Transparency is the principle of allowing those affected by administrative decisions to know about the resulting facts and figures (e.g., the city budget) and about the process that resulted in those decisions. Transparent governance means that government officials act openly, with citizens’ knowledge of the decisions the officials are making. Availability of information on government policies and actions, a clear sense of organizational responsibility, and an assurance that governments are efficiently administered and free of systemic corruption are important components of transparent governance.
Transparency is a fundamental element of abolishing corruption. Transparent governance is important to local governments and the communities they serve because corruption threatens good governance, leads to the misallocation of resources, harms public and private sector development, and distorts public policy. Controlling corruption is only possible when government, citizens, and the private sector cooperate to ensure transparency.
ICMA has developed an approach and methodology based on five elements that are critical to success:
- Political will at the highest levels of leadership
- Integrity in local government systems
- A culture of information sharing
- Continuous monitoring and evaluation
- The promotion of an ethic of public service.
This methodology, which is detailed in the report Building Transparent Communities: ICMA's Approach, draws on a toolkit that ICMA’s experienced international practitioners have tailored to the unique challenges of municipalities worldwide:
- Codes of ethics that guide the actions of public officials
- A Municipal Development Scale that assesses the level of local government performance and institutional capacity
- A Municipal Transparency Index that enables NGOs to score a municipality’s level of transparency
An Association Viability Index that provides a diagnostic tool for improving institutional capacity and services to members
- Social pacts for elected officials
- Performance measurement and benchmarking to track progress.
ICMA has worked with local governments and counterpart associations around the world to promote improved local government transparency and accountability. ICMA believes that to ensure transparency at the local level, a number of stakeholders must exercise oversight and control. These stakeholders include state and national-level agencies that allocate resources and audit the municipal governments. Municipal governments themselves must implement internal controls and monitoring mechanisms, such as performance measures and a code of ethics. In addition, the creation of mechanisms to enable citizens to provide input to, and receive feedback from, their local government is a critical component of transparency.
ICMA works to promote transparent governance in the following areas: