Strengthening Governance of EU Funds under Cohesion Policy : Administrative Capacity Building Roadmaps

Successfully managing and administering European Structural Investment Funds (ESIF) rests on the effective governance of the investment process, on the administrative capacity of Managing Authorities, and on the engagement of a diverse range of stakeholders, including beneficiaries. The OECD has developed an analytical framework with four dimensions – people management, organisational management, strategic planning, and framework conditions – to analyse the challenges and capacity gaps confronting Managing Authorities in the administration and management of these funds. Based on a pilot project with three national- and two regional-level Managing Authorities, the study identified a series of common challenges. These include being more strategic and innovative in how staff, processes and programmes are managed; managing the impact of framework conditions on stability and certainty in administrative and investment processes; and needing to ensure that capacity building among Managing Authorities and/or beneficiaries is undertaken at the appropriate scale. Capacity-building Roadmaps were built with each participant. This report recommends concrete actions for actors in the ESIF governance system to build and reinforce the administrative and investment management capacity of Managing Authorities throughout the EU. The findings can also benefit non-EU public actors in managing public investment.