KANUKOKA ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaanni Kommunit Kattuffiat, da, De Grønlandske Kommuners Landsforening) was the national association of

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

's municipalities, led by Palle Jeremiassen. The name was an

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

formed from the first two letters of each of the constituent words of the now defunct organization's name in the

Greenlandic language Greenlandic ( kl, kalaallisut, link=no ; da, grønlandsk ) is an Eskimo–Aleut language with about 56,000 speakers, mostly Greenlandic Inuit in Greenland. It is closely related to the Inuit languages in Canada such as Inuktitut. It is the mos ...

. The aim of the organization was to facilitate cooperation between the municipalities of Greenland. Previously based in

Nuuk Nuuk (; da, Nuuk, formerly ) is the capital and largest city of Greenland, a constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark. Nuuk is the seat of government and the country's largest cultural and economic centre. The major cities from other co ...

, the organization ran the municipal elections every four years, with the last election taking place in 2016. All municipal authorities in Greenland were members of the organization up until its 2018 dissolution. The association was overseen by the Minister for Social Affairs in the Government of Greenland ( kl, Naalakkersuisut). In 2010 the annual

budget A budget is a calculation play, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environmenta ...

of the association was 12.5 million Danish kroner (DKK), with the funds coming directly from municipal budgets.

History

KANUKOKA was founded on 24 July 1972, at which time there were 18 municipalities and 3 counties. After the administrative reform of 2008 was executed on 1 January 2009, there remained only four municipalities of Greenland, while the counties were discontinued. Two of the new municipalities—Qaasuitsup and Sermersooq—were the world's largest and second largest municipalities, in that order, with an area of and , respectively. The formation of new municipalities brought new challenges to the association, with some of its tasks taken over by the new administrative entities. In light of the extensive reduction of scope, the association was perceived as an expensive and redundant layer of

bureaucracy The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...

, hampering the direct cooperation between the municipalities and the government. There was an ongoing discussion over its future, with a possible refocus from an independent organization to one being a vehicle for coordination of growth and development within the municipalities. The proposed changes were part of the ongoing reform of the public sector in Greenland under the new government, in office following the 2009 parliamentary elections. However, following the withdrawal of

Sermersooq Sermersooq (, da, sted med meget is, lit=place of much ice) is a municipality in Greenland, formed on 1 January 2009 from five earlier, smaller municipalities. Its administrative seat is the city of Nuuk (formerly called Godthåb), the capital ...

, and the division of

Qaasuitsup 400px, Clockwise from top left: Ukkusissat, Upernavik, Ilulissat Icefjord">Upernavik.html" ;"title="Ukkusissat, Upernavik">Ukkusissat, Upernavik, Ilulissat Icefjord, Uummannaq Qaasuitsup (, ''Place of Polar Darkness'') was a Municipalities of ...

into

Avannaata Avannaata (, da, Det Nordlige, lit=The Northern) is a municipality of Greenland created on 1 January 2018 from the bulk of the former Qaasuitsup municipality. It encompasses an area of 522,700 km2 and has 10,726 inhabitants. Geography In ...

and

Qeqertalik Qeqertalik (, da, Den Ene med Øerne, lit=The One with Islands) is a municipality of Greenland created in 2018 from four southern regions of the former Qaasuitsup Municipality. Geography Qeqertalik Municipality is flanked in the south by the ...

, the organisation was dissolved on Tuesday, 31 July, 2018. As such there is no longer an organization governing the relations between Greenland's municipalities, and their representative mayors cooperate with each other on a case by case basis.August 1, 2018 09:18 Jens Thorin, KANUKOKA har drejet nøglen helt om, https://knr.gl/da/nyheder/kanukoka-har-drejet-nøglen-helt-om

References

External links

* {{Official, http://www.kanukoka.gl/ Local government organizations * Organisations based in Greenland