The founders of ICMA had the wisdom to see that the association would best succeed if we could create a truly global network of local government professionals. While we have done much in the past few decades to leverage our strong relationships with funding organizations to help developing and transitioning nations build professional local governments, we have not had a truly integrated global development and engagement strategy. 

We began this process in 2019 and when the pandemic struck, it served to further strengthen our resolve. COVID-19 brought the world of local governments together in a very powerful way. As you have seen over the past two years, ICMA has been there every step of the way. We have worked to quickly disseminate the innovative ways members in jurisdictions throughout the world have shared in navigating through the crisis—with leading practice case studies, tools, techniques, and professional development opportunities.

Global Development and Engagement

The process of reimagining ICMA’s role on the global stage together with our members, partners, affiliates, and friends has been an exciting one. This whitepaper that outlines the opportunities, challenges, and key questions kicked off the process. We have hired consultants Factum Global to inform the process. We have brought on our first managing director of global engagement and development Alexandre Bouche, who brings over 30 years of international business development and global membership expansion experience.

The ICMA staff and I are extremely grateful for the input we have received from the ICMA Executive Board, members throughout the world, international affiliates, and partner organizations, as well as other stakeholders. It has allowed us to finalize the research and discovery phase of the project and to move forward in developing and sharing the final plan with you in the coming months.

Meet International Digest

Beginning with this inaugural issue, you will begin receiving International Digest, a new monthly edition of our Leadership Matters newsletter.  It features a compilation of news, resources, and opportunities FROM AND FOR our members, affiliates, partners, friends, and all local government professionals around the world.

In this one resource we plan to:

• Share practices, resources, updates, and events on local global government management communities.
• Create a clearinghouse of local government practices around the world to share, educate, and leverage.
• Establish a “go to place” to learn from local government practices around the world.
• And, most importantly, to engage our members.

What’s Next

This process, which began as a component of the ICMA Strategic Plan, has sparked a multitude of remarkable conversations about why, where, and how we can transform into a truly global organization. While the hard work of prioritizing investments in our global future remains, I believe our founders would be as excited as we are by the vision they inspired in 1924 when they officially adopted the name International City Managers’ Association.