Adoption of a good governance culture can be achieved through the implementation of good governance practices and principles in all the administrative mechanisms, tools, structures of an organization. Municipalities need to implement these practices and principles in all their processes and continuously develop them so as to successfully deal with challenges. Organizations need to measure the performance of implementation of good governance practices in all their processes so that they can evaluate and identify areas of improvement. This identification is key for continuous growth. Such an approach will enable organizations to utilize and benefit from the implementation of good governance practices.

Principles such as transparency, accountability, and participation are included in the regulatory frameworks of most countries. These principles have been adopted in municipal processes in some manner. Even though adoption of these principles is required by regulation, they are implemented with a piece meal and silo perspective. In other words, implementation of good governance practices in a holistic manner with a consistent perspective has not been conducted. Good governance principles are mostly considered as a compliance issue rather than as a culture. There is no mechanism to monitor and measure the performance of implementation of good governance principles in most organizations. However, when performance is not measured, it cannot be improved. There is a need for implementation of good governance practices in all processes of a municipality; there is also a need for monitoring and performance measurement systems for these practices for continuous improvement. Good governance practices enable management quality and inclusiveness and effectiveness of performed activities. Good governance is key for trust by others.

Municipalities have a responsibility for supporting sustainable development of the city and improvement of the quality of life of citizens. Municipalities have an important role in implementation of local participatory democracy, social cohesion as well as peace and active citizenship. Good governance culture helps municipalities to manage risks better, effectively deal with demands and expectations of stakeholders, develop more inclusive, fair, and effective policies.

Implementation of an integrated governance model could help to:

• Enable good governance culture in all structures and processes of municipalities,
• Support sustainable development efforts,
• Improve quality of life citizens through satisfaction of demands of different social groups.

Such a model would help to adopt good governance principles in all systems of municipalities starting from top management of municipality through to the lowest levels of decision making. This model would improve the quality of decision making, clarify the authority of each level, and ensure the measurement and improvement of the performance of good governance practices.

Argüden Governance Academy has developed an integrated model to improve and disseminate good governance practices in municipalities by considering the vision, strategy, and principles provided by the Council of Europe. The model enables measuring the performance of good governance practices in municipalities. The model supports municipalities in their efforts for gaining the European Label of Governance Excellence (ELoGE). IMGM aims to:

• Improve the quality of decision-making processes,
• Enhance resource development, resource allocation, and utilization processes,
• Implement participatory and collective decision-making processes,
• Support and develop collective action and collective problem-solving culture,
• Enable effective risk management processes to prepare for risks before they occur,
• Enable resilience through agile decision-making processes,
• Better the quality life of citizens through performing effective and efficient activities,
• Heighten trust between citizens and municipalities.

Municipalities create value for all stakeholders such as:

• Providing solutions for existing and future problems,
• Planning and performing satisfaction of existing and future needs of stakeholders,
• Protecting cultural, historical, and environmental assets,
• Supporting social and economic local development,
• Offering inclusive and participatory service delivery to all groups in society, an act which helps to improve the wellbeing of disabled groups,
• Creating value for all stakeholders.

The determination of a value creation approach starts with identification of common needs and demands of stakeholders. These demands and needs help to shape municipality’s:  

• Policy priorities and policy goals,
• Vision,
• Strategy, activities, and KPIs,
• Administrative structures.

A municipality needs to understand the needs and expectations of its stakeholders, evaluate its institutional capacity and capabilities, and analyze the local ecosystem in its strategy making processes. If a municipality conducts its strategy making processes and shares its priorities, goals, activities, value creation journey in a transparent manner with its stakeholders, trust in the municipality would increase. Trust would help to mobilize stakeholders’ resources to support the value creation journey of the municipality. The success of the value creation journey could be ensured by keeping strong the trust of the stakeholders and by implementation of good governance practices. Such a goal could be achieved by implementing holistic good governance and continuous improvement of governance practices.

IMGM could be implemented by adopting integrated thinking perspectives in decision making processes. This perspective would help to:

• Consider an organization with holistic approach,
• Achieve more inclusive and effective outcomes,
• Direct interaction between internal and external stakeholders to common goals,
• Utilize resources more effective and efficient manner,
• Manage risks more effectively.

Implementation of an integrated good governance approach based on an integrated thinking perspective would improve the effectiveness of municipal activities and the performance of municipal units. This approach could enable holistic, effective, efficient, rapid, and innovative solutions for existing challenges. The approach encourages collective decision making.

Implementation of an integrated good governance approach based on an integrated thinking perspective would improve the effectiveness of municipal activities and the performance of municipal units.

Municipal activities are performed by collective action of different municipal units. Coordination and cooperation of these activities could be achieved through forming teams from all related units. These teams could plan the activities in a collective manner, a practice which would improve the municipality’s performance and eliminate inefficiencies. Such an approach would ensure agility and resilience of the municipality.

The Council of Europe has identified 12 good governance principles for local governments (Principles have been explained in European Label of Good Governance Excellence section).

Adoption of the twelve principles in all processes of the municipalities, starting from municipal council and mayor to the lowest level including audit units, would help to strengthen good governance practices in municipalities. There are indicators for each principle that could be used to measure and evaluate the quality of implementation. Improvement areas have been determined based on the findings of these evaluations.

The adoption of an integrated good governance approach at each level of the municipality ensures effective, inclusive, sustainable activities by municipalities.

The Argüden Governance Academy has included an integrated thinking perspective and 12 good governance principles of CoE in its projects of the Municipality Governance Scorecard in 2018 and Metropolitan Governance Scorecard in 2022. The adoption of good governance principles in municipal structures, mechanisms, and operational processes have been analyzed with a citizen centric perspective in an evidence-based manner. The Municipality Governance Scorecard model has been considered a good practice by the United Nations and OECD.

Municipal structures, administrative, and operational processes are regulated. When the structures of municipalities are analyzed, three components in the structure interact.

The first component contains elected municipal council members and the mayor who represents the political wing. This group is the main decision-making body of the municipality. They identify policy priorities and endorse the municipality’s strategy and action plans. The municipal council evaluates the performance of the bureaucracy and the mayor at the end of each period. The political body has a responsibility for political, administrative, and fiscal matters. The municipal council has the responsibility to conduct a financial audit at the end of each financial year.

When the structures of municipalities are analyzed, three components in the structure interact: Mayor and Municipal Council, Municipal Bureaucracy, Internal and External Audit.

The Integrated Municipal Governance Model needs to be owned by the political body to be disseminated in the entire municipal structure, mechanisms, and processes. If this dissemination is successful, it could be operationalized in the entire system. The role and ownership of the leadership will be key for acceptance by the system. When the leaders adopt twelve principles in their decision-making processes, such decisions would be more inclusive, more transparent through high quality information sharing, and those decisions would improve the effectiveness and efficiency of municipal structures, mechanisms, and processes that better the quality of municipal processes.

The second component is the auditing bodies. These bodies control if the operations, activities, processes have been conducted in compliance with the rules, regulations, values, and principles through audits. They provide an important opportunity to identify improvement areas. Therefore, audits are part of the continuous development process.

Two types of audits are common: internal and external audit(s) by the central authority. Another component could be added to the audit perspective which would be the voluntary civil audit processes. A civil audit could provide improvement opportunities based on the civil society’s perspective and could keep the municipal system under control against corruption. When audit processes and good governance culture are run in harmony, the implementation of good governance practices in all processes of municipalities is strengthened. Two tools for understanding the quality of adoption of twelve principles, one for the internal audit and one for the civil audit, have been developed and provided in the following sections.

The third component is the municipal bureaucracy. They make decisions and plans and perform activities based on decisions taken by the political body. The adoption of a good governance culture into their processes would help them more effectively conduct their day-to-day operations. Adoption would also enable institutionalization of good governance culture in municipal structures, mechanisms, and processes.

When the administrative processes of a municipality are analyzed, there are four steps of activities:

A. Direction and Policies

A detailed current state analysis should be conducted before determining direction and policies. Current state analysis needs to contain an understanding of local conditions, needs, demands, and expectations of stakeholders through a participatory and evidence-based manner. Current state analysis would form the base and be useful in determining goals and policy priorities. The quality of participation, information, and municipal processes as well as an integrated thinking perspective and adoption of good governance culture are important for the quality of the activities at this stage.

B. Planning

The strategic plan of the municipality is prepared at this step. Strategic purposes and goals are identified in line with municipal policy priorities. Activities and a road map for reaching goals are accordingly prepared. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are formed to monitor the performance of strategy implementation.

Strategic purposes and goals can be achieved if resource allocation is in line with strategic priorities. Therefore, the budget of the municipality must be prepared based on capabilities, capacities, and the attainable resource pool of the organization.

The adoption of the quality of participation, information, municipal processes as well as an integrated thinking perspective and good governance approach improves the quality of the planning process. Effective planning enables improving the quality of life and supports sustainable development efforts. Strategic planning and the relationship with quality of life is explained in The Council of Europe’s Strategic Planning Tool.

C. Deployment

The delivery of planned services, projects, and investments are accomplished by the municipal bureaucracy at this step. The support of external stakeholders can be utilized in some of these activities. There may be planning updates based on experienced challenges during the deployment processes. Good governance culture enables a holistic, inclusive, effective, and resilient deployment process. The quality of municipal processes is critical for the success of deployment.

D. Monitoring and Reporting

The performance of the municipality is understood at this stage. KPIs are reviewed and the performance according to each KPI is identified. Resource use and financial results are analyzed and compared with the budget. The results are compared with previous periods to understand the trends in each key financial and operational issue. If municipalities have subsidiaries, they need to prepare consolidated financials to show the real picture of the municipality. The collected data regarding operations and financial position is reported to internal and external stakeholders. The quality of information provided through reporting is an important determinant of trust level. The information provided needs to be clear, understandable, and in line with the accountability perspective.

Municipalities need to continuously develop good governance practices to deal with changing ecosystems and challenges. Continuous development can be successful if based on measurements, performance evaluations, and previous experiences. Continuous development is an enabler of trust to the municipality. Continuous development improves the capability of the municipality in finding holistic, inclusive, effective, and sustainable solutions for changing problems. It ensures public value creation in the short, medium, and long term.

An integrated good governance approach could be improved according to the following cycle.

The municipality’s current state regarding good governance practices can be analyzed by using the 97 indicators of the Council of Europe’s 12 good governance principles. Indicators need to be mapped to each municipal process and each performance of processes, then measured to understand the maturity level of implementation of good governance practices. This analysis would identify improvement areas in agenda setting and decision-making stage.

Prioritization and planning for improvement actions are made at the planning stage. The quality of participation is important since the stakeholders’ views and recommendations provide data for planning improvement actions. The quality of information is important since information regarding performance and information from internal stakeholders complements each other. Such information disclosure could provide valuable data for evidence-based decision making and planning. The quality of municipal processes determines how improvement activities need to be planned. The responsibilities for improvement actions are assigned to leaders and units.

Improvement actions are brought into action and improved upon at the deployment stage. Improvement activities must be monitored and measured and evaluated in a continuous manner. An institutional structure to monitor the improvement actions could be formed. Improvement activities can contain both political and administrative structures according to the findings of current state analysis. Sometimes municipal councils can be part of improvement processes as well. The support of leaders and council members is key since change starts from the top. Such support would walk the talk.

The measurement and evaluation step starts in deployment and continues through this step. All processes need to be measured and evaluated with a good governance perspective to understand the improvement areas. Identifying the right KPIs is key for an effective performance evaluation process. The findings of the performance evaluation need to be discussed with top management so that required actions can be planned.

The main aim of this step is to enable the adoption of a good governance culture in all structures, mechanisms, and processes of municipality. The evaluation processes need to be conducted at regular intervals with the participation of internal and external stakeholders. These processes help to develop steps for improvement. Actions can be activated with the approval of top management. This approval is critical for allocation of required resources (time, human, financial, peer learning, etc.).

Integrated good governance practices can be improved by using the toolkit below. This toolkit contains four points of action which aim at the adoption of good governance practices in a municipality. The four points have been implemented as a pilot during the Integrated Municipality Governance Project in two municipalities. Two municipalities have improved their governance practices by implementing the toolkit; they have been awarded with ELoGE. (See: Pilot Implementation and Its Results)

Forming a good governance committee/team whose members can be representatives of different municipal departments can be useful for effective implementation of the toolkit. The committee/team can expedite the dissemination of a good governance culture and gain the acceptance of leadership, the management team, and employees. This is a circular process and needs to be conducted at regular intervals such as annually. Leadership and their ownership will increase effectiveness and efficiency of the improvement processes.

This is a circular process and needs to be conducted at regular intervals such as annually.

Evaluation

• Founding a committee or team can be greatly beneficial to conduct these toolkit actions. Committee members need to include members from different units and different levels, including the top management and management team.
• The municipality conducts a self-assessment based on ELoGE indicators.
• The objectivity of self-assessment can be improved with a review by external experts.
• Conducting deep interviews with top management and a management team of the municipality regarding governance practices.
• Conducting a survey with municipal council members on governance practices.
• Conducting a survey with citizens on governance practices.
• Conducting a survey with employees on governance practices.
• Workshops with internal and external stakeholders to collect their views on good governance practices.
• Review and evaluation of self-evaluation, surveys, workshops, and interview findings which are the basis for current state analysis and report.
• Identification of the targeted level for good governance practices.
• Conducting gap analysis

Improvement Planning

• Current state analysis findings and a proposal for improvement of good governance practices are communicated to the top management team for their comments on the improvement of the proposal.
• Current state analysis findings are communicated to internal stakeholders. After communication, a workshop is conducted to discuss findings and improvement proposals. This workshop can be useful for their support.
• The proposal for improvement is finalized by a committee/team based on the views and recommendations of the top management team and internal stakeholders. A draft action plan is prepared for the implementation of the proposal.
• The final proposal and draft action plan are presented to the top management team for their approval.
• After approval, the action plan is finalized. The action plan sets targets for each unit with specific time intervals.

Institutionalization

• Implementation of the action plan starts.
• ELoGE training is conducted for the top management team, management team and employees.
• Seminars are conducted for municipal council members, the top management team, management team and key personnel for further explaining the importance of good governance practices.
• KPIs for departments are set and assigned. The performance of each department is evaluated based on this criterion.
• A committee can become a permanent structure for monitoring good governance practices. Regular meetings could be conducted for the improvement of good governance practices in day-to-day operations.

Continuous Development

• Performance evaluation findings are reviewed and the areas for improvement are identified.
• If the goals are achieved, then the municipality can apply to the ELoGE.
• The performance evaluation system for monitoring good governance practices is finalized.
• Good governance practices are audited by the internal audit department under the annual audit plan. Internal audit and performance evaluation systems are considered as two components of the monitoring system.
• A civil audit can be implemented since an outside perspective can be useful in identifying improvement actions.
• An annual good governance report can be prepared for internal and external stakeholders. The report needs to be prepared in a concise and understandable manner.

The above toolkit can be implemented annually to institutionalize and improve good governance practices in a continuous manner. The municipality can keep its ELoGE standing in the future. Trust in the municipality can be improved with the improvement of good governance practices.

Recommendations for the Implementation of the Model

The model helps to adopt good governance culture in municipal structures, mechanisms, and processes. The implementation of good governance practices directly affects the trust of stakeholders. Good governance practices ensure inclusive, effective, sustainable policy development, and service delivery by municipalities, which are the key enablers for improving the quality of life for its citizens.

The Implementation of the Integrated Municipality Governance Model in Municipal Processes

Each municipal action has six successive processes. The quality of these processes affects the quality of good governance practices of the municipality. The implementation of integrated good governance culture guarantees high quality processes.

A. Agenda Setting

The prioritization of issues occurs at this process. Prioritized issues are placed on the agenda of decision makers. An integrated thinking perspective is important during prioritization since interactions must be considered for an effective and meaningful prioritization. For example, a critical balance between economic development and protection of the environment must be considered during the agenda setting process. The quality of participation plays a key role in agenda setting. The quality of participation enables all related stakeholders to participate in the process in an inclusive manner. Stakeholders’ expectations, needs, and demands must be considered at this stage. A meaningful agenda setting can be made if meaningful stakeholder participation is realized. Participation process supports identifying priorities in a fair, responsive, and inclusive manner.

The quality of municipal processes matters at this stage as well. If the quality of municipal processes is good, the administration can prepare a detailed analysis of proposals before presenting them to the decision makers. This analysis contains a detailed current state analysis considering ecosystem, trends, capabilities, capacities, and expectations of stakeholders. Sometimes issues can be brought by municipal decision makers to the bureaucracy for analysis. Again, institutional capacity is critical for correct evaluation and prioritization.

The agenda contains the list of issues to be considered in the decision making process.

B. Decision Making

Decisions are made according to policy priorities and the strategy of the municipality. Data from meaningful participation (Quality of participation) processes is significant in decision making at each level of the municipality. Decision makers need to match the expectations of stakeholders with the capabilities of the municipality. Decision making processes must be transparently conducted so that the reasoning behind each decision can be communicated to stakeholders.

Integrated thinking perspective must be implemented in decision making. A decision must be considered and analyzed from different perspectives and impacts must be evaluated prior to the final decision. Integrated thinking can be termed as cost benefit analysis. This mindset ensures considering all perspectives.

C. Resource Allocation

Decisions can be implemented by the utilization of resources. Resources include human, financial, technology, intellectual, and relationship resources. Data from meaningful stakeholder participation (Quality of participation) can help to shape resource allocation.

The Integrated thinking perspective is key in resource allocation since interaction between resources and between units needs to be understood and considered in the resource allocation processes. Effective management of expectations of stakeholders in the short, medium, and long term can be achieved through the adoption of an integrated thinking perspective.

The quality of municipal processes is crucial for effective and efficient allocation and utilization of resources.

D. Deployment

Decisions are implemented based on resource allocation. This process includes service delivery, investment making, and project implementation. Integrated thinking is key in deployment since teams containing members from different units of municipality can be more effective for the implementation of projects and making investments. Integrated thinking enables eliminating silo-based thinking, an act which improves effectiveness and makes the organization agile and resilient. The quality of municipal processes is necessary for the effective and efficient operation of municipalities. The quality of municipal processes improves coordination and cooperation between different units.

E. Measurement and Evaluation

The performance of each process is measured and evaluated at this stage. Comparison with peers is conducted as well. The effectiveness of performance is reviewed through analyzing the resources used and goals achieved in terms of planned targets. The evaluation process enhances understanding where the integrated thinking and integrated good governance practices are implemented and in what quality. For example, the performance of implemented social policy processes can be measured according to inclusiveness (reaching all targeted groups), fairness (supporting each targeted group according to their needs and expectations), effectiveness (if the set targets are achieved and each group is covered), efficiency (if the process is completed in line with budget, at the specified time and with planned commitments), and, lastly, impacts created (if the processes is created predefined and targeted impacts). The quality of municipal processes enables effective and efficient operation of performance measurement and evaluation systems.

The integrated good governance approach is key for transparency and accountability of the process. The quality of information enables communicating appropriate messages to internal stakeholders to encourage them to plan and implement improvement activities.

F. Reporting

The final process is reporting to the internal and external stakeholders. This stage needs to include information regarding activities, performance according to KPIs, and resource usage. The reporting must transparently communicate understandable, meaningful, comparable information in regular intervals. Reporting is a tool for communicating the performance of a municipality to internal and external stakeholders. This tool is useful for understanding the improvement areas and can be applied as a guide for planning improvement actions. Transparency and accountability are two key features of good governance principles. The quality of information is the most important variable at this stage.

In summary, a good governance principle must be adopted, and good governance practices implemented in all structures, mechanisms, and processes of municipalities. Implementation of good governance practices is an enabler of better performance.

Five issues are key and must be prioritized for adoption, implementation, and continuous development of good governance culture in the municipalities.

1. 1Understanding and adoption of an integrated thinking perspective by all decision makers in the municipality,
2. 2Adoption and implementation of an integrated good governance approach in all structures, mechanisms, and processes of municipality,
3. 3Improvement of the quality of participation in the decision-making processes of the municipality,
4. 4The improvement of the quality of information provided to the internal and external stakeholders,
5. 5Taking necessary measures to implement continuous development of good governance practices.

The following activities can be performed to enable five priorities:

• Ownership of a good governance culture by all layers of the municipality (starting from mayor and municipal council members) and all political, administrative, and fiscal process owners through understanding the benefits of adopting the culture,
• Adoption and mapping of good governance principles to all municipal processes and inclusion of these principles in the job description of departments and KPIs,
• The utilization of an integrated thinking perspective in decision making resource allocation and service delivery processes,
• Considering the ecosystems where the municipality has been operating; its effects on the municipal business model; the processes, and activities during the decision making and planning stages; and understanding the interaction between internal and external factors,
• Considering the quality of information as an enabler of building trust, improving effectiveness, and the levels of efficiency and satisfaction,
• Enabling the quality of participation in all management and decision-making processes for encouraging a diversity of mind, a collective mind, and working for common goals,
• The segmentation of stakeholders based on their demands, geography, demography; their capability of affecting or being affected to enable inclusive and fair high-quality participation and policy prioritization and development processes
• The implementation of a good governance approach to monitor the performance of the implementation of good governance practices at the department level based on mapping to their job descriptions,
• The utilization of a quality management approach for improving effectiveness and the quality of municipal processes and supporting the improvement of human resources management, fiscal management, resource management, technology management, and innovation management through a good governance lens,
• Considering internal and external audits as a tool for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of quality of municipal processes and for supporting continuous development efforts
• Setting an institutional mechanism responsible for deployment, dissemination, and continuous development of good governance culture and practices at layers of municipality, so as to facilitate the adoption of integrated good governance approach in the municipal system.

IMGM is a new generation local governance perspective in dealing with the new challenges of a changing world.

IMGM is a new generation local governance perspective in dealing with the new challenges of a changing world. The model is open to development. The model can be improved and strengthened with new experiences gained through implementation of the model in municipalities.