The ICMA CityLinks™ program was inaugurated in collaboration with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in 1997. Known at the time as Resource Cities, the program was established to respond to the impact of economic globalization, accelerated urbanization, and rapid decentralization worldwide—events that prompted USAID to view much of its assistance from an urban perspective.  

USAID's Making Cities Work strategy recognizes that in an increasingly urbanized world, well-managed cities are the key to efficient service delivery, economic growth, sound management of resources, community health, and political stability. And democratic governance is the system by which local citizens hold their elected officials accountable for these outcomes. 

The implicit premises underlying these efforts are 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 ICMA to deliver management and strategic guidance for the program.

Based on the success of Resource Cities, USAID funded a five-year CityLinks program (2003-2008), which encompassed eleven projects in ten countries and resulted in ongoing city-to-city partnerships that endured beyond the end of the funding.