Consulting services in strategic planning

Brief outline:
Provision of consulting services ensured the transfer of methodological and practical knowledge in each phase of the process of strategic planning and it was useful to the Office representatives, responsible for preparing the Development Strategy of the City of Zagreb 2020. The result of continuous consulting support was the increased capacity of representatives of the Office in understanding and preparation of strategic development documents, and enhancing methodological background for guiding the process of preparing the Development Strategy of the City of Zagreb 2020.   

Activities in the framework of consulting services: 
1.1 Regular consultations during the process of preparing the Development Strategy in compliance with the prescribed methodology of preparing county development strategies, commonly applied European practice, and in line with the instructions of relevant ministries and the European Commission (e.g. URBACT, INTERACT, JESSICA, JEREMIE, JASPERS, ESPON, etc.) 
1.2 Internal thematic workshops (coaching), including preparation and evaluation of the previous work, before and after one-day participatory workshops (upon request)
1.3 Regular communication (phone, e-mail) 
1.4 Giving opinions on written parts of strategic documents (upon request) 
1.5 Final Report on provided consulting services   

In the six-month period (May – October 2013) the researchers from the Institute of Economics, Zagreb (Dr. Irena Đokić, Dr. Marijana Sumpor, Dr. Jelena Budak) provided expertise and consulting services to the representatives of the Office during the process of preparing the Development Strategy of the City of Zagreb 2020. Services included: providing regular consultations (monthly meetings), conducting internal thematic workshops, giving opinions on written parts of strategic documents upon need, regular communication and preparation of the Final Report.