In Orissa, there was no forum to support professional development of urban managers or to raise advocacy with state government on urban issues. Also, there was no sharing of successful experiences and no dissemination of information. Thus to overcome these deficiencies, the idea of a City Mangers’ Association Orissa came up on 15th of April 2002 at a state level workshop on formation of “City Managers’ Association, Orissa (CMAO)”. In this workshop representatives of various urban local bodies, development authorities and Government of Orissa participated and expressed their deep concern in the prevailing urban scenario in the state, national and globally.

During the workshop participants expressed the need for city managers associations in the state like elsewhere in the world. Participants felt that the CMA of Orissa will serve as a clearinghouse for collection, analysis, and dissemination of local government information and will facilitate formulation of a public policy. It will also provide technical assistance on a broad range of management issues to local governments in the state.

CMAO is an apex body created by Municipal bodies, Development Authorities, urban institutions and individuals for professional development & capacity building. Its mission is to provide better services to citizens through professional management and the principal objectives are information exchange, dissemination of information on urban issues, best city management practices, providing technological support to local government, sharing management experiences across the country  and upgrading training skills for professional development.

The City Managers’ Association Orissa is governed by a Managing Committee, comprising of twenty-three members with Secretary of Urban Development Department as the patron and Vice Chairman Bhubaneswar Development Authority as President.

CMAO works in very specialized subjects such as Municipal Performance Measurement, Best Practices, e-Governance, Urban Environment, Policy Research & Evaluation, Professional Training (Change Management), Good Governance Tool and Leadership Development programme for both Elected & Non elected representatives of ULB’s etc.