Compare methods

	Corruption Perception Measurement	Institutional Capacity Assessment
Field	Public Administration	Public Administration
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	1995	2008
Originator	Transparency International	UNDP / World Bank capacity-development practice
Type	Composite perception index	Diagnostic assessment framework
Seminal source	Transparency International. Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI): methodology and annual results. Transparency International, Berlin.	United Nations Development Programme. Capacity Assessment Methodology and supporting practice notes. UNDP.
Aliases	Corruption Perceptions Index Method, Perceived Corruption Measurement, CPI Aggregation Method, Corruption Scoring	Capacity Assessment Framework, Organisational Capacity Assessment, Institutional Capacity Diagnostic, Public-Sector Capacity Appraisal
Related	4	4
Summary	Corruption perception measurement quantifies how corrupt the public sector of a country is perceived to be, since actual corruption is hidden and cannot be observed directly. The canonical instrument, Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), combines multiple independent expert assessments and business surveys into a single composite score per country. Each source is standardised onto a common scale and the rescaled scores are averaged, producing an index that ranks countries and tracks perceived integrity over time. The method explicitly reports uncertainty, echoing the aggregation logic of the World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators.	Institutional capacity assessment is a structured diagnostic that gauges the ability of public-sector organisations and systems to perform their functions, deliver services and sustain results over time. Drawing on frameworks such as the UNDP Capacity Assessment Methodology and World Bank capacity-development practice, it examines capacity at multiple levels — the enabling environment, the organisation, and individuals — across functional dimensions like leadership, accountability, resources and skills. Capacities are rated against defined criteria, gaps between desired and actual capacity are identified, and the findings drive targeted capacity-development responses. It complements outcome-level measures such as the Worldwide Governance Indicators.