Roadmaps for Administrative Capacity Building

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:

A practical toolkit for preparing Roadmaps for Administrative Capacity Building

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:

• The 1^st section (Why) sets out the rationale for investing in capacity building.
• The 2^nd section (What) outlines the various options for funding capacity building and describes how they can be combined in a roadmap for building administrative capacities.
• The 3^rd section (How) explains the roadmap development process and methodologies, and stresses the importance of involving stakeholders.
• The 4^th section (Indicators) focuses on measuring performance. A well thought-out set of indicators is needed to monitor implementation of the roadmap and measure the success of the actions it encompasses.
• The 5^th section (Roadmap structure) gives an example of the possible structure of a roadmap for building administrative capacities.
• The 6^th section (Financing not linked to costs) provides support for Member States wishing to avail themselves of ‘Financing not linked to costs for technical assistance’. It deals with how to develop such schemes, and how to identify and price the results to be achieved or the conditions to be fulfilled. The use of indicators to measure success is also covered.

Administrative capacity building Self-assessment instrument

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.

Synthesis report - Strengthening Governance of EU Funds under Cohesion Policy

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