Measuring social effectiveness of public institutions : a contribution to methodology

This paper brings an outline and preliminary results of a 2-year project aiming at assessing the social effectiveness of public policy institutions. The effectiveness of public institutions is an important indicator of the success and prosperity of a country. It is usually measured indirectly via data such as public officer numbers, the quality of legislation regulating the relations between the public administration and its users, and by the satisfaction of the population with the public administration bodies. In this area, the Czech Republic sadly lags behind most developed countries. The authors bring their own concept of social effectiveness, which is inspired mainly by the principles of good public administration, open government, public value, and social and ethical auditing.