Institutional Capacity – Provisional Results of Member States during 2014-2020 Programming Period

Institutional capacity building and enhancement are the main focus for projects under thematic objective 11 for the programming period 2014-2020 supported by financial instruments under the Cohesion Policy, thus contributing to the objectives of economic, social and territorial cohesion of Member States. According to studies, there is a growing importance of education and, as such, of investment in education, but also a need for strengthening the efficiency of public administration and need to invest in the latter as well so that, in cooperation with social partners, be able to face the increasingly challenging societal overcoming needs and barriers. Considering the disrupting factors present in the socioeconomic and territorial contexts determined by the armed conflicts, by the recent pandemic effects which all have a negative mark on all aspects of life, to which the constraints on the national public funding add, there is a growing need of intervention and of investment for institutional capacity building. In line with the aforementioned, the aim of the research team was to investigate the achievements of the interventions funded under thematic objective 11 for all the Member States that selected it and highlight both the progress and the opportunities available for Romanian context. As the results show, Romania has much to gain in the following years in terms of activities to be supported, but also in the magnitude of the interventions. Yet, results should also be put in the light of driving forces or factors that contributed to the achievements and also to what each Member State envisaged.