[ InWEnt training course on measuring political development ]

Democracy and human rights:
a case for statistics – or not?

The course participants included statisticians, scientists and government advisers and the 13 guest lecturers came from organisations such as the World Bank, the UN Development Programme, Freedom House, Transparency International, the European Commission and the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the OECD. The aim of the course was to promote both direct bilateral exchange and a multinational dialogue by bringing experts from these institutions together with a multidisciplinary group of participants. The course was designed to provide information not just about the indicators the various institutions use but also about the way they reach results, the sources they draw on and any weaknesses that might be inherent in their systems. In what were generally very lively debates, the kind of tools available for different regional and national contexts were identified in a vigorous exchange of expertise and experience.

The course started with Carlo Malaguerra, a former director-general of the National Statistical Office of Switzerland, viewing the course topics from the vantage of an official statistician. He showed that national statistical offices need to open up and develop indicators, tools and statistical concepts for measuring democracy, good governance and human rights in conjunction with other academic disciplines. He also warned of the dangers of being too impatient, reminding participants that it has taken more than 50 years to develop a system of national accounts and the process is still not complete.
Among the highlights of the course was a two-day video conference with Daniel Kaufmann, the Director for Global Governance at the World Bank Institute, who presented his latest research findings and gave detailed answers to the participants' questions. At the same time, another member of the Institute's staff was in Munich to give the participants a practical introduction to the World Bank database Kaufmann described and to apply it to their home countries.

In development cooperation, e.g. under accords such as the Cotonou Agreement, partner countries will have to provide more evidence than in the past that they are making headway in terms of good governance, democracy and observance of human rights. Even if there is still no universal concept for such an approach, it is important that countries take more initiative and that evaluations are not all external. This, of course, means that partner country governments have to be prepared to allow more transparency – especially where evaluators' findings point to weaknesses in the political system.

The course was the first of its kind to be held at InWEnt's Munich training centre and is going to be further developed and established as a permanent feature of the Centre's course range. "We were keen on the subject – and the course came at exactly the right time", remarked one of the participants afterwards amid echoes of endorsement by his colleagues – which shows there is lots of demand and that the thrust of InWEnt's capacity development programme is correct and worth developing further.

More information and full details of the course can be found on the Munich Centre's website:
www.inwent-fz.org