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CityLinks

For more than a decade, CityLinks has partnered local government professionals in the United States with their counterparts in developing and transitioning countries to address problems and develop sustainable solutions—with demonstrable results.

As responsibilities for service delivery shift in many countries from the national level to local communities, municipal governments need to adopt new governing and management techniques. And in today’s rapidly urbanizing world, developing and transitioning countries need tools to help them address a cluster of interrelated challenges: climate change, food security, and access to water and sanitation services.

To provide assistance in these areas, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded ICMA the five-year City-to-City Partnerships Program on September 29, 2011. ICMA heads a team of partners and resource organizations to implement the program, using the CityLinks approach. USAID missions worldwide can learn how to harness the team's resources to further their country strategies here.

Through CityLinks partnerships, the best management practitioners from the United States share technical expertise and resources that help develop the capacity of municipalities to improve the lives of urban residents. CityLinks partnerships have focused on

Improving the basic public services provided to citizens—including infrastructure development; water, sanitation, and other environmental management services; and crime prevention and public safety—and putting sustainable solutions in place
Enhancing local economic competitiveness by identifying opportunities, developing strategies, and planning for implementation
Creating effective municipal management structures for strategic planning, financial management, performance measurement, citizen participation, and advocacy
Honing the skills of local government officials to enable them to better carry out their mandates.

At the same time, CityLinks has fostered transparency and accountability in budgeting, procurement, hiring, and other municipal practices in each project.

Building on the technical expertise of ICMA’s membership of close to 9,000 local government professionals, the program has facilitated dozens of partnerships involving cities, counties, professional associations, universities, and other participants. Based on their practical experience, U.S. professionals have provided invaluable technical assistance to their international counterparts, many of whom have limited experience working in a decentralized government that requires responsibility, initiative, and accountability.

CityLinks partnerships facilitated by ICMA have yielded concrete results. For example:

A consortium of more than 50 cities in Bulgaria, together with a national foundation and U.S. partners, established a local economic development program that resulted in the creation of a website, approximately 4,000 new jobs, and substantial investment in new and expanding businesses.
Two tsunami-ravaged cities in India designed and built community playgrounds, educated citizens about public services, improved access to reliable, safe drinking water for 20,000 citizens, and increased water service revenues by $150,000 per year.
In Jordan, CityLinks partners designed and implemented new practices for reduction, collection, and disposal of medical and industrial waste that helped safeguard the country’s precious water supply and the health of the community.

In programs like these, the goals of CityLinks are to improve the lives of citizens, strengthen the quality of local governments, and foster democracy through international municipal partnerships.