Colombia pioneers Social Progress Index for cities

A new measurement of social progress is being offered to cities around the world after being pioneered across 10 cities in Colombia.

Social Progress Imperative (SPI) is a US not-for-profit that three years ago launched the Social Progress Index to measure countries’ progress across more than 50 indicators. It has measured the social development of hundreds of countries across the world and is now making the service available for cities.

“It is only by measuring city-level data that policy-makers can hope to address regional need,” said Michael Green, Executive Director, SPI.

The Fundación Corona commissioned the study of 10 Colombian cities (Barranquilla, Bogota, Bucaramanga, Cali, Cartagena, Ibague, Manizales, Medellin, Pereira, and Valledupar) over the course of five years between 2009 and 2014. The foundation is now analysing the data with the city governments.

That is a pattern that SPI has seen repeated across the globe with not-for-profit organisations commissioning the study then sharing it with government for analysis and action.

The results reveal, among other things, that Medellin has gone from being one of the worst performing Colombian cities to one of the best. The SPI indicators will identify why that is.

“By creating a holistic programme it helps decision-makers identify where the real weaknesses are,” said Green.

The Index covers all facets of social wellbeing including health, education, human rights, housing and environment. It has been designed as a complement for GDP rather than as a replacement.

“GDP is not destiny. Having a higher level of GDP helps you to attain a higher level of social progress but it is not the whole story,” explained Green. “If your development strategy is only about improving GDP, then you only have half a strategy.”

The SPI expects Colombia to be the first of many countries to adopt city-level benchmarking. One of SPI’s Brazilian partners, the Avina Foundation, is ready to apply the Colombian model to Rio de Janeiro and SPI is talking to cities in the US to develop their own bespoke indexes.

The European Commission has also asked SPI to apply the method across Europe’s different economic regions (using the NUTS classification).