Arguden Governance Academy’s, a non-profit foundation dedicated to improving governance of public and private institutions attacts global attention with its Municipality Governance Scorecard©. Speaking to EKONOMİ daily, Chairman of the Trustees of Argüden Governance Academy Dr. Yilmaz Arguden states that OECD’s Observatory of Public Sector Innovation (OPSI) picked the Municipality Governance Scorecard© as a best-in-class example of innovative approaches for local governments and a letter from Harvard indicated that ‘it is cutting-edge research on good governance.’

The original research was conducted in 2018 before the last local elections.  Following a recommendation of the 2018 research, Kadıköy, a famous İstanbul district, adopted Integrated Reporting and became the first local government to do so globally. The 2023 version that includes comparisons with the previous version will be made public in January 2024, just before the next local elections and will provide insights for better governance. 

The Academy, whose publications include an Integrated and Inclusive Strategic Planning Guide, a Local Development Guide that encourages business and NGO participation in public decision making, was accredited by the Council of Europe to lead the process of European Label of Governance Excellence (ELoGE) in Türkiye. Utilizing the Integrated Municipality Governance Model© developed by the Academy, two İstanbul district municipalities, Sultanbeyli and Şişli acquired the right to utilize the ELoGE for a year in 2022.  2023 applications from not only district municipalities but also some metropolitan municipalities are already received by the Academy and after the review of an Independent Jury, the 2023 awardees will be announced in December.

The Municipality Governance Scorecard© incorporates the UN Sustainable Development Goals, OECD’s Better Life Index, European Council’s Good Governance Principles, and EFQM’s Excellence Model.  Scorecards do not measure the performance of municipal administrations, but rather measure the way policies, resource allocation, and implementation are conducted.