According to the latest provisions of the Act on the Principles of Development Policy, the commune may develop a development strategy which should be coherent with the voivodeship development strategy and the supra-local development strategy covering that commune. The commune development strategy contains conclusions from the diagnosis prepared for the purposes of this strategy and specifies in particular:

• strategic development objectives in the social, economic and spatial dimension;
• directions of activities undertaken to achieve the strategic objectives;
• expected results of the planned actions, including the spatial dimension, and indicators of their achievement;
• model of functional and spatial structure of the commune;
• findings and recommendations in the area of shaping and conducting spatial policy in the commune;
• strategic intervention areas specified in the voivodeship development strategy referred to in Article 11 (1) of the Act of 5 June 1998 on the self-government of the voivodeship (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 512, 1571 and 1815), together with the scope of planned activities;
• strategic intervention areas crucial for the commune, if such have been identified, together with the scope of planned activities;
• strategy implementation system, including guidelines for the preparation of implementation documents;
• financial framework and sources of financing.

The communal authorities are obliged to actively control the local development processes through regulatory practices, initiating, organising and stimulating activities. This requires activity, creativity, innovation and determination in the activities of commune authorities, knowledge of the conditions and mechanisms of its development, knowledge and skills enabling the use of modern management methods and making rational pro-development decisions and the use of appropriate instruments to influence the scale and pace of this development.

Communes are complex and difficult to manage organizations, operating in rapidly changing and often unpredictable conditions related to their environment. They create external conditions in the form of a set of opportunities and threats for their further development. It is through professional management that their adaptability to these conditions can be increased. On the other hand, a holistic and integrated approach to solving development problems of the commune is necessary. Therefore, for the purposes of management it is important to have a good diagnosis of these problems, the nature and strength of the interrelations and interactions*.

Source: “Strategiczne zarządzanie rozwoju gminy”, [Strategic management of a commune’s development] by: Marek Ziółkowski, 2015.