The World Governance Assessment (WGA) which started at the United Nations University in 1999 and has been operating as a project at the Overseas Development Institute in London since 2004, has through two rounds of data collection, developed and tested a methodology for doing governance assessments that combines input from local stakeholders with an analysis of a common set of governance indicators that has proved valid and capable of producing interesting and relevant insights for activists and observers alike. This report introduces the basic features of the WGA and highlights interesting findings of the second round that was conducted in 10 countries in the global South during 2006. It presents an overview of the methodology and the special Study Management System, a capacity-building component that is also an important part of what WGA offers.