Reforming Policy Coordination and the Centre of Government – Third Phase

Within the project Reforming Policy Coordination and the Centre of Government, funded by the European Union and implemented by a consortium led by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, CEP’s experts Milena Lazarević and Marko Obradović were commissioned to carry out fieldwork and provide a detailed map of the existing policy cycle at the national level in Serbia. It was an extensive effort which covered all the stages of the policy cycle from the development of plans within the Government as part of agenda setting and problem prioritization, policy planning and formulation within the ministries as well as the development of strategic documents and their implementation, decision-making on the Government level and the monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. Data gathered though desk research was cross-referenced with information collected through semi-structured interviews across four case study ministries and relevant government offices, so as to arrive to a conclusion on the discrepancy between the de lege and de facto situation. Based on the map of the policy cycle and analysis of best practices in the EU member states, the project developed a series of recommendations for improving the process of (public) policy making in Serbia.

The general purpose of the project was to strengthen the policy making structure and processes in the Government so that the policies are strategic, outcome focused, flexible, and innovative as well as interlinked with the strategic and budgetary frameworks which will in return allow for a proper coordination at the Centre of Government.

The mapping report is available here.