The Certificate-granting Ceremony of the Educational Program for Professional Development of Employees in the Area of Strategic Planning Held

The certificate-granting ceremony of the first accredited Educational Program for professional development of civil servants in the area of strategic planning took place on 19 June 2019, and it was organized by the Human Resources Management Authority, HRMA, and the Secretariat-General of the Government of Montenegro, GSV. Secretary-General of the Government, Ms Nataša Pešić, Director of the HRMA, Ms Svetlana Vuković, Ms Daniela Gasparikova of the UNDP Montenegro and Mr Marko Mrdak, Deputy Chief Negotiator, delivered the introductory speeches.

Secretary-General of the Government, Ms Nataša Pešić, emphasized that the Program's participants greatly contributed to the general quality of the Program by their involvement, work and commitment.

She said: “Having in mind the requirements in Montenegro’s negotiation talks with the European Union (EU), the Secretariat-General of the Government of Montenegro got new, even more demanding tasks to improve the quality of strategic documents, and this Program represents one of the most important tools in this sense.”

Director of the HRMA, Ms Svetlana Vuković, believes this Program would help us do better strategic planning and have documents of better quality so that we can prove we are able to use knowledge in the strategies the Government of Montenegro is adopting.

“Quality strategic planning is impossible to establish without the professional and trained staff, and it represents the precondition of an efficient public administration. Quality strategic planning will enable Montenegro to defend its position in the EU once it joins it. Before we establish the system of an efficient strategic planning, it is necessary to ensure people who will know how to do it,” noted Ms Vuković.

The Office of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Montenegro, which has been implementing the project of the Norwegian bilateral support (the Program’s literature – Methodology for developing policies, drafting and monitoring the strategic documents was prepared during the project) noted that the Program itself and the Methodology represent a huge step forward in boosting the quality of strategic documents.

“Our priority is to assist the Montenegrin institutions so that they can become more responsible and thus represent the core of an efficient government. These are the principles which are in line with the Sustainable Development Agenda, especially when it comes to the Goal 16 – Peace, justice and strong institutions,” stressed the UNDP permanent representative to Montenegro, Ms Daniela Gašparikova.

According to the Deputy Chief Negotiator, Mr Marko Mrdak, the participants of the Program gained knowledge from the most important area of strategic planning, and today they represent specific expertise in their ministries, i.e. public administration.

He continued: “During the past year, we had the opportunity to see what the comprehensive reform in an area really means, as it also includes the need for proper environment for its application besides adopting regulations. This exactly is the reason why this year’s EC Progress Report on Montenegro suggests that our country has made good progress in the area of policy coordination and development.”

PHOTO GALLERY