The Republic of Kosovo, with a population of approximately 2 million, is a self-declared independent state. It is currently in a process of decentralizing power and resources from the central level to the municipal level, with the municipal governments now responsible for a multitude of services, ranging from personnel recruitment to waste management. However, the quality of municipal services often is poor and local governments face many challenges as they absorb these new responsibilities.

As Kosovo strengthens its focus on its democratic institutions, ICMA is supporting the decentralization process by partnering in the Democratic and Effective Municipalities Initiative (DEMI). DEMI is a three-year program designed to assist Kosovo municipalities, their leaders, and citizens to promote, implement, and encourage good governance.

DEMI is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and ICMA is a subcontractor to The Urban Institute. Other partners are Crimson Capital, Training Resource Group, and PA Government Systems.

ICMA is working with partners to introduce the concept of the High Performance Organization to provide local administrations with tools to set priorities for service outcomes, engage citizens constructively in that process, and be able to identify needed improvements to their municipalities’ systems, processes, and human capacity in order to best meet community-wide objectives. Through coaching, training, and technical assistance, the program will help municipal officials set priorities for service improvements and identify the organizational structure and capacity needs required to meet their objectives.

ICMA’s role encompasses the following activities:

• Conduct assessments and fact-finding interviews to identify gaps in leadership, management, organizational performance, and service delivery
• Create a measurement tool to collect baseline data on organizational functioning, which is expected to evolve into a nationwide comparative performance benchmarking system
• Facilitate coaching opportunities and develop workshop materials—tailored to each municipality by local implementing partners—to address the needs that are identified
• Prepare local facilitators so that they can implement development programs nationally
• Support municipal assemblies by providing a self-assessment tool, supporting the development of plans for improvement, and assisting in the development of an advanced seminar series for assembly members
• Assist municipalities in updating and implementing local economic development plans
• Facilitate peer-to-peer partnerships between Kosovo municipalities and U.S. counterparts, using the ICMA CityLinks model.