Local Government LAB

The chronic shortage of financial resources requires a more rigorous and careful employment of public funds by governments all over the world. Any modern and competitive democracy must be able to spend public money without any wastes and to measure the public machine’s effectiveness, which is the base for its economic growth and overall development.
This capability is fundamental to regain the confidence of citizens, who are users, stakeholders and, through taxation, even shareholders of the public machine It is also required by investors and international authorities, who rely on qualitative assessments of a good local governance, as the base of the national wealth.
The LocGov LAB (Laboratory for the assesment of local governments) comes from an idea developed by Fondazione Etica, which created an index to satisfy those requirements: it’s named Public Rating (PER).

It’s an evaluation model that allows to measure public performance not only from a financial point of view, but also from a qualitative one (governance, public services, public procurements, etc.) through the application of the sustainability criteria.

While International Rating Agencies analyze States and Municipalities only from an economic and financial point of view, the Public Rating also considers more qualitative information, regarding, for example, governance and the level of quality of public services.
The Public Rating has the following goals:

• to spend less public money and to spend it better;
• to improve the performance of the public system with more efficient public services;
• to guarantee transparency and accountability (e-government);
• to prevent corruption;
• to involve citizens (civic engagement and capacity building);
• to make a community more inclusive and cohesive.

Transparency, performance and anti-corruption have to become not formal prescriptions, but an occasion for the improvement of a Government and for positive participation by citizens.

The Italian National Authority against Corruption defined Transparency as “the guarantee condition for individual and collective freedom and for civil, political and social rights” also “matching an efficient Public Administration with an open Administration” (Resolution n.1309, December 2016).
In 2012 the value of the Public Rating evaluation model was recognized by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (the Italian Bank for PA), Kpmg and Caritas (the Italian Organisation against poverty), and in 2014 by Confindustria (Confederation of the Italian Industries), whose President described the Public Rating as “one of the crucial points to our conception of a Public Administration” one that therefore “deserves our support”.

In 2018 the evaluation model for Local Government has been presetend in World Bank (Washington): in June and in October, at the Global Partnership for Social Accountability global Forum.

Web sites:
www.ratingpubblico.it
www.fondazionetica.it