Recognizing the challenges facing local government in Bulgaria, the U.S. Agency for International Development in 1997 charged ICMA with helping Bulgaria find sustainable local solutions to problems accompanying the country's march toward democracy and decentralization.
In partnership with the Bulgarian Foundation for Local Government Reform (FLGR), ICMA created the Bulgaria Technical Twinning Program, which evolved into the Bulgaria CityLinks Program. The program proved to be a model of successful partnerships between Bulgarian and U.S. cities that built and strengthened the capacity of Bulgarian local governments. Through technical assistance from U.S. partners, Bulgarian local governments developed and adapted a wide range of innovative governance practices and models.
The program has addressed municipal issues of highest priority, and resulted in practical and replicable solutions in numerous technical areas:
- Economic development
- Infrastructure management and planning
- Environmental management
- Urban redevelopment
- Citizen participation
- Strategic planning
- Finance and budgeting.
Starting at its inception, the program worked in various cities throughout Bulgaria and achieved remarkable results. The strength of the program lay in the special technical focus and the guiding principles of partnership and cooperation. This approach resulted in a demand-driven and technically focused program that had the ability to produce tangible achievements.
Through the exchange of experience, know-how, and innovative practices between local governments, the program created opportunities to develop solutions to nationwide municipal and urban management issues. It also promoted initiatives that encouraged partnerships among the public, private, and nongovernmental sectors, improved local government operations and provision of services to citizens, and contributed to the strengthening and further building of the institutional capacity of the local governments and their partner organizations.