Department of Strategy and Donor Coordination

Our Mission

The Department’s mission is to assist the Government of Albania in ensuring that policy coordination, at the strategic level, occurs within the Integrated Planning System framework, leading to greater effectiveness, transparency and accountability.

Toward a fully Integrated Planning System

In December 2005, Council of Ministers of Albania (CoM) formally established the Department of Strategy and Donor Coordination (DSDC) as an integral part of its organisational structure. DSDC lies at the heart of the Government’s modernization reforms. The Department was established with the primary aim of ensuring that (by the time) fragmented strategic planning and budgeting processes of the Government were coherent and effectively managed and the external assistance was targeted towards national priorities. The main key feature of these reforms became the linkage between the medium- to long-term national strategic priorities and the budgeting and resources allocation process, ensuring that external assistance is targeted towards Government priorities. In the view of establishing the Integrated Planning System, DSDC was the main driver on the technical redesign and harmonisation of these core processes based on the assumption that their quality and coherence will greatly affect the Government’s ability to achieve its policy objectives and keep its promises to the public. Through its central role in the implementation of IPS, DSDC is mandated to ensure that the Government’s priorities and the requirements for EU and NATO integration are fully reflected in all core government policy and financial planning processes and communicated to all stakeholders. DSDC also prepares and facilitates the proceedings of the Strategic Planning and Government Modernization Committees in line with the annual IPS calendar. The Department works with the Ministry of Finance to ensure that the Medium-Term Budget Programme and the annual budget reflect Government’s strategic priorities, and with the Ministry of European Integration for guaranteeing that European Integration priorities are an integral part of all government processes. DSDC led the preparation for the National Strategy for Development and Integration (NSDI) 2007-2013, which entailed a broad consultative process involving key stakeholders from government, private sector, civil society and donors. Prior to the preparation of the NSDI, DSDC coordinated the process of developing sector and crosscutting strategies by line ministries that provided the main input for the NSDI. Introducing a monitoring mechanism on the implementation of the NSDI/sector and crosscutting strategies is a new challenge for DSDC. These new monitoring tools will supplement the annual NSDI Progress Report, which reports on the year-to-year results achieved against a series of high level indicators. The Department also provides guidance and orientation to line ministries in the development of the Ministry’s Integrated Plans and Ministry Annual Reports. DSDC`s Aid Co-ordination Unit provides a ‘one stop shop’ for donors with respect to strategic matters related to external assistance. As such, it is responsible for organizing major co-ordination activities such as the Government donor roundtables and the IPS Support Group, which is a policy-level advisory board. The Department, in cooperation with the Donor Technical Secretariat, has already established a donor database, which comprises data about all active donors that have been working since 1994; including information on foreign assistance disbursements. Together with the Ministry of Finance, DSDC co-leads negotiations with donors on policy-based conditions for loans/credits and participates in negotiations led by the Ministry of European Integration on IPA programming. In co-operation with donors and line ministries, the Department established 10 Sector Working Groups, whose aim is to ensure that external assistance is effectively Coordinated and supports sector strategy aims.

Managing for results

DSDC has been increasing its leadership in coordinating the IPS implementation process. Key outputs of DSDC activities include:

• Finalization and approval by Council of Ministers Decision of the National Strategy for Development and Integration 2007-2013
• Consultation and finalization of the 2006-2007 NSDI Progress Report
• Finalization of the Ministry Integrated Plans and Ministry Monitoring Plans for 2007 and 2008 in collaboration with line ministries
• Finalization of the External Assistance Orientation Document, linked to the NSDI priorities
• Development of EA progress report for 2008;
• Finalization of OECD DAC Survey 2006 and 2008, in collaboration with DTS
• Conclusion of the Framework Agreement and Cooperation protocols with donors;
• Organisation two bi annual donor-government roundtables in the country; eight periodic Strategic Planning Committee meetings, four IPS support group meetings and several meetings with donors at sector level;
• Participation in the Accra High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness and is following up in meeting the commitments deriving from the Accra Agenda for Action ;
• Participation in the Donor Coordination Conference in Brussels
• Active participation in the "One UN Program" under which Albania is a pilot country

 

Challenges Ahead

Being at a senior level of public administration, DSDC embodies the core values of the Albanian civil service, such as: accountability, transparency, professionalism, partnership, flexibility and innovation. DSDC is striving to add value to the quality of Government decision-making by realizing:

• a more harmonised and functioning integrated government planning process and monitoring system;
• a full interface of NSDI/sector and crosscutting strategies and European Integration agenda to the MTBP;
• an effective external assistance management process to support government priorities;
• a continuation of monitoring and evaluation systems as an essential component that builds on its strengths and learns from the experience of implementation;
• effective decision-making processes and institutional set up ensuring increased transparency and accountability.

  
  Download DSDC brochure