Strategic planning increases the focus on investment in sustainable development

The KLGI Institute held a training session on ‘How to improve the drafting, monitoring and implementation of municipal strategies’, exchanging experiences with the government's strategic office. Participants in this training session were representatives of the Directorates of Economic Development from municipalities.

Furthermore, the training session aimed to produce concrete recommendations/proposals, based on the problems set out by the municipalities, for improving the drafting, monitoring and implementation of public policies.

The National Coordinator for State Reform, Mr Besnik Tahiri, speaking about state reform, emphasised that an effective public administration and the administrative capacity to develop adequate policies are a fundamental factor for sustainable development, increased welfare and better delivery of services to citizens.

Public administration reform has been characterised by trends and internal developments required to establish the best possible policy-making system as the main pillar of a democratic, transparent and effective system, and to prepare administrative capacities to take on the obligations arising from EU membership. Joint government–municipality commitments and the results in this field were also discussed. It was stressed that in the coming days the action agenda for next year will be harmonised.

The Executive Director of the KLGI Institute, Mr Besnik Muçaj, emphasised improving policy coordination and planning as a necessity for integration; there is therefore a need to achieve better harmonisation between local public policies and the budget. Municipalities' development strategies need to match the needs and capacities of municipalities; they must, however, correspond to the actual situation of municipalities so that they can be implemented.

The Director of the Strategic Planning Office in the Government of Kosovo, Mr Vedat Sogojeva, spoke about improving the drafting, monitoring and implementation of public policies, stressing that an effective planning process provides assurance of improved quality of policies and service delivery.

Meanwhile, Mr Venhar Nushi, a representative of the Strategic Planning Office in the Government of Kosovo, stressed that the strategy drafting process is based on internal and external assessments, identifying the main challenges and problems in the policy planning and coordination system in Kosovo.

In addition to the information, discussions and presentations on the topic, participants were also given working materials in this field. This is also a good opportunity to strengthen structured communication between municipalities and the strategic planning office.

This activity falls under the pillar of improving the public policy cycle at the local level and is being carried out within the project ‘Support for Stronger and More Sustainable Municipalities (SSSM)’, funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Kosovo.