V4 Index: City Corruption-Propensity Index

Name of Organization
Geographical Scope
Type of Initiatives:
Regional
Regions:
  • Europe and CIS
Country:
  • Slovak Republic
  • Poland
  • Hungary
  • Czech Republic
Purpose
Transparency International Czech Republic (TIC) sought to propose an innovative methodology and carry out a survey that would measure the propensity of selected institutions to corruption. The selected institutions to be surveyed would be the capital cities' of the Visegrád region (hereinafter referred to as V4) public administration.
 
The survey was to serve as a tool to press the authorities of V4 capital cities to intensify the fight against corruption on all levels of the administration of their cities. TIC decided to survey the capital cities of the V4 Region for the following reasons:
 
  1. The cities were capitals of four Central European countries about to join the EU. TIC assumed that problems of the cities would overlap to a large extent, and, therefore, a comparison of the cities was possible.
  2. Prague, Warsaw, Bratislava and Budapest were capitals of countries that despite having common interests  were rivals in certain aspects (e.g. foreign direct investment). We assumed that the positive rivalry among those cities would raise the anticorruption effort of those cities scoring lower in the proposed Index V4.
  3. TIC initiated an anticorruption co-operation among the V4 capital cities by initiating a series of annual anticorruption roundtables called 'Corruption-Free Town Halls in the V4 Region'. The first roundtable took place in Prague at the beginning of 2003. One of the outcomes of the Prague roundtable was a proposal to carry out a survey of corruption in the above capitals on a comparative basis.
Area of Governance
Corruption
Local Governance and Decentralization
Website of initiative
Publications
 
Upon request: V4 Index (City Corruption-Propensity Index), Transparency International Czech republic & GfK Praha (Prague: 2004)
Cost (specify currency)
59 000 USD
Funding sources
British Embassy Prague, Global Opportunities Fund, Local Government and Public Sector Reform Initiative of the Open Society Institute, Partnership for Transparency Fund
Source of Data
Own source of data
Type of Data Collection
Administrative Data
In depth interviews
Random sample population survey
specifications of type of data collection
The objective part of the survey was based on gathering data by means of document contents analysis and interviews with experts. In each capital, two interviews were conducted with the city council representatives. Target individuals were selected for their awareness of and familiarity with anti-corruption tools and their application, City Council Directors, City Council Secretaries, or possibly also Heads of the legislative departments, internal audit departments etc.
 
Data gathered in the interviews were verified from documents and other relevant sources. To attain the objectives defined in the subjective part, we made use of face-to-face interviews, conducted by specially trained interviewers from a number of GfK branches.
 
In each of the cities, 100 respondents were interviewed (107 in Prague). The respondents were recruited from the public involved in municipal life, we supposed that they are in close contact with public representatives, Representatives of public administration. The target group was selected from representatives of the following four groups:
 
  1. Elected Councilors: members of the City Council + members of the different municipal councils of within the capital (25 in each city)
  2. City Council Employees: all employees emphasising department heads, division heads, etc. (25 in each city aproximately)
  3. Journalists: journalists from main national dailies and weeklies, journalists specialising in corruption and economy (25 in each city)
  4. Interested Public: a) entrepreneurs active in construction industry (middle and top management, company owners)(13 in each city aproximately); b) NGO members (non-profit organisations, civic associations)(12 in each city aproximately).
 
The sum total of all respondents in all 4 cities was 407. The proportion of respondents of a particular target group corresponded to preset quotas; i.e. for each group listed, there were 25 interviews to complete. The actual respondent structure varies only slightly from the quotas mentioned (see the following table).
Measurement Methods / Tools Generated or Used
One of the crucial objectives of the project was to design an Index for each city which would map the range of the anti-corruption tools in operation in the Visegrad countries (objective part of the Index), and monitor the efficiency of their implementation (subjective part of the Index). For both the objective and subjective part, an independent aggregate (summary) index was set up. Each of the aggregate indices is composed by five partial indices. And each of the partial indices accounts for one of the areas studied.
 
The partial indices were established to cover the following areas:
 
  1. Public Procurement Contract Award Index
  2. Internal Audit and Control Mechanisms Index
  3. Code of Ethical Conduct Index
  4. Conflicts of Interest Index
  5. Public Administration Information Openness Index
 
The aggregate index was calculated as a simple arithmetic average of the partial indices. Every partial index was established from weighted results, which the respondents achieved on a two-point scale in the objective part and on a four-point scale for the subjective part. In the objective part of the survey, each answer was rated 0 or 1. In the subjective section, the rating values were 0, 0.33, 0.66, and 1. Since each area did not have the same amount of questions in the questionnaire, the resulting figures were reweighed in such a manner so that the number of questions in each area did not play a role in the value of the Aggregate Index, and thus every area had the same weight (20%).
 
The Index of the Objective Part ranges between 0 and 1, where 0 indicates the absence of any anti-corruption measures in the city authority, and 1 represents the presence of all the anti-corruption tools and measures that were in the focus of the survey.
 
The Index of the Subjective Part may also attain values between 0 and 1, and here a 0 score means that the public is totally dissatisfied with the functioning of the selection of anti-corruption tools in the public administration, while a 1 indicates a totally functioning system of these regulations and measures used in the fight against corruption, or, in other words, their practical implementation is perceived very positively by the respondents.
List of Indicators
The survey was divided into two independent parts: one objective and the other subjective. In the objective part, the task was to find out hard data concerning the application of anti-corruption tools and mechanisms in the public administration of the Visegrad capitals. The subjective part was aimed at mapping the perceptions of the public about the efficiency of such tools. Both parts were focused on 5 fundamental areas of anti-corruption activities, which are considered to be crucial for the functionality of public administration and its mechanisms.
 
These specific areas were as follows:
 
  1. Public procurement process and contract awards 
  2. Internal audits and control mechanisms
  3. Codes of Ethics and their use
  4. Conflict of interest 
  5. Information accessibility policies of public administration
 
Either part of the survey was conducted using its own questionnaire. Questions in the questionnaires were structured to copy the five areas mentioned above. Each of the areas is then subdivided into more detailed subcategories. Each subcategory is covered by several questions.
 
PART 1: Public Procurement Process and Contract Awards
 
  1. The rules (laws or other legal provisions) which regulate the public procurement process and awards
  2. Screening and evaluating of public procurement contracts applicants
  3. Internal and external control of the process of public procurement contract awards
  4. Conditions governing the public procurement process
  5. Contract Award Bid Assessment
  6. Conduct of public procurement contracts and its control by the municipal authorities
 
PART 2:  Internal Audit and Control Mechanisms
 
  1. Internal Audit Department
  2. The position of the internal audit personnel and the scope of their authorities
  3. Internal Auditors' Activities
  4. Council Control Board
 
PART 3: Codes of ethics
 
  1. Drafting of codes of ethics
  2. Contents of codes of ethics
  3. Enforceability of codes of ethics
  4. Functioning of codes of ethics
 
PART 4: Conflicts of Interest
 
  1. Regulations reducing conflicts of interest especially for elected members of municipal assemblies
  2. The implementation of such regulations in real life
 
PART 5:  Access to Information
 
  1. Access and accessibility of information
  2. Compliance with open information policies of municipal administration
Main Outcomes (Products)

Main Users
Civil society
Media
Policy makers
Researchers
How to

Areas of Governance

Country Initiatives

Regional Initiatives

Global Initiatives

UNDP Support