A Users’ Guide to Civil Society Assessments (2010) responds to the growing demand not only from donors, governments and development practitioners but also from a range of civil society organizations (CSOs) to evaluate their performance and capacity to deliver results, and to be accountable to their constituents (particularly for national and CSO-led assessment processes). It provides a systematic yet easy-to-understand review of existing civil society assessment tools, methodologies and information sources. This publication is the first full review of the current landscape of civil society assessments at global and local levels, providing wide-ranging stakeholders with practical knowledge of, as well as systematic guidance in developing new methods. The guide describes the scope of available methods and ways in which future assessments can further enrich our ability to understand the nature and impact of civil society. This guide is written in two parts.

Since 2003, the UNDP Oslo Governance Centre has been supporting nationally owned initiatives for monitoring and measuring governance, and this Users’ Guide is part of a series aimed at helping users navigate the crowded landscape of measurement tools (see the Governance Assessment Portal).