About Us
Our mission:
To improve governance and opportunities for citizens in developing countries by providing research and technical assistance focused on local government, delivery and financing of public services, and the interactions of governments with firms and citizens.
Our capability:
Among many voices in the field of international development, the Urban Institute is uniquely able to:
- bring an integrated approach to local governance and economic development, building on the expertise of economists, city managers, legal reform and other experts
- build on two decades of on-the ground experience in more than 70 countries, working alongside local reform leaders and scholars,
- draw on the wide expertise of the Urban Institute in areas of health, education, urban development, justice policy and other areas of government policy,
- assess the impact of policy options and changes and design performance measurement into both donor projects and local budget and administrative processes,
- work with local partners to build capacity for sustained reform and research.
Our expertise:
- Decentralization
- Local government capacity-building
- Institutional Development
- Inter-governmental finance
- Citizen Engagement
- Anti-corruption
- Land tenure, property rights Infrastructure
- planning and finance
- Performance Management
- Municipal service delivery
- Urban Management
- Land and Asset Management
- Local Economic Development
- Public-Private Partnerships
- Housing policy
- Mortgage finance
- Slum upgrading
- Microfinance for housing
Our sponsors
The Urban Institute’s international activity is supported by a wide range of public and private sector entities including the US Agency for International Development, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the World Bank, national governments, foundations and other development and financial institutions.
Our counterparts:
From over 70 countries, government policy makers, elected officials, private sector actors, civil society leaders, academics and donor agencies all work with UI. UI staff work with colleagues in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe.
Our team:
In UI’s headquarters office we have more than 25 experts and project managers, supported by the administrative systems and financial management of the Urban Institute. In overseas offices and projects there are an additional 200 staff.
Our accomplishments:
- In more than 100 cities in newly-democratic and decentralizing Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, Asia, Africa and Latin America UI has introduced citizen-focused program budgeting, applied performance measurement to improve delivery of essential services and introduced more democratic decision-making to newly-empowered local officials and citizens.
- UI guided one of Russia’s first independent social policy research organizations: the Institute for Urban Economics and supported development of think tanks in Indonesia, Bosnia, Albania, Azerbaijan and elsewhere.
- UI has provided policy advice and reform support in more than 70 countries on issues ranging from slum upgrading to improvement of courts, from earthquake recovery to infrastructure financing. Urban Institute field teams of US and local experts introduce evidence-based policymaking to a range of developing country issues – national polices and delivery of local services. For example, in Pakistan district councils are, for the first time, consulting citizens in advance of adopting budgets and making adjustments that are improving public services such as health care and girls’ education.
- UI has improved local government revenue generation capability – by increasing autonomy of local governments, introducing more efficient methods of billing and collection, unlocking revenue potential of municipal property through pro-active asset management, introducing property registration systems, and demonstrating the relationship between user fees and service improvements.
Working with the Urban Institute Center on International Development and Governance:
UI holds a variety of grant and contract mechanisms that make it simple to utilize the expertise of our team. Several Indefinite Quantity contracts and the GSA schedule are available for US Government entities.
