The two-day workshop organised by the NTA entitled "Strategic Planning as an Accountability Tool in Public Administration" was successfully completed.
More than 200 public sector executives had been informed in person and online (via YouTube) about the important role of Strategic Planning as an accountability and transparency tool in the Greek public administration and in particular in the Independent Authorities.
Greetings
Mrs. Alexandra Rogkakou, NTA Interim Governor and Head of the Inspections and Audits Unit, referred to Strategic Planning as a process in which an entity defines its vision for the future, identifies its objectives and determines the order in which the objectives (short/long term), must be achieved in order to enable it to reach its vision. Mrs Rogkakou noted that "It is the critical tool that will show us the way to achieve the Authority's strategic objectives and help us to put into practice all that we envision for the NTA, always with its founding law as our ‘compass’, in terms of transparency, audits and public accountability. Based on the Strategic Plan that we have formulated and which has already started to be implemented from 2023 with an implementation horizon until 2027, we know where we want to go and exactly how we will get there".
Mr. Menelaos Tsouplakis, Chairman of the NTA Management Board, referring to the event, stressed that "NTA is accountable from the first day of its operation to citizens, society and the competent institutions of the State, serving transparency, but also the basic principles of efficiency, effectiveness and economy. In order to be able to serve these purposes, the NTA has been developing and systematically monitoring operational objectives for all its organisational units almost from the first year of its operation. This target setting is now part of the broader framework of the Authority's Strategic Plan for 2023-2027 which we have approved as the Management Board".
Mr. Athanasios Kontogeorgis, Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister, noted that "Strategic planning, governmental planning, monitoring and evaluation of governmental work on the one hand ensure institutional memory and continuity in the operation of the Administration as well as efficiency, and on the other hand strengthen accountability and through this, trust in the political system and the institutions of the democratic constitution". At the same time, he praised the work of the NTA and the decisive role it has in the coming period in the effort to strengthen transparency and fighting all phenomena that undermine the proper and user-friendly functioning of the Greek public administration.
1st Session: Strategic Planning in the Greek public administration as a tool for public accountability
Ms. Anastasia Tsarchara, Head of the Interior, Digital Governance, Justice and Institutions Sector, General Secretariat for Coordination, described during her presentation what the annual action plans of the Ministries are, how they can serve as tools for monitoring and evaluation of the Government and the Greek Public Administration by citizens and businesses, as well as she presented the provisions that the General Secretariat for Coordination has taken in order for these Plans to become a modern system of planning, coordination and monitoring.
Mr. Dimitris Bourantas, Dean of New York College, former Professor of Management and Human Resources, Athens University of Economics and Business, gave examples of the prerequisites for the formulation of a proper Strategic Planning and its effective implementation. As he noted "I see strategic planning and accountability as both cause and effect. As a cause, it contributes to what is at stake in effectiveness, but it also answers why we have not had strategic planning and accountability all these years. The cause is also the effective formulation of plans and programmes and their effective implementation". He also added that "In strategic planning, a prerequisite is that we have decided how we want the Authority, the body, the Agency to be after 15 to 20 years. I am a follower of the American concept ‘facts are better than dreams’”.
2nd Session: Strategic Planning in practice - Presentation of good practices of Strategic Planning in Independent Authorities
Mr. Ioannis Foustanakis, Head of NTA Directorate for Strategic Planning and Behavioural Analysis, noted in his speech: "Two of the main ways citizens perceive public accountability are the enhancement of citizens' trust in public institutions and the good governance of a public organization. Strategic planning can contribute to public accountability when it incorporates the long-term vision of any Public Organization, regardless of their limitations due to their nature". Referring to the NTA operation in this direction, he said that "Rules were set from the first six months of Authority’s operation in order to have an operational plan and operational targeting, with mechanisms to control and monitor the plan".
Mr. George Pitsilis, Governor of the Hellenic Independent Authority for Public Revenue, noted that "The IAPR's Strategic Plan reflects the long-term strategic direction of the Authority. It includes its strategic objectives, vision, mission, core principles and values and strategic objectives and priorities for the future. Through the Strategic Plan, our accountability to the taxpayers and the state institutions is fulfilled in practice. Accountability ensures the transparency of the IAPR’s actions and establishes trust with citizens and businesses".
Mr. Dimitris Tzanatos, President of the Hellenic Gaming Commission (HGC), underlined: "I think that the idea of creating the Executive State was very successful. It succeeded at the highest levels, namely in the government and in the ministries. At the levels below, however, the improvement was zero. This is due to the relative autonomy of agencies and institutions, whose officials try to serve other interests, alien to those shaped by central policy."
During the second day of the event, Mr. Ioannis Foustanakis Head of the NTA Directorate for Strategic Planning and Behavioural Analysis noted that Authority’s Strategic Plan reflects to a large extent the result of the teamwork of all NTA’s personnel, who, with their active participation and professionalism, contributed to the emergence of the NTA’s strengths, the identification of the points that need improvement and the identification of potential opportunities and threats, shaping together with the Management, the strategic objectives and the operational axes of the Authority for the next 5 years.
Mr. Foustanakis concluded by noting that "the Strategic Plan, although it is basically an internal document designed by the executives of the NTA for the NTA, nevertheless serves the principles of transparency and public accountability that every public organization and especially the NTA must serve".
"Strategic - Plan 2023-2027"
https://aead.gr/publications/essays/stratigiki-sxedio-ead-2023-2027
You can watch the entire workshop at the following link: