Impact of Investing in Cities and Local Governments Program Review

The Making Cities Work (MCW) indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract (2014–2024) aims to provide access to short- and long-term technical services, training, and capacity-building in areas related to improving urban and local governance. MCW issued 18 task orders (TOs), to advance urban governance work, investing over $500 million and enabling the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to address the challenges and opportunities presented by the unprecedented pace of global urbanization and advance USAID’s implementation of its Sustainable Service Delivery in an Increasingly Urbanized World policy.

The program review organized MCW outcomes into five areas:

• Improved urban and local government public service delivery with an emphasis on transportation, water and sanitation, and solid waste management (SWM).
• Enhanced ability of urban and local governments to adapt to climate change, improve environmental management practices, and expand pollution control systems. Better urban and local government disaster preparedness, response, and recovery.
• Greater autonomy, transparency, responsiveness, and accountability of urban and local governments.
• Strengthened urban and local government finance, creditworthiness, and borrowing.
• Stronger cross-sectoral integration between other key USAID development sectors, namely economic development, health, and education.

Recommendations:

Based on a review of relevant literature and program documents, as well as Key Informant Interviews with select stakeholders and implementers, and implementers, the following recommendations were identified:

• Continue funding mechanisms like MCW that address linked issues.
• Harness strategic savvy of investments in local government.
• Build a new generation of decentralization programming.
• Pursue co-design strategies that foster ownership by municipalities and strengthen the prospects for sustainability.
• Continue progress on digital development.
• Integrate corruption awareness.

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