The Iraq Local Governance Program (LGP) was an effort to strengthen government in Iraq at the local, municipal, and provincial levels. LGP’s goal was to improve governmental management and administration, provide training and technical assistance on the roles and functions of government officials and agencies, and support the establishment of a legal framework for a democratic, representative, and decentralized government in Iraq.
Working as a subcontractor to Research Triangle Institute/RTI International, ICMA provided expertise in local governance, finance and budgeting, planning, and general municipal management. Areas of focus were:
- Quick restoration of basic public services
- More transparent policy making
- More effective public service delivery
- More effective advocacy and participation in the local governance process.
In its third phase, LGP narrowed its scope to the following work elements, all of them supporting the Provincial Powers Act:
- Basic governor and provincial council operations (orientations for all 14 new provincial governments)
- Public investment planning
- Service delivery and performance improvement (oversight functions)
- Professional local civil service
- Assistance to support institutions, e.g. the local governance association, the Prime Minister’s High Commission of Affairs of the Governorates.
Resources and Tools
The program applied the following tools to accomplish its purpose:
- Training
- Technical assistance (for example, in budgeting, financial management, citizen participation)
- Policy analysis
- Rapid response grants for infrastructure development
- Coordination, collaboration, and networking with U.S. civilian and military authorities, other USAID contractors, and other USG resources, NGOs, and international organizations. LGP was highly active in Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs), joint civilian-military units that are spearheading the reconstruction effort in many provinces.
ICMA’s Role
ICMA recruited technical experts with background in local government management to serve as advisors. Three of these advisors and their work was highlighted in the March 2008 issue of Public Management magazine. During the earlier portion of the program, ICMA advisors brought expertise in the following areas:
- Budget execution
- City management
- Local governance
- Municipal engineering
- Public finance
- Urban planning.
During the third phase, ICMA deployed a planning and budget director with the following responsibilities:
- Assessing the current planning and budgeting mechanisms utilized by the provinces and recommending refinements to the mechanisms
- Guiding GIS advisors in assessing how GIS applications could be used to support provincial analysis and planning at the provincial level
- Helping the provincial governments coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and other ministries so that the various sources of public funding could be integrated.