Measuring local government service delivery performance: challenges and (PARTIAL) solutions in Indonesia

Abstract

Indonesia, like many developing countries around the world, is increasingly turning to the use of a range of intergovernmental incentives to encourage improved local government performance in the delivery of services. Central government has access to a number of plausible indicators with which to measure local performance and operationalise incentive-based programmes. However, there are major reliability and validity concerns related to even the best among the available indicators, and these create significant challenges for their intended uses. Technical approaches can partially overcome measurement problems, but more and better data will eventually have to be collected. Furthermore, government will have to take significant care in its choice and employment of methods to assess performance in a competent and transparent manner.