Strategic planning for local government co-creation: Evidence from Croatia and Slovenia

This article explores to what extent strategic planning is important for the implementation of co-creation, the process through which public authorities solve problems with partners outside their organization. The article explores local government in Croatia and Slovenia, where structural conditions – problems with administrative capacity, low strategic planning capacities, a weakly embedded civil society and the private sector in the provision of public services – are unfavourable for the implementation of co-creation. Results show that strategic planning has a positive effect on the uptake of co-creation. How comprehensively co-creation is implemented also depends on the motivation and preparedness of professionals. Even in an environment where dialogue and collaboration between different partners and levels of government are not well-embedded, co-creation is on the rise and most frequently used for agenda setting.