ABSTRACT
Traditional, managerially driven approaches to performance measurement, reporting and improvement have a great deal of value. Simply involving citizens in the process in a meaningful and honest manner offers dividends in terms of building trust, and therefore support, for the resources that agencies often require for continuous improvement. Overall, effective citizen-based performance measurement, which contributes to the effectiveness of public service delivery, has atleast ten facets. A modern reader may find it strange that the Bureau of Municipal Research (BMR) tried to improve agency efficiency by increasing citizen involvement. Creating citizens who initiate action on behalf of the entire community is relatively unimportant for the reinventing government scenario that posits that outmoded bureau cratic arrangements are the main obstacle to reform. The harder task is to reinvent ourselves as active citizens. The main article in this chapter, Hindi Lauer Schachter points out that citizen-centered government is not a new concept.
