Deadline: 21-Jul-22
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has announced the Public call for municipalities to participate in the project “Strengthening Municipal Councils – Phase 2″.
The project ” Strengthening Municipal Councils – Phase 2″ is funded by the Swiss Embassy and the Ministry of Local Self-Government, and is implemented and co-financed by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
The main goal of the project is to advance the support of the system for the development of local government, mainly by strengthening municipal councils which will be able to effectively fulfill their assigned roles of municipal representation, oversight and decision-making through the involvement of citizens in actively.
In addition, the project aims to improve the system of local self-government, decentralization and improvement of living conditions in local communities, by improving development policies and legal framework for local development and decentralization, digitalization of municipal services, increasing transparency and citizen participation. at the local level, as well as the fight against corruption.
Promoting the principles of gender equality and equal opportunities for all, social cohesion, environmental protection, as well as strengthening inter-municipal and cross-sectoral cooperation are part of the transversal themes of this project.
Components
The main components of the project in the implementation of which municipalities will be involved as partners and beneficiaries of the project are:
- Systematic and sustainable improvement of the work of municipal councils and advancement of the system of local self-government;
- Increasing citizen participation for sustainable local democracy and improving the lives of all citizens (women and men);
- Improving utilities through the implementation of technology and innovation.
Benefits
- Municipalities that will be selected to participate in the project will have certain non-financial and financial benefits.
- As part of the non-financial benefits, council members from selected municipalities will have the opportunity to attend trainings, councilor networking events, seminars and conferences, and study visits. At the same time, municipal councils and municipalities will have the opportunity to participate in activities to increase the level of transparency, accountability and civic participation. The above benefits will help counselors increase their capacity to more successfully carry out their responsibilities and tasks.
- Also, from the 10 selected municipalities, on an annual basis the project will support:
- two to three municipalities in the preparation or revision of existing plans and strategies of local development, and
- a municipality to establish at least one form of inter-municipal cooperation (IMC may is decided by a municipality that is directly involved in the project with other municipalities which are or are not directly involved in the project).
Funding Information
- Within the financial benefits, the municipalities will benefit financial resources in the total amount of 50,000 to 70,000 USD, depending on the implementation agreements, respectively:
- $ 10,000 to $ 12,000 to set up at least one innovative initiative or mechanism for increasing transparency, accountability and civic participation, and
- 40,000 to 60,000 USD in the form of project grants (depending on the type and size of municipalities, respectively: from 40,000 USD to 50,000 USD for rural and urban municipalities up to 25,000 inhabitants; and up to 60,000 USD for urban municipalities with over 25,000 inhabitants) for the implementation of 1 to 3 priority projects of citizens selected through a participatory approach – methodology for the implementation of Community Forums. When determining the number of resident population in municipalities, the official data of the Statistical Office from the census of the year will be used.
- Duration: The duration of the implementation of the activities with the ten newly selected municipalities is 15 months.
Eligibility Criteria
All municipalities in the Republic of Northern Macedonia, which were not directly involved in the first phase of the project in the period 2016-2021 , may be interested in this call .
For more information, visit https://www.undp.org/north-macedonia/news/thirrje-publike-p%C3%ABr-komunat-p%C3%ABr-pjes%C3%ABmarrje-n%C3%AB-projektin-fuqizimi-i-k%C3%ABshillave-komunal-faza-2