The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), an independent federal government agency, receives foreign policy guidance from the Secretary of the State. The agency provides assistance to support long-term and equitable economic growth and to advance U.S. foreign policy objectives through economic growth, agriculture, and trade; global health; democracy; conflict prevention; and humanitarian assistance. USAID provides technical support to four regions of the world: Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Near East, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe and Eurasia. USAID works closely with private voluntary organizations, indigenous organizations, universities, American businesses, international agencies, other governments, and other U.S. government agencies.

In 1998, USAID introduced the Making Cities Work strategy. The implicit premise underlying these efforts is that access to political decision-making is fundamental to democracy and that local governments, as permanent institutions with elected representatives, are closer to the people than central governments and can be more responsive to local needs. The Making Cities Work strategy assists in the transfer of decision-making and spending power from central to local governments. It is based on the principle that strengthening the technical, financial, and management capacity of local government to respond to constituents’ needs and to sustain municipal reforms is critical to the success of decentralization.

To support USAID’s “Making Cities Work” initiative, the Office of Urban Programs introduced Resource Cities partnerships in May 1997 as a means to deliver technical assistance in urban management to cities worldwide. USAID partnered with the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) to deliver management and strategic guidance for the program. The program builds on the technical expertise of ICMA’s membership of over 9,000 local government professionals. USAID has witnessed the rapid growth of the program, which began with six partnerships, and over time has facilitated more than 75 relationships between cities, counties, and other municipal support organizations.