Auditors can use ECG to frame the context of their government auditing practice. Auditors can use the ECG model, improvement themes, and good practices as criteria to assess effective governance practices in the government they audit, including performance management, relevance and use of performance measures, citizen engagement, and accountability for results. Downloadable good practice checklists and a worksheet for assessing citizen engagement roles are provided.

The successes and challenges of implementing the Effective Community Governance (ECG) pilot project in six Siberian communities were presented to officials of the Russian Federation and international investors and consultants in Moscow. At an ensuing technical meeting of people involved in the ECG program and a World Bank rural Russia local governance program, participants identified the need to widely share more approaches and replicate successful models of community engagement and improvement being tested across Russia. That led to a special meeting of the Russia Donors Forum, at which implementing and investing organizations made presentations to share many approaches, including the ECG model.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board is moving from research to an active board project to promote guidelines for state and local governments to effectively communicate their results to the public. In Canada, the Public Sector Accounting Board has already acted, having issued a Statement of Recommended Practice on Public Performance Reporting. These actions are intended to help citizens and elected officials learn what progress their government is making on issues and services they care about, and they bolster a growing trend towards public accountability for results.

By request, we created downloadable one-sheets to help you summarize the model and key ECG themes for North American and international development audiences. For more information, see the ECG home page.

In two free, archived webinars, Results That Matter authors Paul Epstein and Lyle Wray outline the "Community Balanced Scorecard," which unites the strategy-alignment power fo the balanced scorecard with the citizen-driven, results-based power of Effective Community Governance (ECG) for stronger, more strategic ways to improve communities.

The webinars feature a framework for a Community Balanced Scorecard with perspectives derived from the ECG Model, and samples strategy maps and indicators based on strategies of successful community development and improvement collaborations in the U.S. and abroad.

The Community Balanced Scorecard webinars are archived at the Strategy Aligned Management-Local Government website and run 45-60 minutes. Free registration on the site is required.