Montenegro

Basic information

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Mechanisms of Vertical Integration

National — sub-national linkages

Most measures prescribed in the NSSD are directed at the relevant national institutions, but the Action Plan (AP) also contains measures that address some of the local sustainable development issues. For these measures, the AP lists local governments as primary bearers.

Several municipalities have started preparing documents with the visions for their future sustainable development; however, no municipality has yet prepared a comprehensive local sustainable development strategy.

The new Government Decision on the Establishment of the National Council for Sustainable Development from August 2008 envisages direct relationship between the NCSD and the municipalities in the future process of forming local councils for sustainable development. The Office for Sustainable Development will act as the coordinator in this process.

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Mechanisms of Horizontal Integration

A wide range of stakeholders of the Montenegrin society as well as all relevant ministries in the Government of Montenegro were involved in the process of NSSD drafting. Before its adoption by the Government in April 2007, the Strategy was also deliberated at the National Council for Sustainable Development, established by the Government in 2002 as a cross-sectoral advisory body on the issues of sustainable development.

Since its establishment, the National Council for Sustainable Development (NCSD) was chaired by the Prime Minister and composed of representatives of different societal stakeholders. In 2006, the NCSD composition was expanded so as to include a wider range of actors and interest groups. In the period from 2006 to 2008, the Council continued to be chaired by the Prime Minister of Montenegro, while the vice chair was the Deputy Prime Minister for economy. The Head of the Office for Sustainable Development was the Secretary General of the Council.

During November 2006 – January 2007, the UNDP program in Montenegro and the Government of Montenegro conducted an external review on the role, results and procedures of the NCSD and Office for Sustainable Development (OSD). This review proposed strengthening of the OSD with the goal of enabling the NCSD to realize the objectives assigned by the Government of Montenegro, and downsizing of NCSD to enhance its effectiveness and efficiency in deliberations. Between February – May 2008, a supplemental review of the NCSD/OSD was conducted. On the basis of the new Report as well as consultations with national stakeholders and international best-practices, the OSD proposed a reform to the Council to the Government. In 2008, the Government of Montenegro adopted the proposal, which reduced the number of NCSD members from 45 to 23, introduced a category of independent personalities/experts in the area of sustainable development, reformed the organization of the Council by introducing the working groups and envisaged the creation of local councils for sustainable development in the near future.

Following the results of the 2008 reform, the National Council for Sustainable Development held its inaugural session in December 2009. The Prime Minister has been elected as the Council President, while the other members are:

• 4 Ministers,
• Head of the Office for Sustainable Development (secretary of the Council),
• 3 mayors,
• 2 members of the Academia,
• 4 representatives of the business sector,
• 4 representatives of the civil sector,
• 4 independent experts/persons.

The first regular session of the reformed Council is planned for February 2010.

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Evaluation and Review

The main institution in charge of the process of NSSD evaluation and review is the Office for Sustainable Development (OSD). The OSD was established at the end of 2005, with the financial and organization assistance of UNDP during the first year of its work. The OSD functions as an organizational unit within the General Secretariat of the Government of Montenegro, and it reports directly to the Prime Minister, who has been the Chair of the National Council for Sustainable Development (NCSD) until the 2008 reform of the Council.

The Strategy envisages that the basic cycle for the monitoring of implementation is one-year period, while detailed assessment of the Strategy implementation is planned for every 5 years. The OSD has prepared the first Annual Report on the NSSD implementation (which was adopted by the Government in October 2008), while the second one is in the process of preparation. The Office for Sustainable Development and the Ministry for Tourism and Environment are cooperating with the UN DESA on revising the methodology for reporting methodology and data collection process.

A detailed report on the progress of implementation and the changes and amendments of the Action Plan for the remaining two years of the first implementation period will be prepared in 2010. These activities will contribute to the preparations for the Third World Summit on Sustainable Development. Detailed evaluation and review of the Strategy is planned for the end of the first implementation period, i.e. the end of 2012.

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Indicators and Monitoring

When determining the NSSD indicators, several aspects were taken into account. Firstly, efforts were made to introduce different kinds of indicators such as process, impact and outcome indicators. Secondly, it was taken into account whether proposed indicators were already compiled/monitored in Montenegro or whether they could be introduced with relatively small efforts and in a short period of time. The indicators that require long-term changes in the national monitoring and statistical systems were mainly not considered. In order to provide for comparability, Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development (MSSD) indicators, EU sustainability indicators and Millennium Development Goals (MDG) indicators (those not covered by the MSSD and which proved relevant for the set goals) were taken as a starting point.

The NSSD Action Plan contains a large number of process indicators attached to certain NSSD measures and/or objectives. In some sectors, the goals and measures have not been defined as quantitative and measurable (which is understandable given the fact that they relate to certain social processes), therefore, some of the indicators are more qualitative than quantitative by their nature. Some of the indicators involved (especially those to monitor the outcomes of long-term actions) are of a stable nature and changes in these indicators are not be expected in the short-term.

Already in the first annual report on the NSSD implementation, it became evident that it is necessary to work on the standardization of methodologies (since it is possible now to have different data from different sources) and to increase the list of sustainability indicators including those currently unavailable. In this regard, the Office for Sustainable Development and the Ministry for Tourism and Environment have started a process of cooperation with the UNDESA/UNDP aimed at improving the methodology for NSSD monitoring, which is to include the revision of the indicators (and their quantification whenever possible) as well as standardization of the evaluation so as to preclude subjective review of the focal points in addressing the progress achieved.

The reform of the statistics system and the EU accession process will have a great impact on both of these factors – the methodology and the types of indicators relevant for NSSD.

In December 2009, after the positive opinion of the National Council for Sustainable Development, the Government adopted the Second Annual Report on the Implementation of the NSSD, which was prepared by the Office for Sustainable Development.

The Second Annual Report contains a list of proposed core indicators of sustainable development, drafted as a result of the expert cooperation between the Government of Montenegro (Office for Sustainable Development and the Ministry of Urban planning and environment) and the Department for Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations (UN DESA). The final list of core indicators will be adopted in 2010.

Starting from January 2010, the revision of the NSSD Action plan will start as a multi-stakeholder project between the Government of Montenegro and other stakeholders in the Montenegrin society.

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Participation

The process of preparing and drafting the NSSD lasted for one year and was set up in such a way as to enable interaction and exchange of information between different components and stakeholders in the process. In the beginning of the process, the basic documents were prepared – Visions and Framework Orientations for Sustainable Development of Montenegro - with the aim to set the grounds for the Strategy preparation at both conceptual and practical levels.

Expert working groups (for economic development, environment and social development) held 4 rounds of meetings in the period September 2005 - March 2006. These meetings were used to agree on the work methodology and to define the results and the outputs. The working team (consisting of the representatives of public administration, expert institutions, University, NGOs and consultants) was in charge of preparing the draft Strategy and other relevant working materials, for the incorporation of the recommendations from the participatory process, for the evaluation of consistency of NSSD goals (among various sectors, as well as in relation to other documents) and similar. The Steering Committee (established in July 2005 for the needs of drafting of NSSD MN) consisted of representatives of a range of stakeholders, including relevant Ministries and Government institutions, University and expert institutions, business associations, the Trade Union and NGO sector) and the National Council for Sustainable Development, as the bodies with wide stakeholder representation, have also provided expert and political support to the process.

Public participation and consultations with stakeholders were mainly exercised through three regional workshops (June and December 2005 and June 2006) and two rounds of wide participatory meetings at the local/regional level. Participatory meetings were coordinated by the non-governmental sector. Representation of the stakeholders was also ensured at the round tables held in January 2006, when NSSD priority goals were determined for various areas.

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Sub-national activities

Some municipalities have produced documents entitled SD visions or strategies for sustainable development of specific sectors (e.g. tourism, agriculture), but these are more overall statements about the future goals, than concrete strategies and plans.

One important development has emerged recently with the reconstitution of the National Council for SD of Montenegro: Under the provisions of the reform, now there is a strong commitment by the NCSD to help develop local councils for SD and work on the implementation of SD indicators on the sub-national level. This is, however, at very early stages and no experiences can be reported as yet.

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This Country Profile has been last updated on: Wednesday, 31 March 2010

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