ABSTRACT
Current conditions and the status of reform make local governments in Central and Eastern Europe ideal candidates for initiating performance management. Performance management can be a valuable tool in addressing these issues by helping local governments improve municipal services, increase their accountability and responsiveness to citizens, and involve their constituents in the process of governance. Despite its powerful advantages, introducing performance management faces some challenges in transition economies. The Urban Institute has initiated pilot projects with several cities to support their efforts to introduce performance management into their operations. In the context of broader programmes of technical assistance to local governments, some elements of performance management have been initiated in local governments in Hungary, Albania, and Georgia, with new efforts just beginning in Russia and Indonesia. In Georgia, cities were able to use service improvement action plans to introduce concrete improvements in parks based on public opinion polls, user observations, and substantial citizen participation.
