UNDP Oslo Governance Centre

A Users’ Guide to Measuring Corruption

A Users’ Guide to Measuring Corruption, jointly produced by UNDP and Global Integrity, is one of the first attempts to explore how best to use existing tools to measure what is increasingly viewed as one of the major impediments to development: corruption. Based on a review of the literature and bolstered by more than 30 original interviews with experts in the field, A Users’ Guide provides government, civil society and development practitioners with “good practices” in measuring corruption.

These “good practices” include:

• Know what you want to measure, and find the appropriate measurement tool;

• Break down ambitious goals of “measuring corruption” into more discrete and clearly defined policy outcomes;

• Focus on “actionable” data that can inform policy choices;

• Look for data that capture the voices and experiences of the poor and minority groups;

• Combine quantitative data with qualitative political-economy analysis;

• Engage national actors and use local sources of information whenever possible; and

• Be transparent in constructing a methodology for measuring corruption.

A Users’ Guide to Measuring Corruption also provides practical guidance on how to use the data generated by measurement tools to inform real-life policy formulation and empower nationally-driven reform agendas.

Some case studies based on actual country experiences demonstrate how corruption indicators can be used to tackle measurement challenges commonly faced by anti-corruption and governance practitioners, including:

• The lack of corruption metrics that are useful in day-to-day policy and programmatic work;

• The need for more disaggregated data that move beyond single-country rankings to more discrete measures within sectors, institutions and population groups;

• The need to move beyond perceptions-based data as the basis for corruption measurement.