Latvian municipal civil servants demonstrate creativity and good will to innovate in response to key governance challenges. The public sector at the municipal level is not naturally conducive to innovation, as risk controls (e.g., audit and accountability mechanisms), limited resources and inflexible legal, regulatory and procurement frameworks often make it difficult to find opportunities to innovate. A desire for transformation and change at the municipal level could be supported with increased resources for innovative activities: including the establishment of safe spaces to test and pilot innovative initiatives, and guidance on how to innovate with citizen needs at the centre within the existing legal and legislative frameworks. Furthermore, municipal public servants could benefit from increased capacity building opportunities in innovation skills. While centralised supports from the national level for innovative activities could be a significant benefit to municipalities, such supports need to recognise the municipalities’ central role in delivering services to citizens. Finally, evaluation and learning mechanisms at the local level are largely informal and could benefit from a more routine approach, focused on impact measures to ensure policies and services are meeting the needs of citizens. A public sector innovation strategy that recognises the fundamental role of both municipal and national actors could help steer, enable and provide capability for innovative efforts to come to fruition to deliver better impact to citizens.