When ICMA implements an international development project, one of its primary goals is to foster long-lasting improvements that can be sustained after the project ends. The latest “success story” in program sustainability comes from Sri Lanka.

More than three years after the end of the USAID-funded Transparent Accountable Local Governance (TALG) program, ICMA has learned that TALG continues to have an impact on local government practices in the jurisdictions that participated. A national ministry has adopted an assessment instrument developed for TALG, and participating jurisdictions win a majority of the awards in an annual national “best practices” competition.

Through the TALG program (March 2005-September 2007), ICMA partnered with the Asia Foundation to provide technical assistance and training to 35 local authorities in areas affected by the 2004 tsunami and/or by conflict within the country. The TALG program sought to help these local authorities make key political institutions more responsive to citizen input, improve service delivery, provide post-tsunami emergency recovery assistance, and increase the rule of law to protect and empower vulnerable groups.

Key activities of ICMA’s portion of the program included:

• Providing training to improve overall service delivery in solid waste management, road maintenance, street lighting, and storm water drainage
• Providing training in financial management and budgeting, including the “how-to’s” of grantsmanship
• Facilitating the establishment of partnerships among Sri Lankan local authorities and civil society and community groups
• Sharing innovative practices through symposium presentations, case studies, and networking
• Awarding sub-grants and contracts to 28 local authorities to provide home composting bins to 50 households each; and a $10,000 award to two local authorities for a special project based on a competitive application using principles from the grantsmanship training
• Undertaking other capacity building programs.

To establish benchmarks and assess progress, ICMA developed a Local Authority Development Scale (LADS) and used it to conduct a baseline assessment of organizational capacity and to measure changes over the course of the project. Annually, the LADS served as a “report card” for measuring improvements in service delivery, financial management, rule of law, and citizen participation. At the end of the program, in September 2007, the LADS showed a remarkable improvement in service delivery and revenue collection for partner localities.

During the course of the program, ICMA facilitated a CityLinks partnership in which professionals from Vancouver, Washington, helped the Sri Lankan cities of Anuradhapura and Kataragama mitigate the negative impacts of festivals and events and develop strategies for economic growth through tourism.

After a recent visit to Sri Lanka, ICMA member Ron Bergman, who served as ICMA technical advisor for the TALG program, reported that the Ministry of Local and Provincial Government has adopted the LADS instrument as the methodology for awarding annual “best” local governments in three categories—municipal councils, urban councils, and Pradeshiya Sabhas (village councils). Since the end of the TALG program (as of the 2010 awards), more than 50 percent of the annual award winners have come from the 35 local authorities included in the program.

Said Bergman, “One of the rewards of international development work is to see the lasting benefits of a project after the funding has ended. USAID, ICMA, the Asia Foundation, and those of us who implemented the TALG program can be proud of its legacy.”

To learn more about ICMA's international programs, visit the website and the "International Development" topic in the Knowledge Network, or e-mail international@icma.org.