Local Communities (MZs), phase 2, UNDP Local Communities (MZs), phase 2, UNDP - Strenghtening Local Communities in BiH (MZs) Phase 2 This Project ”Strengthening  the role  of Local Communities in BiH (Mjesne Zajednice -MZs) in Bosnia and Herzegovina- Phase II ”  is a joint initiative of the Government of Sweden  and the Government of Switzerland , implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).
The overall goal of the second Project phase is to improve the quality of life of the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina through empowered, gender responsive   local communities (MZs) that facilitate active citizen engagement in public life, stand for people-centred performance of local governments and catalyse democratic transformation at the local level.The second Project phase will have a country-wide outreach. It intends to work directly with approximately 40 local governments  (28% of all local governments) and 200 MZs (8% of MZs in the country), distributed throughout the country. 
 Project activities will be channelled along the following three outcomes:
Outcome 1: Local governments create a conducive environment that enables pro-active engagement of MZs in decision-making and community-led local development.
Outcome 2: MZs as legitimate and sustainable community spaces translate citizens’ voice into quality, gender-responsive and inclusive services and use MZ networks for replication of successful MZ models countrywide.
Outcome 3: Higher government authorities act in response to increased citizens demand for an improved MZ regulatory framework, moving forward broader local governance reforms at country level.
Total budget of the programme is 100 MSEK   financed by both donors  during the period 2020-2024.
The Government of Switzerland is co-financing the Project with 50 MSEK , the Government of Sweden with 28 MSEK and the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina with 22 MSEK. Projektet ”Stärka lokala samhällens roll i Bosnien och Hercegovina-fas II” är ett gemensamt initiativ från Sverige och Schweiz, genomfört av FN: s utvecklingsprogram (UNDP) i Bosnien och Hercegovina (BiH). 
Det övergripande målet för fas II av projektet är att förbättra livskvaliteten för medborgarna i Bosnien och Hercegovina genom att lokala samhällen (MZ), får mer makt att styra över sin egen utveckling vilket sker genom en deltagandeprocess med ett integrerat jämställdhetsperspektiv som ska gynna ett aktivt medborgarengagemang i det offentliga livet, representera folket inför lokala myndigheter samt katalysera demokratisk transformation på lokal nivå. I denna fas av projektet kommer arbete ske direkt med cirka 40 lokala myndigheter (28% av alla lokala myndigheter) och 200 lokala samhällen (8% av alla lokala samhällen i landet), fördelade över hela landet. 
Projekts aktiviteter förväntas generera följande tre resultat: 
Resultat 1: Lokala myndigheter skapar en gynnsam miljö som möjliggör aktivt engagemang hos lokala samhällen för en beslutsfattande och samhällsstyrd lokal utveckling. 
Resultat 2: Lokala samhällen ses som legitima och hållbara plattformar där medborgarnas åsikter översätts till kvalitativa, jämställdhetsintegrerade och inkluderande tjänster. Nätverk mellan lokala samhällen används för replikering av framgångsrika samhällsmodeller över hela landet. 
Resultat 3: Statliga myndigheter besvarar medborgarnas ökade efterfråga på ett förbättrat regelverk för lokala samhällen och främjar bredare lokala styrelseformer på landnivå. 
Programmets totala budget är 100 MSEK och finansieras av de två givarländerna under perioden 2020-2024. Schweiz finansierar projektet med 50 MSEK, Sveriges finansierar med 28 MSEK och Bosnien och Hercegovinas finansierar projektet med 22 MSEK. The second phase of the Project adopts a theory of change that draws on the achievements of the previous phase, projecting the vision for further systemic consolidation of efforts. The second Project phase will have a country-wide outreach. It intends to work directly with approximately 40 local governments (28% of all local governments) and 200 MZs (8% of MZs in the country), distributed throughout the country. By translating the publicly agreed MZ Vision into localized and institutionalized set of changes in their regulatory and strategic frameworks, local governments create pre-conditions for empowered MZs. A two-track efforts will enable effective enforcement of these new frameworks: on the one side, advanced capabilities of elected officials and municipal staff, and on the other – improved MZ-level organization and staff capacities. Only then, the MZs will be ready to exercise their new roles and become legitimate and sustainable community spaces that translate citizens’ voice into improved services. By capacitating and giving a stronger accountability of civil society organizations in the process, ownership and capabilities for further action and replication of results will be noticeable in the non-government sector.By supporting local governments and MZs to put the new institutional MZ models into life via renewed civic engagement in priority-setting at the community level, increased financing of MZs from municipal budgets, enhancing MZs’ staff and councils’ capacities to be at the center of community life, local governments and MZs will systemically improve citizen-government trust and have tangible effect on local quality of life. At the same time these processes will empower women participation. The growing number of empowered and gender-sensitive communities will serve as basis for horizontal replication country-wide, thus contributing to the creation of a critical mass of local governments and vibrant MZs that are ready for change, placing MZs at the nexus between local governments and citizens as facilitators of local development social inclusion and active communities. Better capacitated CSOs will be capacitated to support further replication and knowledge-sharing in other localities in the future. These positive grassroots experiences will be the basis for evidence-based policy dialogue and serve as a bases for policy-makers to further advocate for and formulate, in collaboration with all relevant stakeholders, the policy reforms towards a system change that strengthens the role of local communities country-wide.The critical mass of positive local-level and community practices and experiences is expected to further increase the bottom-up pressure towards legal and policy changes at the higher levels of government. MZ network will foster horizontal replication and knowledge-sharing across MZs countrywide. This work will generate enough evidence and leverage for improvements of the legislation and policies. In response to this bottom-up action, taken that political will is in place, the higher-level authorities will formulate new inclusive policies and initiate reform dialogues for institutionalization of the successful MZ-empowerment models. These steps in improving community governance will be the basis for future broader changes in the local governance frameworks, i.e. for the whole-of-system reform of local governance. All elements of this theory of change are built into the Project’s intervention strategy and end-of-Project vision, implying that after all Project’s phases no further external assistance will be necessary to MZs to perform as vibrant, gender-responsive, participatory spaces in partnership with local governments.