Management of municipal infrastructure in the City of Sarajevo -- final report

As part of this effort, USAID requested the assistance of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) to examine the institutional capacity of the Sarajevo city authorities to work with the Trust Fund for Sarajevo Rehabilitation (SCS), the Agency for International Cooperation for the Reconstruction and Development of Bosnia-Hercegovina (AICReD), and the donor communities on the action plan and program for local management of urban infrastructure serving the citizens of Sarajevo. The ICMA team found that the sociopolitical transformation that has been underway in Eastern Europe and the New Independent States (ENI) has virtually bypassed Sarajevo and the rest of Bosnia. Despite this limitation and the exodus of skilled professionals prompted by war, there remains a significant pool of skilled human resources in Sarajevo to plan and execute the rebuilding of the city, provided the city receives adequate support, resources, and capacity-building assistance. These resources could be more effectively utilized in meeting emergency requirements and framing overall reconstruction efforts if the roles of the different agencies operating in Bosnia-Hercegovina were better clarified and coordinated. USAID and other donors should also support the process of institutional and policy reform that will be necessary for Bosnian national and local authorities to effectively assume leadership of reconstruction efforts once peace is achieved. In light of the above and current constraints on supplies for new capital investments, USAID assistance in the near term would be most beneficial if it supported the city and national government in planning for reconstruction and reform through information sharing and dissemination as well as technical exchanges among U.S. experts and practitioners and Bosnian officials and staff. (Author abstract)