WP 26-007: Who Defines Development? Self-Determination and the Missing Dimension of Development Measurement

This paper argues that communities should have a role not just in implementing development projects, but in deciding what counts as success in the first place. Today, that judgment is usually made elsewhere, by governments, donors, or researchers, using measures communities did not help choose. The paper gives this problem a name, *indicator sovereignty*, and argues that it is a missing dimension of self-determination rather than a minor technical issue.

Using Nigeria as its main example, the paper examines three communities, Yoruba, Igbo, and Ijaw, each with long-standing traditions of self-governance. It shows that while Nigeria has strong national statistical systems, it lacks institutions through which communities can help shape what is measured and why. The paper also draws on examples from other countries where communities have developed their own approaches to measurement.

It then proposes a practical solution: a community indicator council chosen by the community itself to decide what should be measured and how. The proposal is tested against two major challenges, maintaining comparability across communities and preventing local elite capture, and addresses both directly.

To show what such a system could look like in practice, the paper develops an illustrative Nigerian Prosperity Index and tests its design using constructed data. It concludes with a practical framework for piloting the idea with a real community.