Daniela Gašparíková, UNDP Resident Representative to Montenegro 

Check against delivery

Dear partners and civil servants,

It is my great pleasure to congratulate you as the first generation of civil servants who successfully finalised the Educational Programme on Strategic Planning. 

You have joined the team of the public policy development champions in the Government of Montenegro. I understand that it is now your great personal responsibility now to transfer knowledge and skills to your colleagues.

However, I hope you will find professionally rewarding contributions you will make towards the behavioural change within your institution, so that such comprehensive policy making becomes a norm in every sector.

This programme, together with associated legal framework and very comprehensive Methodology, is the first major milestone achieved by the Department for Government Strategies in the Secretariat-General of the Government. A further step in raising the quality of strategic documents will be realised:

a)     with better problem analysis which explores cause and effect. Serious efforts to prioritise between strategic objectives and implementation approaches, becomes more likely through exploiting the potential of research and science in relevant areas.

b)    Furthermore, with very demanding task of linking the medium-term budget planning to policy planning and with

c)      Ensuring gender mainstreaming and gender analysis in the policy-making process in line with the Gender Equality Act.

I would like to acknowledge the contributions of the Governments of Montenegro and Norway, and the express satisfaction that UNDP support was one of the drivers for all implementing activities. I also want to thank to Human Resource Management Authority without whose support and commitment the strategic planning process would not be at this level.  Our goal is to create responsive and accountable institutions, which are the foundation of an efficient government, and I am sure that we are on the right way. Through this process we make progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Agenda, and in particular Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions.

Once again, I want to congratulate the first generation of strategic planning champions who have completed the Program and to invite you all to direct our resources and acquired knowledge into putting research in function of evidence-based policy making.