and staff, men and women

Equal opportunity program for hiring with specific targets for different types of jobs

Women's advisory council, commission or committee within council to monitor implementation of gender equality policy as well as women's advisory councils in the boroughs, neighborhoods or districts

Tolerance and solidarity. Faced with serious problems of tensions between different populations, including minorities and immigrants, the Council of Europe has undertaken the task of measuring social cohesion with an extensive array of questions and indicators. The list of questions is too long to summarize here. Even if one combines the separate sections for minorities and immigrants, there remain over 200 questions, most of which concern differences in the conditions of life between these groups and the general population. For details, see Council of Europe (2005).

Transparency. The Spanish organization, Transparency International España has taken the lead in evaluating transparency at the municipal level. Their publication, "Indice de Transparencia de los Ayuntamientos 2008," measures transparency in 100 Spanish municipalities.

Among the kinds of information covered by the Spanish indicators are the various municipal offices and functions, all agendas, decisions, acts, agreements, decrees and regulations of the city council or its equivalent, rules and regulations for citizen participation, and extensive information on accounting and finances for all city planning and public works, bidding procedures, contracts, etc. A special emphasis is put on making extensive information about these and related matters available to the public via the Internet. For details, see the Website of Transparency International España (2008).

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