Strategic Planning on the Local Level As a Factor of Rural Development in the Republic of Serbia

• Strategy, structure and systems - are “tools” by means of which vision,
mission and objectives are realised. Strategy refers to the general action plan
aiming at the achievement of certain objectives. It defines activities (fields of
operation) that the community sets to develop, capacities, abilities and
knowledge that are necessary for the realisation of these activities and, of
course, the tendencies and courses required for the growth/progress of the
municipality. Structure refers to the way the organisational structure of the
municipal authorities is established in order to realise vision and mission. Finally,
systems refer to management tools by means of which strategy is accomplished
within the defined structure. Systems, such as annual budget (management tool,
in the first place) are developed in order to distribute resources and
responsibilities for public spending during the realisation of the community’s
vision and mission.

• Implementation - In this phase all process components are activated.
Depending on the quality of work in earlier phases, implementation should be
efficient (lowest expenses) and effective (with as good results as possible). This
ought to result in high level services, increased performance and excellent
financial results.

• Evaluation - Self-evaluation is the final phase in the strategic planning process.
Therewith a completely new process is started to be carried out in the following
year. It serves to compare the strategic plan with the performance of local
authorities. Here levels of success, possible set-backs and difficulties are
identified as well. In line with the evaluation results, corrective measures are
proposed aiming at improvement of the overall performance of strategic planning
for the next year.

Conclusion

The Republic of Serbia has recently passed the Law on Local Self-Government, which
gives larger autonomy to local authorities and exacts organisational restructuring of the
whole system of local authorities in Serbia; the Law on Budget System, which calls for
the adoption of a new functional system for classification and schedule of accounts, as
well as the Law on Turnover and Income Tax which provides resources to the local
authorities. It is of great importance that these local self-government reform accelerators
are accompanied with a law on restitution of centralised property to local self-
governments, thus ensuring the substantial grounds for local development.

If so supported, strategic planning process can be a backbone of the local reform, thus
opening the door to new possibilities. Therefore the above described model illustrates
how the local authorities can restructure/reformulate their practices and procedures so
as to make a positive impact on a far-reaching future of local communities in Serbia.

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