Abstract
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Participation of the non-state actors in policy development is of particular importance. The level of involvement of different stakeholders, such as NGO sector, business representatives, various population groups, individual experts, as well as academic institutions in decision-making processes determines level of democracy in the country.
The presented research was aimed at studying how these actors engage in the regional policy development and implementation, how they affect the process and how their interests are taken into account by the central, regional and local governmental bodies.
The study was based on the qualitative method, 24 respondents were interviewed, which included central and local government bodies and sub-agencies, NGOs, business associations and SMEs, beneficiaries of different national projects, and experts from regional universities. The cycle of the regional policy development was defined as the formation, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of the policy, while the participation of the actors was assessed by the "outcome-based categories" method identified in the theoretical framework.
The main findings of the research were as follows:
The level of engagement of non-state actors in the process of the regional policy development and interaction with the authorities is significantly determined by the scope and specificities of their activities, which is stipulated by the historical and political heritage of the country.
The state, being unanimous decision-maker for decades, is naturally faced with the challenge of involving other stakeholders. This is intensified under the circumstances, when universities are largely performing only educational function, private sector serves only private interests, the citizens' participation is low and the activities of the NGOs are dramatically depended on the donor-funded projects. Consequently, for the balanced cooperation of stakeholders, it is important to have relevant regulatory legislation and to determine the role, functions and obligations of all the involved parties, which is well accepted by all "players".
Decentralization of the decision-making power, delegation of the authority to local and regional bodies are key for effective policy implementation.
Efficiency of the decentralization process greatly depends on the well-developed institutional mechanisms, proper coordination and consistency of policy implementation across the central, regional and local agencies, and well-performed monitoring and evaluation of the policy process by the external stakeholders.
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