Effective management and use of EU funds requires that all actors involved, i.e. the entire cohesion policy ecosystem, have sufficient capacity to fulfil their roles. To obtain this it is important to adopt a strategic approach to capacity building, i.e. to analyse the state of play, and identify weaknesses, measures on how to address them and actors responsible for implementing them. Member State administrations managing EU funds can do this by developing ‘Roadmaps for Administrative Capacity Building’, a novelty introduced for 2021-2027.
To support Member State administrations in their efforts to develop such roadmaps the following tools are available:
This practical toolkit aims to provide inspiration for Member State administrations seeking to develop roadmaps for building administrative capacities. It builds on experiences gained from the Pilot action on frontloading administrative capacity building to prepare for the post-2020 programming period. In this pilot, four managing authorities and one intermediate body in Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Poland and Spain received expertise from the OECD to develop roadmaps to address their administrative capacity building needs.
The toolkit falls into six main sections:
As part of the pilot action on frontloading administrative capacity building, the OECD has developed a self-assessment instrument designed for managing authorities of EU funds under Cohesion Policy. This will help them to assess their strengths and weakness, to develop targeted solutions to address capacity gaps and to self-evaluate performance over time. The self-assessment instrument can be used in the initial analysis phase when developing a roadmap for administrative capacity building
The OECD has drafted a report on phase 1 of the pilot action on frontloading administrative capacity building. The report includes key findings and recommendations for managing authorities, national authorities and the European Commission. The practical toolkit builds on the experiences of this pilot action.
OECD Report: Strengthening Governance of EU Funds under Cohesion Policy