With setting up the Department for Coordination, Alignment and Monitoring the Implementation of Strategies Defining Public Policies, the Government’s Secretariat General took a decisive step towards harmonisation with European trends in strategic planning.

We aim to foster efficient and effective policy planning, coordination and implementation to the benefit of our people by adhering to the principles of sound, evidence-based and outcome-oriented policy planning. We strive for better quality of strategy documents in Montenegro by raising the visibility of the policy planning system in each of the seven sectors which work towards achieving the country’s development vision. A sound policy coordination and planning system in place is directly conducive to the achievement of Montenegro’s foreign policy priority – EU accession – following the EU strategic priorities and good planning standards, as a guarantee for better absorption of EU funding. The global sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2030 may be successfully nationalised only through a sound strategy planning framework. Montenegro undertook that its policies will be guided by the United Nations sustainable development goals and targets, thus embracing global trends and guidance for a prosperous and sustainable development.

The Department operates through two Divisions with the following remits:

1. establish and develop a system to coordinate and monitor alignment of strategies defining policies with other national strategy papers and/or EU Acquis, and monitor their implementation;
2. check the quality of strategy documents and progress reports, and initiate improvements.

Our sector is focused on advocating the application of innovative evidence-based policy planning solutions while fostering the development of viable models of inter-agency and cross-sectoral cooperation. Our team is committed to acquiring specific knowledge and skills and adapting formal education of each team member to the new demands and trends in strategic planning. Our Department hinges on the team that undergo continuous training, in the country and abroad, do research and write reviews and analyses, publish papers in public administration journals, develop data design, visualisation and processing skills. This is best testified by the establishment of the Civil Servants’ Strategic Planning Network and the Strategic Planning Training Programme.

The key task of the Division for Monitoring Alignment of Strategies Defining Public Policies is the quality check and drafting the Department’s opinion concerning the drafts and proposals of strategy documents, with suggestions for the application of the Methodology in reference to the strategy document structure and content, conducive to their quality. The Division also deals with all the inputs needed to facilitate the operation of the Strategic Planning Network and for the delivery of the Strategic Planning Training Programme.

The Division for Monitoring the Implementation of Strategies Defining Public Policies checks the quality of progress reports against the criteria set in the Methodology, offering suggestions for better structure and contents of such reports. The Division also deals with the development of the indicator database to facilitate effective monitoring, among other things, through setting up a separate strategic planning module within the EU integration portal.