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2022-2026 Strategic Direction

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<strong>Strategic</strong> <strong>Direction</strong><br />

<strong>2022</strong>–<strong>2026</strong>


Table of Contents<br />

I.<br />

II.<br />

III.<br />

IV.<br />

V.<br />

VI.<br />

VII.<br />

VIII.<br />

IX.<br />

X.<br />

4<br />

4<br />

5<br />

6 - 7<br />

8 - 11<br />

12 - 15<br />

16 - 17<br />

18<br />

19<br />

20<br />

21 - 23<br />

Introduction<br />

CEF’s narrative for the region in <strong>2026</strong><br />

Vision and mission<br />

Visual summary of the strategic direction <strong>2022</strong>-<strong>2026</strong><br />

CEF’s value added: know-how on becoming and being a<br />

learning organization<br />

Focus areas of impact<br />

Partnerships<br />

Internal environment<br />

Resources and risks<br />

Monitoring, evaluation and learning<br />

Theory of change and results framework<br />

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I. III.<br />

Introduction<br />

The <strong>Strategic</strong> <strong>Direction</strong> for <strong>2022</strong>–<strong>2026</strong> sets the<br />

CEF’s course for the coming years.<br />

Vision and<br />

mission<br />

The document addresses the CEF’s:<br />

(II) narrative for the region in <strong>2026</strong>;<br />

(III) vision and mission;<br />

(IV) value added: know-how on becoming<br />

and being a learning organization;<br />

(V) focus areas of impact;<br />

(VI) partnerships;<br />

(VII) internal environment;<br />

(VIII) resources and risks;<br />

(IX) monitoring, evaluation and learning; and<br />

(X) the results framework and theory of change.<br />

We started the strategic planning process in January<br />

2020 by developing a narrative about what the<br />

region will look like in <strong>2026</strong> and mapping the capabilities<br />

that individuals and institutions will need. In June,<br />

we presented the background and draft outline to our<br />

Governing Board. In November, we discussed the first<br />

draft of the new strategy with our Advisory Board and<br />

in December, we shared its recommendations together<br />

with the first draft to the Governing Board.<br />

The draft document was discussed with the<br />

Gov erning Board members and CEF Coordinators in<br />

bilateral consultations with interested institutions.<br />

These consultations provided valuable input about<br />

the strategic priorities of CEF member institutions<br />

and how the CEF could work with them to advance<br />

(some of) these priorities.<br />

In addition, bilateral consultations took place with<br />

other partner institutions that contributed to the CEF’s<br />

understanding of priorities in the next years (European<br />

Commission, International Monetary Fund (IMF), ODI,<br />

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development<br />

(OECD), Regional School of Public Administration,<br />

the Energy Community, the European Centre for<br />

Development Policy Management (ECDPM), the Joint<br />

Vienna Institute, the Regional Cooperation Council,<br />

and the Transport Community).<br />

The <strong>Strategic</strong> <strong>Direction</strong> for <strong>2022</strong>–<strong>2026</strong> was confirmed<br />

by the Governing Board on June 8, 2021.<br />

II.<br />

CEF’s<br />

narrative<br />

for the region<br />

in <strong>2026</strong><br />

We envisage that South East Europe (SEE) will be facing<br />

the following trends (opportunities and challenges):<br />

The region is closely connected to the EU and other players engaged<br />

in development cooperation. Countries in the region cooperate<br />

closer too. Brain drain and aging population remain the challenges<br />

that are addressed by targeted policy measures. Economic policies<br />

focus on the recovery from the Covid-19 induced lockdown and on<br />

competitiveness and economic growth. Policymakers are making<br />

a strong effort to improve people’s well-being through improving<br />

public sector services and easing the administrative burden on<br />

economic agents. This is accompanied by digitalization and growth<br />

of the data economy, while cybersecurity and data protection are<br />

becoming even more essential. Due to the pressing environmental<br />

challenges, more attention is given to actions that protect the planet<br />

and address climate changes.<br />

As leaders in learning, our vision is to inspire public<br />

officials, both individuals and teams, to shape<br />

institutional governance that drives successful<br />

economies and fair societies.<br />

Our vision focuses on what we aspire to ultimately<br />

achieve by solving a problem for the greater good.<br />

It also reflects our organizational values (trust,<br />

team spirit, focus on results, accountability, and<br />

opportunity to grow). Through people-centered<br />

learning approaches and know-how of how to<br />

become and be a learning organization (CEF’s<br />

value added) that focus on public officials, teams<br />

and institutional governance of their countries<br />

(the problem), the CEF is striving to ultimately contribute<br />

to improving their economies and societies<br />

(the greater good).<br />

Our mission articulates our purpose — what we do,<br />

whom we serve and how:<br />

We support capacity development of public<br />

officials and their institutions in South East<br />

Europe through learning and knowledge sharing.<br />

4 www.cef-see.org<br />

This positive narrative for the region in <strong>2026</strong> provides us with a frame<br />

for better targeting our contribution to the region’s development in the<br />

area of our expertise.<br />

CEF STRATEGIC DIRECTION FOR <strong>2022</strong>–<strong>2026</strong><br />

5


contributing to successful economies<br />

and fair societies<br />

* Serve as leaders in learning<br />

*<br />

Inspire public officials<br />

to shape institutional governance<br />

* For central banks, ministries of finance, tax administrations,<br />

line ministries, and other public organizations<br />

* High-quality and demand driven<br />

* Delivered in classrooms, online or combined<br />

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CEF STRATEGIC DIRECTION FOR <strong>2022</strong>–<strong>2026</strong><br />

Visual Summary by Mireille van Bremen, www.thevisualcatalyst.com<br />

7


IV.<br />

CEF’s Value Added:<br />

know-how on becoming<br />

and being a learning<br />

organization<br />

The value added for our constituency<br />

rests on practices that have evolved<br />

over the 20 years since the establishment<br />

of the CEF.<br />

Today, we are a leader in applying people-centered learning<br />

approaches and holding the know-how of becoming and being a<br />

learning organization. We have embraced the philosophy where<br />

people continually expand their capacity to create the results they<br />

truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are<br />

nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people<br />

are continually learning to see the whole together. 1<br />

We respect the existing knowledge in public institutions; organize<br />

knowledge sharing that is upgrading this knowledge and skills; adapt<br />

as we go; and nurture networking and ownership through partnerships<br />

and participation of all learners and knowledge providers.<br />

As a knowledge hub 2 , we are ready to share our expertise in transformation to a learning<br />

organization. Many institutions in our constituency have expressed readiness to invest in<br />

capturing, packaging and sharing knowledge. We will support individuals and institutions<br />

to design and deliver their learning activities by mentoring and coaching them on the learning<br />

design cycle. We will assist institutions in performing knowledge audits, knowledge<br />

gap and social network analyses, based on our own experience in becoming a learning<br />

organization. We will support public officials in becoming knowledge sharing experts.<br />

The model of a learning organization is beneficial for public institutions. Reforms are major<br />

economic and societal changes, and governments have been entrusted with a mandate<br />

to implement these reforms. This puts a high bar on their performance. Institutions are<br />

challenged to be resilient and innovative, and to operate at a low cost. In this light, we see<br />

that public institutions need to — and can — become learning organizations. Practicing<br />

the building blocks of a learning organization will empower public officials as confident<br />

and networked leaders of ideas, people and reforms; teams to achieve results based on<br />

institutional values and collaboration; and public institutions themselves to improve their<br />

overall results.<br />

Our effort to become and be a learning organization has dramatically<br />

strengthened our base, and has eventually led to organizational<br />

growth and an increase in the overall scope, quality and impact of<br />

our activities.<br />

1<br />

Peter M. Senge, 1990. The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning<br />

Organization. New York: Doubleday.<br />

2<br />

The World Bank defines knowledge hubs as institutions and networks dedicated to capturing, sharing and<br />

exchanging experiences with national and international partners in order to accelerate development<br />

(Communiqué of the Bali High Level Meeting “Towards Country-led Knowledge Hubs”, July 2012).<br />

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Our methodology 3 of becoming and being a learning organization<br />

involves six building blocks:<br />

GOVERNANCE AND CULTURE:<br />

Being a learning organization means synergy among the CEF governance bodies and staff members. It involves new<br />

attitudes and behaviors: promotion of coaching and mentoring culture, open-minded questioning, thoughtful listening,<br />

consideration of multiple options, and acceptance of opposing points of view.<br />

FUNDS FOR LEARNING AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING:<br />

We allocate an indicative annual budget for learning, used in line with the learning plan of each staff member. We invest<br />

in our physical and online learning spaces. With well-planned resources, learning is an inseparable part of us.<br />

PARTNERSHIPS<br />

We are well connected externally. Through partnerships we improve learning and growth. In implementing our projects,<br />

we think in terms of partners rather than beneficiaries when we collaborate with ministries of finance, line ministries,<br />

tax administrations, central banks, and other institutions. We also facilitate communities of practice and networks.<br />

KNOWLEDGE CAPTURING, PACKAGING AND SHARING<br />

This block is a meeting point between our internal learning and being knowledge provider for others. We often merge<br />

and mix how we learn internally and how we deliver learning as a service. In the internal process, we are continuously<br />

capturing, packaging and sharing the knowledge of our staff members and governance bodies. In the external<br />

process, we capture and curate the knowledge of various institutions and experts, support its packaging, and<br />

integrate it into the learning initiatives through which learners share knowledge and experience in turn.<br />

COMMUNICATION ABOUT LEARNING<br />

We have the skills to tell stories about learning and changes in the region that lead to reforms. We leverage both social<br />

and digital media to share these stories, and integrate them into our future learning initiatives. Our Blog on Learning<br />

has significantly helped us enhance our internal communication flows and capacities. It is a »to-go« place for learning<br />

about learning for external audiences, too.<br />

MONITORING AND EVALUATION<br />

We systematically measure the outcomes of activities and explore the causal chain that links investment in learning<br />

and knowledge sharing to newly emerging ideas and changes. Our Value Creation Stories give voice to learners to<br />

self-reflect and articulate the benefits of their learning. And we use feedback from the post-event surveys in our next<br />

program planning and delivery (see Chapter IX).<br />

3<br />

Inspired by the World Bank's eight pillars of the knowledge sharing capabilities framework (Steffen S. Janus, 2016.<br />

Becoming a Knowledge-Sharing Organization. Washington, DC: The World Bank).<br />

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CEF STRATEGIC DIRECTION FOR <strong>2022</strong>–<strong>2026</strong><br />

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V.<br />

Focus areas<br />

of impact<br />

Putting the learner at the<br />

center of our activities is<br />

essential in our work.<br />

We aim to make things happen together,<br />

adapting flexibly and innovatively to the<br />

changes we notice in our environment, the<br />

learning needs we capture, and the feedback<br />

we receive. To better understand our target<br />

audiences, we will carry out deeper analysis<br />

of the data we have on different audiences to<br />

learn more about their work, aspirations and<br />

needs to ultimately provide them with better<br />

learning experiences.<br />

TARGET AUDIENCES<br />

Our geographic focus will extend to countries of the European Neighborhood<br />

and other regions where we can share the knowledge and<br />

expertise of our constituency.<br />

Ministries of finance, central banks and tax administrations in our<br />

constituency will remain our primary target audience. Together, we<br />

will continue to include other public sector institutions (secondary<br />

target audience), especially line ministries, and gradually also subnational<br />

levels of governments. To effectively support audiences at<br />

subnational levels, we will primarily focus on partnerships with regional<br />

and sectoral platforms and networks.<br />

SUCCESSFUL REFORMS<br />

We see successful reforms and changes being implemented where<br />

knowledge is shared top-down and bottom-up. Within their respective<br />

mandates, our primary target audience regulates, enables,<br />

guides and challenges the work of other public sector institutions<br />

top-down. In close cooperation with CEF Coordinators and affiliated<br />

experts, we will further develop our support in developing their<br />

capabilities to carry out these functions 4 . In close cooperation with<br />

experts from our constituency, we will support our secondary target<br />

audience in informing, coordinating, planning and implementing<br />

their mandates 5 .<br />

We will review the capacity development needs of our target audience<br />

with a focus on different functions that public officials are<br />

engaged in, e.g., policy-making, operating or supporting functions.<br />

Our functional focus will be driven by our own capacity to respond to<br />

the needs of the primary target audience in specific areas. As part<br />

of our programming cycle, we will systematically and regularly review<br />

our functional focus, updating the list of prioritized functions in line<br />

with newly evolving needs of the CEF constituency.<br />

4<br />

For example, we will provide training-of-trainers and<br />

promote organizational knowledge sharing (know-how on<br />

how to become and be a learning organization).<br />

5<br />

For example, we will support line ministries in developing<br />

their financial management function and coordination<br />

of structural reforms.<br />

Our focus will expand from promoting learning and knowledge<br />

sharing at the level of individual officials to teams and institutions.<br />

We will promote links between different learning initiatives and institutions,<br />

and intensify the involvement of officials and our staff in<br />

sharing their knowledge. Our learning and knowledge sharing initiatives<br />

will continue to be anchored also in the technical challenges<br />

that individuals, teams and institutions are facing. We will upgrade<br />

our certification programs, and promote the recognition of our program<br />

activities as continuous professional development.<br />

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THEMATIC FOCUSES<br />

We will review our thematic focus areas—<br />

leadership for managing reforms, public<br />

financial management, tax policy and administration,<br />

central banking, and data and<br />

analysis for designing policies—to ensure<br />

that they are in line with the main trends that<br />

will affect our constituency (particularly in<br />

the post-Covid-19 circumstances) and their<br />

reforms in the coming years. We will continue<br />

to connect the different thematic areas in our<br />

learning and knowledge sharing activities.<br />

We will link our thematic focuses and projects more explicitly to the strategic goals of<br />

the CEF constituency. By developing capacity across different thematic areas, we will work<br />

toward the following intermediate outcomes:<br />

• Enhanced foresight and strategic planning<br />

• Strengthened medium-term expenditure frameworks<br />

• Improved fiscal risks management<br />

• Well-integrated planning and budgeting of public expenditure<br />

• Enhanced budget transparency and disclosure<br />

• Improved financial management and control systems<br />

• Stronger internal and external audit mechanisms<br />

• Improved public sector accounting and financial reporting<br />

• Stronger cooperation against corruption and lack of transparency<br />

• More resilient financial systems and economic environment<br />

• Enhanced compilation of high-quality macro-economic statistics<br />

• Strengthened data gathering and analysis<br />

• Better informed decision-making<br />

• Enhanced inter-governmental policy coordination and collaboration<br />

• Public officials as confident and networked leaders<br />

• Enhanced internal communication and cooperation within institutions<br />

• Knowledge sharing and learning culture within public administration<br />

• Knowledge-centered, resilient and innovative public institutions<br />

These intermediate outcomes contribute to four higher-level outcomes: increased trust in<br />

public institutions; better implemented policies; more efficient and effective operations;<br />

and enhanced capacity development, knowledge sharing and cooperation. Our focus will<br />

gradually move from organizing CEF-led learning and knowledge sharing initiatives to supporting<br />

more initiatives organized and facilitated by CEF constituent institutions.<br />

Our program will be implemented through innovative, multi-year capacity development projects,<br />

in close cooperation with a growing number of knowledge partners, and in synergy<br />

with related capacity development initiatives carried out in the region. In the context of<br />

international development cooperation, we will align our work with the 2030 Agenda to<br />

reach the Sustainable Development Goals, especially goal 16 (peace, justice and strong<br />

institutions) and goal 17 (partnerships for the goals).<br />

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CEF STRATEGIC DIRECTION FOR <strong>2022</strong>–<strong>2026</strong><br />

15


VI.<br />

Partnerships<br />

We will be an inclusive<br />

and trusted partner that<br />

will systematically maintain<br />

dialogue and cooperation.<br />

We will continue to nourish partnerships with<br />

a wide range of organizations and experts:<br />

international financial institutions, global and<br />

regional international organizations, peer institutions,<br />

governments in their capacities of<br />

donors and recipients of official development<br />

assistance (ODA), professional organizations,<br />

independent oversight bodies, non-governmental<br />

organizations, and individual experts.<br />

With our multifaceted partnerships, we will<br />

achieve interconnected goals: governance<br />

that encourages inclusive and collaborative<br />

environment and helps us achieve our mandate<br />

— governance-related partnerships;<br />

sustainable financing and appropriate diversification<br />

of donors — donor-related partnerships;<br />

and promotion of regional and global<br />

expertise that contributes to the relevance<br />

and ownership of our learning and networking<br />

program — knowledge-sharing partnerships.<br />

Our partners’ roles are in many instances overlapping and may cover<br />

one or more modes of cooperation with the CEF. Each partnership<br />

has its own unique elements; however, we will continue to be driven<br />

by the impact that we generate together in pursuing common goals.<br />

We will use our agile governance structure as a platform for the<br />

CEF, our member countries, their participating institutions, and partners<br />

in attaining synergies in capacity development, funding and<br />

avoiding duplications in ODA implementation.<br />

We will stay open for new membership by constituency countries<br />

(Kosovo, Serbia, Turkey), EU neighborhood countries (e.g., Georgia),<br />

and other interested countries. We will put effort to encourage those<br />

who have not yet ratified the Agreement on Establishing the CEF<br />

(Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia) to do so. We will continue a proactive<br />

and generative dialogue with our Governing Board. We will in<br />

particular focus on Governing Board member institutions’ strategic<br />

capacity development (the needed technical skills and the enabling<br />

environment) and advancing CEF’s agenda by supporting CEF’s<br />

fundraising with relevant donors.<br />

We will continue to develop our network of Coordinators. Through<br />

them, we will also raise awareness of the importance of individual<br />

and institutional capacity development. The Advisory Board will be<br />

closely involved in providing guidance to CEF’s program development<br />

and implementation. We will consider adding new partners,<br />

while still keeping it small in size and operational in approach.<br />

We will continue to provide a platform for donors’ coordination,<br />

dialogue and visibility. This aims at synergies towards increased<br />

efficiency, sustainability of development cooperation, and avoidance<br />

of overlapping. We will coordinate our partners in the process<br />

of our (bi)annual program planning and communication on the<br />

specific inputs necessary for the program delivery. We will make<br />

an additional effort to increase the sustainability of funding (see<br />

Chapter VIII) and to ensure the diversity of donors.<br />

We work with a number of institutions and external experts that<br />

cooperate with the CEF in designing and delivering our learning<br />

program. We will continue to enhance the involvement of regional<br />

experts to be more relevant, promote ownership and support constituency<br />

institutions in their knowledge management efforts and<br />

outside acknowledgment of their expertise. We will deepen collaboration<br />

and increase the number of affiliated experts that contribute<br />

to the projects, activities and learning methodologies. In addition to IMF regional advisors<br />

for public financial management and revenue administration, a regional advisor for banking<br />

regulation and supervision is planned to be placed at the CEF, who will deliver technical<br />

assistance in SEE and cooperate with the CEF in delivering joint capacity development<br />

initiatives.<br />

Furthermore, we will widen partnerships with experts in topics recognized as strategic:<br />

post-Covid-19 financial recovery, green financing and digitalization. We will also continue<br />

to work on being a visible leader in regional cooperation by strengthening cooperation with<br />

regional institutions, such as the Regional Cooperation Council, the Regional School of<br />

Public Administration and the Joint Vienna Institute.<br />

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VII.<br />

Internal<br />

environment<br />

VIII.<br />

Resources<br />

and risks<br />

CEF governance, organizational structure and work distribution will continue to<br />

be determined by our vision, mission and values. To allow the best use of human<br />

resources, we will organically and incrementally adapt our structure in line with the<br />

available resources and the external environment. We will continue developing a<br />

culture based on principles, conducive to sharing ideas, experiences and lessons<br />

learned.<br />

We will promote flexible work environment. We will continue to adjust our office<br />

spaces to stimulate focus, inspire collaboration, and reflect our evolving organizational<br />

culture. Offices will be assigned and equipped according to this purpose.<br />

Physical learning space positively impacts the learning outcomes of the participants.<br />

That is why we will continuously invest in equipping our classrooms with<br />

modern modular equipment adaptable to the needs of different types of learners<br />

and knowledge sharing modalities.<br />

To ensure that our physical space remains a pleasant and relaxed place conducive<br />

to working and learning, we will continue teaming up with experts in adult learning<br />

and interior design.<br />

We will continue to invest in our online learning platforms, the Online Learning<br />

Campus in particular. We will upgrade technical features for better user experience,<br />

enhance facilitation skills for digital environment, and deepen our understanding<br />

of e-learning methodologies.<br />

We will further develop our unique hybrid learning model tailored to our participants’<br />

needs. Hybrid learning engages participants in a classroom and remotely at<br />

the same time. Since the outbreak of Covid-19, we have recognized hybrid learning<br />

as an essential element in ensuring the continuity of our operations and organizational<br />

resilience. Our first attempts with hybrid events showed that creating such a<br />

learning space requires investment in hardware and adaptation in the way we work.<br />

The number of CEF staff and the volume of our services will broadly<br />

remain unchanged and will follow the demand and available financial<br />

resources.<br />

We will continue to pay high attention to interrelation between available<br />

financial and human resources (both in volume and composition),<br />

and realistic expectations and commitment in this regard.<br />

We will maintain a diversity of donors that contribute to CEF’s funding,<br />

while working to ensure longer-term (multi-year) financing. We<br />

are aware that particularly bilateral donors can provide (bi)annual<br />

contracts; however, the CEF will seek to engage donors that are able<br />

to commit funds on a multi-year basis. We will encourage CEF members<br />

to dedicate parts of their ODA through the CEF. We will also<br />

continue to advocate in-kind contributions by members and other<br />

partners through provision of their expertise, in particular by those<br />

coming from the SEE.<br />

Risk management is an important area that we will continue to<br />

develop. Internal risk management function will remain an essential<br />

tool for supporting our decision-making. We will be regularly identifying,<br />

assessing and mitigating risks across organizational streams<br />

and projects through our in-house risk register. We will increase the<br />

consistency of risk register data entry and enhance the register’s<br />

utility.<br />

We will continue to develop a cloud-based infrastructure by using public service<br />

providers through the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model (e.g., Gecko, 4th Office),<br />

and introduce others, as needed.<br />

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IX.<br />

Monitoring,<br />

evaluation<br />

and learning<br />

X.<br />

Theory of<br />

change<br />

To monitor and evaluate our work, we set targets in a pragmatic and flexible way.<br />

For our annual learning and knowledge sharing program, we frame the scope of<br />

activities and set priorities. We develop project-related results frameworks, specific<br />

objectives for each activity and performance standards. Furthermore, we link our<br />

annual performance plans to those targets at the institutional, team and personal<br />

levels. Among our target audiences, we nurture co-ownership of the targets that we<br />

set. As part of monitoring the risks, we regularly reassess those targets and adapt<br />

as needed to achieve them.<br />

We use a wide range of quantitative indicators to demonstrate the value that we<br />

create, such as participation statistics and event surveys, complemented by qualitative<br />

information gathered in exchange with the key stakeholders. We will invest<br />

into more consultations with the key officials from our constituency to gain a deeper<br />

understanding of individual learners’ motivation and technical challenges. We will<br />

also strengthen the usage of qualitative and quantitative data to monitor the implementation<br />

of activities, projects and objectives, evaluate performance, and identify<br />

other areas where we add value.<br />

In promoting a learning culture, we value open and direct feedback and develop<br />

processes to loop the lessons learned back into improving our daily work and<br />

reviewing our strategic direction. We pay special attention to unaddressed learning<br />

needs, opportunities for knowledge sharing, and how new knowledge has been<br />

applied. We will improve our quality assurance by reviewing quality indicators and<br />

using new technical solutions to gather and analyze them.<br />

Individual learners and the technical challenges they need and want to address are our<br />

starting points for the positive change and reforms that we support in our constituency. To<br />

capture the given and needed knowledge, we listen, observe and study future trends affecting<br />

our constituency (see Chapter II). We will continue to capture how these trends evolve.<br />

We will assess how they affect the specific skills and knowledge that our target audiences<br />

need and provide opportunities for enabling changes and reform processes through learning<br />

and knowledge sharing.<br />

We enable change and reforms through six building blocks of value added in promoting<br />

adult learning and knowledge sharing (see Chapter IV). In cooperation with knowledge<br />

providers and learners, we design and deliver a high-quality and demand-driven program,<br />

which contains innovative and people-focused learning and knowledge sharing initiatives.<br />

The program applies a wide range of modalities; it is delivered in physical, virtual and hybrid<br />

learning spaces, and promotes learning and knowledge exchange at the global, regional<br />

and country levels. We work directly with institutions in developing an enabling environment<br />

for knowledge sharing and learning.<br />

Our strategic objective is to serve as leaders in learning and to inspire public officials as<br />

individuals and teams to shape institutional governance. The overall impact that we aspire<br />

through our work is contribution to the development of successful economies and fair societies<br />

in our constituency. For that purpose, we focus our support on achieving a range of<br />

intermediate and higher-level outcomes (see Chapter V).<br />

The highest value lies in our staff that contributes to work results. We will establish<br />

more direct lines between individual staff member work and the organization’s<br />

mission by implementing a continuous performance management system. This<br />

approach will allow for better alignment with our mission, increase transparency,<br />

ownership and effectiveness, and reduce duplication of efforts. It will also help us<br />

constantly learn and develop the way we work.<br />

20 www.cef-see.org<br />

CEF STRATEGIC DIRECTION FOR <strong>2022</strong>–<strong>2026</strong><br />

21


Results<br />

framework<br />

TRANSFORMATIONAL VALUE<br />

REALIZED VALUE<br />

Inspiration to (re)shape institutional governance<br />

OVERALL IMPACT<br />

Successful economies and fair societies of our constituency<br />

HIGHER LEVEL OUTCOMES<br />

Completed reforms; revised strategic goals;<br />

improved systems, processes, and capabilities;<br />

changed regulation etc.<br />

• Increased trust in public institutions<br />

• More efficient and effective operations<br />

• Improved implementation of policies<br />

• Enhanced capacity development,<br />

knowledge sharing, and cooperation<br />

APPLIED VALUE<br />

INTERMEDIARY OUTCOMES<br />

• Good practice of peers applied<br />

• New cooperation<br />

• Reform steps completed<br />

• Further learning<br />

• Knowledge shared<br />

• Better-informed decisions<br />

• Revised/new processes, approaches,<br />

guidelines, manuals, templates, rules, etc.<br />

POTENTIAL / IMMEDIATE VALUE<br />

• Enhanced foresight and strategic planning<br />

• Strengthened medium-term expenditure<br />

frameworks<br />

• Improved fiscal risk management<br />

• Enhanced budget transparency and disclosure<br />

• Improved financial management and<br />

control systems<br />

• Stronger internal and external audit<br />

mechanisms<br />

• Improved public sector accounting and<br />

financial reporting<br />

• Stronger cooperation against corruption and<br />

lack of transparency<br />

• More resilient financial systems and economic<br />

environments<br />

OUTPUTS<br />

• Enhanced compilation of high-quality<br />

macro-economic statistics<br />

• Strengthened data gathering and analysis<br />

• Informed decision making<br />

• Enhanced inter-governmental policy<br />

coordination and collaboration<br />

• Public officials as confident and networked<br />

leaders<br />

• Well-integrated planning and budgeting of<br />

public expenditure<br />

• Enhanced internal communication and<br />

cooperation<br />

• Stronger knowledge sharing and learning<br />

culture<br />

• Knowledge-centered, resilient and innovative<br />

public institutions<br />

Potential: Knowledge, skills, networks, contacts;<br />

new ideas and tools; motivation/access to learn<br />

more; enhanced trust, motivation, confidence<br />

Immediate: Rewarding, feel-good learning<br />

experience, reassurance/acknowledgement;<br />

feedback; achievement; etc.<br />

Capacity development activities of the CEF Learning and Knowledge Sharing Program<br />

• High-quality and demand-driven<br />

• Two-year; rolled-over annually<br />

• People-focused, innovative<br />

• Global, regional and country-specific<br />

• Variety of learning formats and modalities<br />

• Physical, virtual and hybrid spaces for<br />

knowledge sharing and learning<br />

22 www.cef-see.org<br />

CEF STRATEGIC DIRECTION FOR <strong>2022</strong>–<strong>2026</strong><br />

23


CEF is international organization with the mission to support<br />

capacity development of public officials and their institutions<br />

in South East Europe through learning and knowledge<br />

sharing. We are a leader in applying people-centered learning<br />

approaches and holding the know-how of becoming and<br />

being a learning organization. We work with our constituency<br />

to support their public financial management, tax policy<br />

and administration, and central banking reform efforts.<br />

Center of Excellence in Finance (CEF)<br />

Cankarjeva 18<br />

SI-1000 Ljubljana<br />

Slovenia<br />

T.: +386 1 369 6190<br />

info@cef-see.org<br />

www.cef-see.org<br />

Follow the CEF on<br />

Published by: Center of Excellence in Finance | Production editor: Tina agar | Text editor: Kadri Põdra<br />

Design, Illustrations & Visual Summary: Mireille van Bremen, www.thevisualcatalyst.com | Printing: Tiskarna Januš | September 2021

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