The Commission for awarding the Municipal Performance Grant for 2021, held a meeting. The Grant Commission composed of MLG and the Ministry of Finance has reviewed and approved the assessment report for the selection of beneficiary municipalities based on the rules and criteria for awarding the grant. This process has been monitored by donor organizations (SDC, Swedish and Norwegian Embassies), as well as representatives of civil society, BIRN and INPO.
The report and the whole assessment process is done in close cooperation and with support the DEMOS project. According to the performance grant report, 17 municipalities have qualified and met the minimum criteria, benefiting from a grant of 5.2 million euros, which will be allocated in 2021, co-financed by MLG, SDC/Swiss Office, Sweden and Norway. The grant is distributed proportionally to the municipalities based on the general grant criteria, the number of population and the level of points earned based on performance, including an additional bonus for the 3 municipalities with the highest performance.
The minimum conditions to apply for the grant are:
- Municipalities must have reported within the foreseen deadline on Municipal Performance Management System;
- Municipalities should have reviewed legal acts deemed illegal by oversight bodies
- The audit opinion or 2019 must be at least unmodified with emphasis of matter;
- Municipalities must have spent 75% or more of their budget for 2019 on capital investments; and
- Municipalities must have signed a tripartite participation agreement (the municipality,MLG and HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation).
The Grant assessment is done based on 30 indicators systematized in 3 main objectives: Democratic governance; Service Delivery and Municipal Management. The maximum number of possible points for municipalities was 96 points, while the overall average of points earned is 51.91% or 49.43 points.
