Good governance of development

The governance of development of a territory can be defined as the accumulation of social and human capital for the purpose of dynamic and synergy socio-economic development of the territory. It is the initiation and coordination of activities and exploitation of the potential of a large number of actors (institutions and individuals) operating in the territory. In other words, governance of development of a territory means bringing together/coordinating various activities and interests of public and private institutions for the most efficient and effective solutions to common issues of territorial development. Governing development of a territory is the direct responsibility of the territorial (regional, local or other level) selg-government.

Good governance of development at the local and regional level is perceived by CDI as a comprehensive process, which requires:

• a shared/common vision of development,
• appropriate structures and tools for comprehensive decision-making,
• sensible processes and a management function based on a culture of governance, as well as
• leaders who are able to bring together development actors and motivate towards collective effort.

Graphically, this process can be illustrated by the Model of Good Governance, which illustrates the complexity, interactions and influence of the external environment, the various development processes and factors. Development challenges (problems and opportunities) enter the management environment where they must be treated systematically, planned for and their solution effectively implemented. The quality of development processes, whether in the process of a development plan preparation and its implementation, including its updating, as well as the process of monitoring and evaluation of quality of governance are directly tied to the level of knowledge and skills of those who exert their influence on them, to the organizational environment of the self-government and to its mechanisms of cooperation. The quality of the relevant external legislative, institutional and strategic framework for territorial self-governments, as well as governance level within the territory are inseparable attributes that affect the dynamics of development.



Even though there is a high degree of interdependence between the dynamics of territorial development and the quality of its governance, the situation in the governance of territorial development in Slovakia is far from satisfactory. This is partly due to the fact that the external legislative, institutional, strategic and financial framework for the functioning of territorial self-governments is currently set in such a way that it does not create adequate conditions for strengthening their role in the governance of development. Territorial self-governments themselves do not take full advantage of their existing options to meet the expectations in relation to their key role in governing the processes of development in their territory.
The Carpathian Development Institute focuses not only on finding and analyzing the causes of the lack of dynamic development of the territory, but also offers possible solutions to combat this.

In this thematic area, we have published several articles and lectures and in 2010 we issued a publication “Good Governance of Regional Development – Challenge for the Slovak Republic”. We have developed a methodology and implemented several so called Development Audits – audits of preparedness of areas for development (e.g. for the cities of Kosice and of Spisska Nova Ves, the Slovak border area with Ukraine), on the basis of which measures were taken to improve the quality of governance. CDI has created, pilot tested and provides a training program for executives and elected members of territorial self-governments. For a number of years we are collaborating in this area with specialized, professional institutions and territorial administrations of neighbouring and developing countries (Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Serbia).