The analysis of the situations and potentials for digitalization of municipalities with recommendations for implementation models was prepared in the frame of the project “Empowering Municipal Councils - Phase 2”, which is financed by the Government of Switzerland and the Ministry of Local Self-Government, and is co-financed and implemented by UNDP. The report was prepared in accordance with the identified priority measures for the implementation of the Action Plan 2021-2023 from the Programme for Sustainable Local Development and Decentralization 2021-2026.

The analysis of the situations and potentials for digitalization of municipalities aims to provide an insight into the current state of digital platforms and the users of those platforms in the local self-government units (LGUs). For the purposes of this analysis, a survey was prepared, which was sent to all 81 LGUs on 14 October 2022, and 73 of them submitted the completed survey in the period from 19 October to 21November. 

The digital platforms of LGUs are an inseparable segment of the future platforms that would be used for providing digital services to all citizens of the LGUs, and any identified weakness in one or several of LGUs platforms may represent a risk for the efficient and safe functioning of integral platforms for providing electronic services to citizens. This means that the potential risks arising from the digital platform of any LGU do not represent a risk only for that specific municipality, but potentially for all other LGUs as well. For these reasons, this analysis should provide insight into the current state of the LGUs digitalization and, according to the identified conditions, it should provide guidelines for the next steps for the consolidation and balanced development of the digital platforms of all LGUs, which would provide conditions for reliable development of central platforms and solutions for advanced digital operations and providing services to citizens through electronic channels.