Europa Regionum

The article proposes a practically oriented concept to integrate the development management system of a municipality. For this purpose, it identifies the key stages of implementation and functioning of the development management system, which are: 1) organization of the process; 2) diagnosis of the socio-economic situation; 3) preparation of the development strategy of the Local Government unit (LGU); 4) the implementation program of the strategy and the system of its implementation; 5) monitoring, evaluation and updating of the implementation program and periodically of the LGU development strategy document. The integration of management of development consists in overlapping of several key cycles that use the same method and tools and the same teams of participants. The most difficult aspect is to combine the medium-term strategy implementation program with the annual cycle of operational and financial management in Local Government unit. An equally difficult aspect is the real and effective involvement of social and economic partners – according to the principles of the New Public Management model. In all cities participating in the Local Development Program, the Local Development Plans have been prepared and now consultants from the Association of Polish Cities are helping to develop and implement a development monitoring system – so that this whole cycle can formally and effectively operate.