By Octavio Chavez

ICMA has been working in Latin America for more than two decades providing direct technical assistance to local governments and encouraging the adoption of professional management practices. Performance measurement is one of the key elements of that assistance, particularly in Mexico.

ICMA Mexico-Latinoamerica (ICMA-ML), based in Guadalajara, has been promoting performance measurement in the public sector since 2001. In 2007, the Mexican National Congress amended the country’s constitution to require all public entities to establish performance indicators and make the results public.

A few years later, the obligation was expanded to require all public entities to adopt performance-based budgeting by 2015. The performance-based budget requires a robust performance measurement system.

Introducing Performance Measurement

Prior to the legal requirement, ICMA started to operate a voluntary system for municipalities. SINDES (Sistema de Evaluacion del Desempeno, www.sindes.org)—the first formal governmental performance measurement system in Mexico—was modeled on ICMA’s performance management program. It was jointly developed with 15 municipalities in 2001, and more than 50 municipalities have participated since then.

SINDES has served as a framework for local governments to develop their own performance measurement systems. In 2004, for example, the municipality of Puebla developed its own system called SEDEM (Sistema de Evaluacion del Desempeno Municipal).

ICMA-ML helped Puebla build and consolidate SEDEM. Coordinated by the Municipal Institute of Planning and supervised by a citizen council, SEDEM improves municipal performance and service delivery by addressing operational and managerial processes.

The five components of SEDEM include methodology; manual of procedures and policies; team of specialized employees; software; and an indicator description form. All participating local departments are required to submit data that is reviewed, processed, and organized to produce reports that can be helpful in making decisions for existing programs and daily operations.

Assessments conducted by ICMA-ML have shown that Puebla has solid operations and good governance practices.

SEDEM has served as the platform for Puebla’s efforts to improve the quality of public service delivery and has attracted positive attention. In September 2013, the Organization of American States recognized Puebla with the Inter-American Award for Innovation in Effective Public Management, specifically for planning and public policy evaluation.

The SINDES program has also recognized Puebla’s efforts. SINDES presents awards in three categories or levels—participant, intermediate, and advanced—as municipalities move through the steps of implementing performance measurement programs. The advanced award is given to communities that operate an institutionalized performance measurement system with strong resident involvement.

As of summer 2015, Puebla had received the advanced award for nine consecutive years, longer than any other municipality. San Nicolas was second with four years.

Other large cities, including Zapopan, Chihuahua, Guadalajara, Monterrey, and Leon, have made efforts to measure performance.

State-Level Initiatives

Likewise, ICMA helped the state of Guerrero develop its own system. Some of those systems, however, have been discontinued or fundamentally altered due to changes in governments.

ICMA also helped the state auditor’s office in Campeche develop a similar program to assess the municipalities’ performance as part of the yearly auditing process. This program, known as SIMDEG, was recognized with the National Municipal Award by the Ford Foundation and CIDE (a Mexican academic research center) for its contribution to the municipalities in 2003. The SIMDEG´s results are public—something that is unique in Mexico.

As the need to expand the practice of performance measurement, ICMA initiated, in 2014, a performance measurement program in partnership with the finance and management office of the state of Sinaloa and the State Development Council for Sinaloa (CODESIN), a joint partnership between the business community and the state government.

As of summer 2015, this statewide program called SEDEMSI (Sistema de Evaluacion del Desempeno de Sinaloa) included eight of the 18 municipalities that represent more than 80 percent of the state’s population. SEDEMSI has 51 indicators classified in six topics. Results are expected to be made public starting in 2016.

Looking Ahead

Performance measurement in Mexico at the local level still has a long way to go despite the obligations defined by law. Perhaps the biggest challenge is to convince public servants and elected officials that performance measurement is good for them and for the citizens, and it is needed to guide decision-making processes in local government management.

Creating a culture that values performance and encourages the identification of indicators is the key, and ICMA continues its efforts to encourage this culture.