North Macedonia Strengthening Resource Mobilization Activity
Assisting Government Institutions to Raise and Manage Resources for Citizen Services
Challenge
North Macedonia’s aspirations to become a prosperous, self-reliant, and inclusive democratic society have been hampered by challenges in local revenue generation and budget execution. As North Macedonia advances its European Union accession processes, it has focused on creating efficient and effective government institutions at the local and national levels. This includes the appropriate administrative capacity to adequately coordinate and ensure the correct calculation, collection, payment, and control of its own resources to be able to provide efficient service delivery for its citizens.
Approach
The Strengthening Resource Mobilization Activity (SRMA) worked across all 81 municipalities of North Macedonia to raise and independently manage the resources necessary to fund services demanded by its citizens. SRMA facilitated participatory and sustainable transformation, assisting North Macedonia’s Local Self-Government Units to generate, access, and effectively manage revenues necessary to fund services and programs that benefit their citizens. This included funds generated within each municipality as well as those received from elsewhere (including allocations from the central government).
The activity worked with Local Self-Government Units, the Government of North Macedonia, and key stakeholders to enhance the quality of municipal tax and fee collection systems and increase the Local Self-Government Units’ capacity to assess external resources from the national government, international organizations, and/or capital markets and banks. The activity also improved municipalities’ ability to plan, manage, and implement public sector revenues in compliance with the Government of North Macedonia’s regulations, and enhance the decentralization process.
Key Results
SRMA worked with Local Self-Government Units, the Government of North Macedonia, and other key stakeholders to:
- Enhance the Quality of Municipal Tax and Fee Collection Systems:
- Upgraded tax collection software, updated property tax databases, and trained municipal staff to properly register and value property, as well as to enforce and collect local taxes and fees.
- Boosted taxpayer awareness through the ‘My Tax for My Municipality’ campaign, which shared how property taxes improve citizens’ lives.
- Increase Local Governments’ Capacity to Access External Resources:
- Trained over 200 municipal officers to identify and develop project ideas and prepare project applications that could potentially secure external funds.
- Assisted 38 partner municipalities to develop and submit 84 project applications (11 of which were accepted for funding).
- Plan, Manage, and Implement Public Sector Revenues in Compliance with National Regulations:
- Enabled municipalities to assess their public financial management practices, identify strengths and weaknesses, and develop action plans for improvement.
- Enhanced transparency in public procurement, increased equitable access to resources and opportunities, and improved budget planning.
- Advance the Central Government’s Efforts in Improving the Decentralization Policy:
- Analyzed and recommended improvements to the process for transferring funds to municipalities.
- Compiled a Comparative Study and International Best Practices in Municipal Debt Management and drafted related legislation.