Many factors motivate the application of performance measurement and management. In the United States and internationally, governments apply performance measures and standards to promote greater accountability through high-performing, transparent government agencies and communication with citizens. Indeed, elected officials at every level of government, public managers, and citizens benefit from sound performance management systems. Performance management concepts are also being applied to nongovernmental organizations and others interested in improving their operations.

ICMA has assisted local governments worldwide by establishing partnerships among jurisdictions with similar challenges and helping them establish and monitor performance indicators. In Mexico, ICMA worked with USAID and the Asociación de Municipios de México (AMMAC) to create the Sistema de Indicadores de Desempeno (SINDES), a consortium of participating local governments that pay an annual fee to access information on 50 indicators in nine service areas to compare efficiency and effectiveness with measures of other Mexican local governments. SINDES became self-sustaining within AMMAC in less than three years.

In El Salvador, ICMA used performance measurement concepts to rate local government financial performance and overall institutional capacity. In Mexico, ICMA worked with the Mexican Development Bank and BANOBRAS (Banco Nacional de Obras Publicas) to develop a tool to classify municipalities for receiving technical assistance. The system is designed so that BANOBRAS can review potential client municipalities in light of their performance. In Indonesia, ICMA helped local governments establish performance-based budgets. Performance-based budgets align expenditures with their respective performance items and require the establishment of performance indicators, performance standards, expenditure standards, and benchmark values for each service. In addition to promoting increased transparency and accountability in local government resource allocation practices, performance-based budgets can be used to compare expenditures and results with standards established by other local governments.

In Bolivia, ICMA introduced a series of instruments now implemented in Bolivian municipalities, including the Municipal Development Index, a management tool for municipalities that measures their performance and gauges the effectiveness of technical assistance programs. The tool has been adapted to other countries, including Sri Lanka, where it served as a report card for measuring the improvement of service delivery, financial management, rule of law and citizen participation. 

In working with these countries, ICMA draws on the experience and expertise of its Center for Performance Measurement™ (CPM), which grew out of efforts that began in 1994. CPM offers a program of data collection and dissemination that allows participating cities and counties in the U.S. and Canada to compare their performance with those of other jurisdictions. It also helps participants identify and share management practices that have decreased the cost of services and increased citizen satisfaction.