Strategic Development Planning is a commonly shared vision of development and set of priorities to define an overall development plan, to mobilize available resources and attract new ones.

The plan is the result of a process built up with the participation of local actors. The strategic development plan is the document providing the overall guidelines and the strategic options for integrated territorial development. It requires an appropriate information system to analyze and assess the needs of local actors and of the territory, the vocation and potentialities of the area, its opportunities and its threats. Strategic planning allows to develop the functions of territorial marketing and to draw sectoral strategies and plans, such as the economic development plan, the social housing plan, the plan for services. The strategic plan is the main tool for a participatory approach to territorial and regional development, agreed between all stakeholders. Key issues in strategic development planning are the following:

Participatory process for development involving all local stakeholders (local authorities, representatives of the private sector, the civil society and local branches of central institutions), in a participatory effort to identify the vocation of the territory and to find an agreement and a compromise on priorities for its development.

Need for an integrated information system. The preparation and the effective implementation of a strategic development plan require an integrated municipal information system, including not only the territorial, but also the social information system and the database of enterprises.

Territorial marketing. Another major tool for local development, which aims at: i) reinforcing consensus on common objectives among local stakeholders ii) setting up strategies and instruments to attract new investments; and iii) facilitating trading outside of goods and services produced in the area.

Need for sufficient size of the area object of planning. The exercise of integrated development is not limited to municipal administrative borders, it could in fact lead to the definition of regions and/or homogenous areas with common interest and vision of development, both, to ensure that neighboring areas work on coherent development proposals and also, to reinforce the capacity of territorial marketing. This exercise will permit local administrations to acquire the European Union experiences of territorial pacts, integrated territorial projects, industrial districts and territorial associations implemented by the EU LEADER  programmes.

SIRP will support the gradual introduction of overall concepts and tools of strategic planning for development in six Municipalities also supporting  them to develop sectoral plans, with a focus on two key areas relevant to the two other components of the Programme: socio-economic development and housing.
For this purpose, SIRP will perform a four-fold action:

1. Providing training at central and at local level on territorial planning and building capacity to continue and extend training to the whole country.
2. Upgrading and integrating the information systems at municipal level, providing the additional information required to extend the local planning exercise to the social, economic and civic cohesion aspects. For this purpose, SIRP will ensure that a standard info-kits hardware and software is available in all selected municipalities.
3. Enabling the municipalities to use the information for strategic planning, using the skills acquired with the training provided and the information produced through the integrated information systems. The  Municipalities will be assisted in the development of sector strategies through participatory process: i) Local development plans based on tools commonly used in the EU; ii) Poverty Reduction Local Strategies; and iii) Civic integration and community safety strategy.
4. Supporting local bodies in charge to translate strategies into action. SIRP will support the establishment and the strengthening of: i) Municipal Development Units, that will represent the tool for public-private partnerships for local development; ii) Local development networks, i.e. informal co-ordination bodies of the development projects; and iii) the development of local coalitions for socio-economic and civic integration of vulnerable groups.