Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative (LGI), as one of the programs of the Open Society Institute (OSI), is an international development and grant-giving organization dedicated to the support of good governance in the countries of Central Eastern Europe (CEE) and Newly Independent States (NIS). LGI seeks to fulfill its mission through the initiation of research and support of development and operational activities in the fields of decentralization, public policy formation and the reform of public administration. With projects running in countries covering the region between the Czech Republic and Mongolia, LGI seeks to achieve its objectives through: · Development of sustainable regional networks of institutions and professionals engaged in policy analysis, reform-oriented training and advocacy; · Support and dissemination of in-depth comparative and regionally applicable policy studies tackling local government issues; · Support of country specific projects and delivery of technical assistance to implementation agencies; · Assistance to local Soros foundations with the development of local government, public administration and/or public policy programs in their respective countries; · Publishing of books, studies and discussion papers dealing with the issues of decentralization, public administration, good governance, public policy and lessons learnt from the process of transition in these areas; · Development of curricula and organization of training programs dealing with specific local government issues; · Support of policy centers and think-tanks in the region.