HORIZONTAL INTEGRATION
Tuesday, 18 August 2020
The Slovenian Development Strategy 2030, with its primary objective of “Slovenia, a country with a high quality of life for all” and its twelve development goals is the country’s core development framework, which is supported by sectoral strategies, regional and municipal strategies and programmes and operational measures. Each development goal is accompanied by a definition of the path to its achievement.
Inter-ministerial coordination has already been established during the preparation of the SDS 2030. The Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy, in cooperation with the Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development:
· coordinates development planning as well as the development documents of the Republic of Slovenia and monitors the implementation of development policies and its programmes;
· is responsible for the coordination of documents pertaining to development planning and compliance of national development planning programmes and the European Union and other international organisations’ development documents.
The implementation of the Strategy will be based on medium-term planning, tied to the medium-term fiscal framework and the establishment of a system of implementing documents which have to be codified in and linked to the Public Finance Act. In order to implement Slovenia’s development goals, a four-year national development policy programme (NDPP) and a medium-term fiscal strategy will be drawn up, and will be extended annually. The NDPP will include measures and activities based on the goals set out in this Strategy and the corresponding horizontal and sectoral strategic documents. Later, using the OECD’s framework for assessing the impacts of the individual scenarios or agreed measures, Slovenia will also monitor the achieving of the Strategy’s goals and the orientations of development policy up to 2030 or 2050. The framework is composed of four equal and interconnected modules: a basic macroeconomic model, an environmental/energy model, a module for assessing the effects of healthcare measures and a module for assessing the effects of income inequality.
The body responsible for development has been tasked with heading up the drafting of the NDPP together with the Ministry of Finance and with the active participation of all government departments. Drafting of the first programme has already started. The harmonisation of the document is carried out by the permanent interdepartmental working group for development planning. The group operates as a mechanism for horizontal cooperation within the framework of the drafting of the Slovenian Development Strategy 2030 and other central strategic and implementing documents, and in the harmonisation and monitoring of the implementation of individual measures in the field of development.
The individual development goals include the contents of policies that lie within the remit of various departments; therefore, if the Strategy is to be implemented successfully, the effectiveness of interdepartmental coordination and cooperation will have to be strengthened. The multidimensional complexity of the goals dictates combined efforts towards their implementation and effective coordination among the individual policies. The harmonisation of the sectoral strategic, development and action plans, programmes and activities with the core national development strategy is the responsibility of the parties charged with their development. The body responsible for development will, via interdepartmental coordinating processes, monitor the drafting of the individual sectoral documents and ensure their compliance with the Slovenian Development Strategy 2030. During the process of the drafting of the strategic documents and regulations at the horizontal level and in the individual sectoral areas, increased attention will be paid to an accurate analysis of the situation, the definition of objectives and the assessment of the consequences for different areas of development. Therefore, it will be necessary to improve the level of knowledge in these areas at the level of the governmental departments and systemically introduce a goal-focused approach. At the same time, it will be necessary to develop human resources and establish tools for managing collective knowledge, information and data for analysis and the integrated management of development policies.