The Montenegro I want - Report on Post-2015 National Consultations

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Report on Post-2015 National Consultations in Montenegro


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RepoRton post-2015 national Consultationsin MontenegRo

apRil 2013

Olivera Komar & Pavle Gegaj


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This is an independent report commissioned by the UN System in Montenegro. The views

expressed in this paper are those o the authors and do not necessarily represent the views o

UN.

Copyright 2013

By the United Nations System in Montenegro

Bulevar Svetog Petra Cetinjskog 1A, 81 000 Podgorica, Montenegro

About the Post 2015 National consultations process in Montenegro

More than 8.000 people in Montenegro or 1.3% o total population have actively participated

in national post-2015 consultations on development priorities ater 2015. National post-2015

consultations in Montenegro are a part o the global campaign undertaken with the support

o the United Nations in more than 80 countries around the globe. The global campaign aims

to include citizens rom all parts o the world in creation o development agenda that will

ollow up on current Millennium Development Goals. These are the rst consultations o akind which allow creation o development policies through, not only governments but also

citizens active participation. In order to ensure strong citizens participation in national con-

sultations and oering them the opportunity to express what kind o Montenegro and the

World they want, the UN System in Montenegro has, in cooperation with numerous national

partners, created a wide communication platorm with the aim o collecting citizens opinions

and ideas on development priorities or the period beyond 2015.

The authors: Olivera Komar, Pavle Gegaj

Appreciation and acknowledgement:

Number o institutions and individuals provided their constructive contribution to the process

o national consultations and development o the report. We would like to mention a ew:

Parliamentary Committee or Gender Equality, Chamber o Commerce o Montenegro, Red

Cross Montenegro, Union o Employers o Montenegro, Institute o Public Health, Agency or

Electronic Media, TV stations: Prva, TVCG, Vijesti, Atlas, Pink Montenegro, NTV Montena, MBC,

University Donja Gorica, University Mediteran, Civil society representatives: Digitalizuj.Me,

Center or Children Rights, Ozon, Green Piva, SOS Niksic, Center or Democratic Transition

CDT, Center or development o NGOs - CRNVO, SOS Phone Niksic, Natura, Legal Center, Civic

Alliance, German NGO HELP, Expeditio; Web-portals: cdm.me, portalanalitika.me, vijesti.me.

We owe special thanks to promoters o the campaign: Milena Knezevic national handball team

player, Nikola Radunovic musician and Nikola Janovic national water polo team player.

Translation: Slobodanka Knezevic

Graphic design, cover page, layout: Marko Mihailovi - M Studio, Podgorica

Print: Atel doo, Podgorica

Podgorica, April 2013


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Table of contents

Executive Summary ................................................................................................................ 1

Introduction ............................................................................................................................3

Methodology ..........................................................................................................................5

National Consultations ..........................................................................................................9Topic 1:The economy, unemployment, income and uneven regional development ...................10

Topic 2:Fighting crime, corruption and nepotism ..........................................................................14

Topic 3:Health ....................................................................................................................................15

Topic 4:Equality .................................................................................................................................18

Topic 5:The environment ..................................................................................................................20

Topic 6:Building inrastructure.........................................................................................................23

Topic 7:Education ..............................................................................................................................25

Topic 8:Values ....................................................................................................................................27


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Executive Summary

Montenegro was one o the countries involved in national consultations on post-2015 develop-ment goals. This process, supported by the UN, was part o a global discussion through whichpeople rom all over the world have been invited to help Member States shape the uturedevelopment agenda that will build on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ater theirtarget date at the end o 2015. In order to involve the people o Montenegro and give them theopportunity to describe what kind o Montenegro and what kind o world they want to livein, the UN system in Montenegro, in cooperation with a number o local partners, has createda broad platorm or communication with the purpose o collecting peoples ideas, and hencehelping world leaders create a new global development agenda ater 2015.

(1) At this point o time, jobs and unemployment are the main actors determining thequality o lie. People believe that job insecurity and economic hardship endanger other con-nected aspects o lie e.g. health, education and happiness. Thereore, it should be everyonespriority (state, businesses, civil society, media, etc.) to work eectively on dealing with setbackso the economic crises and to work hard on developing and strengthening saer environmentor the people that are being aected

(2) People dominantly see corruption and crime as one o the most important issuesMontenegro has to deal with in the uture. This is issue that most gravely aects the qualityo lie, according to the views o majority o respondents. Eorts o the authorities, primarilyGovernment, should be thereore ocused on these two priority areas in order to improve thequality o peoples lie and meet their expectations.

(3) Majority o respondents thinks that the gap between the rich and the poor is beingurther widened at a worrying pace, which is endangering very core o the society . Eco-nomic, social, health and educational policies should thereore take into account this problemand seek to reduce it.

(4) Ensuring equal opportunities to quality health care and standardization o providinghealth care services were recognized as important challenges and priorities in the pro-cess o strengthening health care system, with the aim o improving citizens health. Theneed or systemic approach to corruption in health care system and balancing distribution oproessional and motivated sta were emphasized in the context o availability o health care.

The need or allocation o greater nancial support to health care sector has been underlined,as well as investments in human capital development, especially when it comes to implemen-tation o prevention programmes. Respondents have clearly recognized and emphasized theconnection between social determinants o health and morbidity among population.

(5) A need or better planning and implementing public policies in the uture has been as

well recognized by the people. Having in mind that the outcomes o dierent segments opublic policy are intertwined (economic policies aect health, which in turn aects education,which has its own eect on the economy or example) it is crucial that the authorities, primar-ily Government, as well as other stakeholders, take more holistic and strategic approach withthis regard.

(6) People see equality as one o paramount priorities or the uture.They expressed widerange o equality concerns, including social, economic, gender, sexual and ethnic, recognizingmistreatment o dierent groups. According to peoples views, it is crucial that principal o equaltreatment and opportunities as well as armative action is part o every single policy.

(7) Exclusion o women rom decision-making processes was one o the problems strongly

emphasized by the people. It has been noted that women aced with lack o understanding,prejudices, traditional expectations, unequal salaries, etc. It is thereore o particular importancethat gender equality becomes one o the priority principles o the public policies.


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(8) The environment is being recognized as one o the countrys top strengths and oppor-tunities. It is, however, also perceived as not only underutilized, but also rapidly destructed.People believe that the environmental protection is predominantly responsibility o each indi-vidual. It is every persons responsibility to preserve the environment, protect the ecosystem,and use it in a sustainable manner.

(9) Urban planning and illegal housing needs to be dealt with in a way which is both tak-

ing in consideration the current state o vulnerable groups and is based on the principleso sustainable development. This problem is being widely recognized by the majority orespondents as one o the key problems o contemporary society in Montenegro.

(10) Inrastructure, primarily transportation, presents a major obstacle to economic develop-ment, particularly to balanced regional development. This being said, people still think thatwhen evaluating new inrastructure projects, the Government should take into considerationthe sustainability o such projects in order not to jeopardize nancial stability o the economy.

(11) Education is being perceived as one o the essential resources or the uture. Namely,people are whishing or society based on knowledge. Thereore, the ongoing transormation othe education system should take into account improving the quality o education, applicability

o attained knowledge, strengthening o social and practical skills and abilities, developing criti-cal opinion and participation and better connection to labor market. Educational system needsto be improved even urther in order to develop and strengthen participant and responsibleattitude among population.

(12) In many responses people expressed their concern about rapid changes in values. They believe that the society should work on strengthening social capital based on solidarity,amily values, tolerance, respect or others and non-discrimination.


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IntroductionIn 2015, the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) which have served as a broad rameworkor development work over the past 12 years are set to expire. As we are approaching thisdate, Member States and the entire United Nations system are conducting world-wide consulta-

tions with the aim o gathering as much input as possible or drating new development goalsor the post-2015 period. The idea is that new goals should come rom the people, and shouldaddress issues and problems identied by people, as opposed to building on the experienceo limited participatory engagement in ormulating the original Millennium Declaration. Theprocess was designed to include up to 100 dierent countries and consultations are beingorganised in 86 countries so ar.

Montenegro was one o the countries involved in national consultations on post-2015 develop-ment goals. This process, supported by the UN, was part o a global discussion through whichpeople rom all over the world have been invited to help Member States shape the uturedevelopment agenda that will build on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ater theirtarget date at the end o 2015. In order to involve the people o Montenegro and give themthe opportunity to describe what kind of Montenegro and what kind of world they want to live

in, the UN system in Montenegro, in cooperation with a number o local partners, has createda broad platorm or communication with the purpose o collecting peoples ideas, and hencehelping world leaders create a new global development agenda ater 2015.

The consultations were organized in the period between December 2012 and April 2013. Theywere structured into three consecutive phases.

The rst phase took place in December 2012 and January 2013 and included 2.946 respondents:1.995 were ace-to-ace interviews with respondents rom dierent parts o Montenegro, plus951 on-line respondents. The representative sample included all categories o the populationso that the attitudes and opinions o as many dierent women and men as possible could becollected. Although the interviews were conducted in the orm o a poll, most questions werelet open-ended so that people would be ree to express how they eel and what they think,

without being even subtly led by the options provided in the response sheets.

Based on the requency o responses, the eight most prominent concerns were identied aroundwhich priorities or the uture should be set:

The economy, unemployment, income and equal regional development

Fighting crime, corruption and nepotism

Health

Equality

The environment

Building inrastructure

EducationValues

In the second phase, ater the eight most important priorities were identied, specic questionswere tailored or the purpose o gaining more in-depth understanding o peoples prioritieswithin these identied themes. These questions were then asked both to specialists/experts andagain to the general population. The objective was two-old: to gain more specic understand-ing o the priorities that were chosen by the representative sample o people in the rst roundo consultations and to consult as many people as possible on these eight topics.

In order to involve as many people as possible, the project team used a number o channelsor communication adjusted to dierent population groups: 1) classic face-to-face interviewsin order to encompass representatives o all these groups the young and elderly, employed,

unemployed, interested and not-so-interested, wealthy and vulnerable; 2) Twitter, Facebook andsocial networks in order to mobilize young people and those that use these kind o tools orsocial engagement; 3) town meetings, round tables and focus groups in order to reach experts.


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The total outreach o 8,023 consulted people in Montenegro1 shares ownership o the ideasand ndings presented in this report.

On a general note, specialists were pleasantly surprised with the prudence o the selections madeby the general population in the rst phase. Reminding the reader again that the respondentsin the rst phase were not oered closed-ended questions and thereore were not compelledto choose among predened topics, the selection o some important but not-so-prominent

topics such as equality or values came as a positive surprise.The graph that ollows portrays the answers that were asked in the second phase o the researchin order to evaluate to what extent the quality o lie in Montenegro depends on the issues se-lected in the rst phase. It is obvious that the range o their replies between 60% and 90% othem being very or somewhat allows us to state with some certainty that in act, the qualityo lie in Montenegro depends mainly on development in these eight priority areas: the economy,unemployment, income and equal regional development, ghting crime, corruption andnepotism, health, equality, environment, building inrastructure, education and values.

However, at the same time, the problems and issues are only one side o the coin, while ine-ectiveness in tackling them is the other, and is probably just as important. Thereore, whendesigning new development goals, who needs to do it and how it should be done shouldbe regarded as being equally important as what needs to be done.

The most respondents believe that the current eorts o the government and other actors inthe dened eight priority elds are not as eective and sucient as they could be. The respon-dents identiy the government as being the most responsible or dealing with all o these issues(with the exception o values, where the government is the second most responsible, ater theindividual), in the same time seeing the eorts as insuciently eective. (With the exceptiono HIV prevention as a subtopic, no more than 25% o respondents perceive the governmentas eective in any o the main eight topics.) Given the methodological ramework o theresearch, the efectiveness o other organizations and entities which could be seen asimportant in tackling these issues was not measured.

It could be perhaps noted that people in general tend to shit responsibility unevenly towardsthe Government and other institutions (i.e. municipalities, departments, agencies) lacking torecognize own and individual responsibility and the act that proactive approach o individualscould oster the change.

1 Montenegro has a population of 620.000, so this represents about 1,3% of the total population.

Graph 1

Graph 2


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Methodology

This report is part o phase three: preparation o the nal conclusions which will be submittedto the Secretary-General o the United Nations and which will ensure that the opinions and at-titudes o the Montenegrin people regarding their vision o a better uture are included in theglobal report on post-millennium development plans. In addition, the ndings rom the globaldiscussion will be delivered to the Secretary-General o the UN, Heads o State and Govern-ment attending the 2013 UN General Assembly, and the Open Working Group on SustainableDevelopment Goals.

The post-2015 consultation was conducted in two phases. The rst phase started with promotiono the consultation in December 2012 and concluded with the interim report in January 2013,identiying the main topics and themes. The second phase o the research started in Februarywith more in-depth consultations on the topics identied in the rst phase, and ends with thisnal report in April 2013.

The rst phase o the survey on post-2015 development goals was conducted on three separateplatorms: an on-line survey, ace-to-ace (F2F) interviews and a Twitter survey. The idea was toinclude as large a basis as possible, but also certain stakeholders, whose inputs are importantin designing development goals.

The questionnaire or ace-to-ace interviews was designed such that the majority o thequestions were open-ended, asking respondents to say in their own words about issues andproblems, identiy solutions and so on. Given the character o the questionnaire, the surveywas designed with these two modules 2 and on-line. Namely, with the 2 survey we wouldget the results about the most important topics and themes which are representative o thewhole population. On the other hand, the on-line survey was intended to give input about morespecic and precise issues, giving respondents the opportunity to state their mind whenever

they eel they have something to say. For the purpose o this research a specic Twitter hashtag was promoted #post2015me which members o the Montenegrin Twitter communitycould use to give their response to any or all questions rom the survey.

Face-to-ace interviews were conducted on a multilevel stratied sample at the national level,with 1,997 respondents. The standard error based on the sample size is 2.19% with a 95%condence interval or a 50% distribution. The interviews were conducted between the 3rdand 13th o January 2013. The sample was realized in 79 dierent communities rom all 21municipalities in Montenegro. The sample was representative o the population according togender, age and nationality variables, based on the 2011 census. Distributions or the main de-mographic variables are presented in table below. The rst phase o the post-2015 consultationsin Montenegro, which included 2.946 respondents, was concluded with the report identiying

the eight dierent topics recognized by people living in Montenegro as key aspects that shouldbe addressed in the period ater 2015. The second part o the consultations was designed inthe orm o a nationwide dialogue with the objective to deepen insight into the eight topicsidentied, and include as wide a body o the population as possible. National consultationsaimed at including every relevant institution and as many individuals as possible in the process,whose outcome should be the medium and long-term development goals or the period ater2015. The process included consultations with NGOs, experts, state representatives, vulnerablegroups, minorities, children and others. NGOs were in act the partners that organized most othe 30 consultations with stakeholders.

The design o the second phase o the process was divided into three compatible categories:consultations in the orm o ocus groups and round-table discussions conducting a public

opinion survey through on-line polls and ace-to-ace interviews and general public engage-ments which took the orm o tweeting and other social media discussions. As a result, theseconsultations had an unprecedented outreach and included 1.3% o the population o Monte-negro. The purpose o such a design was to provide a suitable medium or dierent categories


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o audiences to participate: a) ocus groups and round tables or people with deeper knowledgewho could provide valuable insight into the topics and add considerably to what had alreadybeen collected, b) public opinion surveys, ocus groups and ace-to-ace interviews as a way oconsultation with the general public in order to get a more precise picture regarding importanttopics and issues within these topics, and c) social media discussions as a powerul tool or col-lecting ideas and issues which aect us every day.

For the thematic consultations on each o the eight topics, three questionnaires were prepared.

(1) The rst questionnaire was designed in the orm o a ocus group guide and was usedby moderators o the events as a guide or the discussion. The specialists included inthese discussion were proessionals and other people who, on the basis o their personalor proessional experience, were in a position to have more inormation on the topicidentied beorehand by the general population.

(2) The second questionnaire had most o these open-ended questions closed, so thatthey were more suitable or ace-to-ace interviews, and as such were used to interview1,500 respondents ace-to-ace, and were distributed to participants in the round-tablediscussions, ocus groups and other events organized within the consultation process.

(3) Finally, the third questionnaire was designed specically or on-line polls, thus, witha ew exceptions, had only closed-ended questions, and were reduced to an averageo 20 questions per topic. This was done in order to optimize the time needed or arespondent to answer the poll questions, and minimize the number o respondentslost due to the length o questionnaire.

All the questionnaires were aimed at measuring the same concepts and ideas, and ollowed thesame core questions, thus providing comparability o results obtained rom dierent events.

The total outreach in the post-2015 process in Montenegro o 8,023 citizens is split up in theollowing way: 3,495 ace-to-ace interviews, 3,583 on-line polls, 375 town hall meetings, 260ocus groups and round-table participants and 310 tweets. This amounts to about 1.33% o the

population o Montenegro, which makes it an unprecedented outreach in which the popula-tion was directly consulted.

The on-line community was included in both phases o the survey. From 28th December 2012until 20th January 2013 a total o 451 on-line questionnaires were collected on the generalquestionnaire about post-2015 development goals. In the second part that took place in theperiod between 1st and 20th o March, a total o 3,132 on-line questionnaires were collected onthe 8 dierent topics. Most questionnaires were collected on the topics o the economy andunemployment (560), ollowed by corruption, crime and nepotism (478), the environment (461),education (409), inrastructure development (372), values (370), health (269) and equality (213).

These on-line surveys, conducted or each topic separately, do not aim at being and cannotbe representative o the whole population o Montenegro. That said, the idea was to engage

those whose voices are usually not heard and those who believe that they have something toshare, to participate in and infuence the process o designing new development goals. In thatsense, all the results are only an indication o the distribution o responses among respondents.

Each on-line questionnaire contained two specic types o questions. The rst type askedthe respondents to rank issues within a specic topic rom the most to least important, whilethe second type asked them to rank 14 dierent subjects according to how responsible theyshould be held or dealing with issues within a certain topic. When analyzing responses to thesequestions, we bore in mind that, on one hand, basing analysis only on the rst choice would behighly limiting, given that there were up to 14 dierent answers provided, while on the otherhand, in most o the cases the data on the third and urther choices provided no signicantinormation, thus we based our analysis o the questions on the rst two choices i.e. the rst

and second most important issues or responsible actors.

The distribution o respondents included in ace-to-ace and on-line polls according to gender,region and age are presented in the table below.


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Table 1Variable Category Face-to-ace On-line Total

Gender Male 52.3% 59.3% 55.9%

Female 47.7% 40.7% 44.1%

Region Centre 37.3% 52.4% 44.9%

North 38.9% 20.8% 29.8%

South 23.8% 26.8% 25.3%Education Elementary and below 14.8% 5.8% 10.2%

3-year high school 21.0% 5.5% 13.2%

4-year high school 36.3% 25.8% 31.0%

College degree 9.7% 11.1% 10.4%

Undergraduate degree 16.6% 41.4% 29.2%

Masters/PhD degree 1.6% 10.0% 5.8%

Age 24 years and below 11.2% 23.8% 17.6%

25 to 34 years 21.3% 37.6% 29.6%

35 to 44 years 19.6% 21.3% 20.4%45 to 54 years 17.1% 11.8% 14.4%

55+ years 30.8% 5.5% 18.0%

Apart rom on-line consultations and ace-to-ace interviews, a separate round o consultationsincluded 30 town hall meetings, round tables and ocus groups that were conducted with bothexperts and the general population including vulnerable groups. These events were moderatedby UN partners predominantly NGOs that ollowed specially developed protocols or eacho the topics. It is important to mention that the events took place in the northern, central andsouthern parts o the country aiming to include everyones voice.


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TOPIC 1:

The economy, unemployment, income and uneven regional development

This topic dominated all the responses. People are very worried about the state of the economy

and are complaining about their job prospects. It is obvious that the standard of living hasfallen rapidly and that people are facing substantial problems in providing the essentials fortheir families and themselves.

Both the experts and people surveyed emphasized economic hardships that are both locallyand globally induced and their eect on the general population. Most comments could beclassied into several subgroups:

The general state of the economy and unemployment

1) By ar most important issue that people raised is unemployment and the general stateo the economy. Many have lost their jobs and even more are araid or their uture.

They have noticed that not much economic development is taking place, industriesare closing down and other economic sectors are in a bad way. This is thereore one othe main concerns or the near uture.

A strategic approach to strengthening a socially responsible business environment

2) Experts believe that a more strategic approach towards stimulating socially responsiblebusinesses should be taken. The rst step would be passing relevant bylaws and docu-ments such as the Strategy or the Development o Social Responsible Businesses inMontenegro2.

3) Stronger involvement by the state regarding the denition o directions or companiesto invest in the community is important. Representatives o the business sector recog-nize the importance o their role but they would like more guidance. The state shouldcreate the environment or investments in communities, e.g. to dene areas that mostrequire nancial and non-nancial support rom businesses. National recognition orbusinesses that are socially responsible could prove to be a powerul incentive or moreentities to get involved.

4) Current legislation with the aim o stimulating donations or philanthropic and charitable

purposes is neither sucient nor in line with comparative practice. It should be improvedthrough providing more incentives to the private sector to become more socially responsible.

5) The business community emphasized that there should be greater harmony betweenactivities conducted by the government, unions and employers in the uture.

A grassroots approach to creating public policies

6) The public should be more actively involved in creating and implementing public poli-cies. Public discussions on important decisions should be visible, accessible and trulyreaching out to the people that they would aect.

7) The social policy o Montenegro needs a new responsible approach. The transitionprocess has weakened many groups o people, increasing vulnerability and the riskso unemployment, social exclusion, poverty, inequality and ill health. A more eectivesaety net should be in place.

2 Social responsibility here is defned, among other things, as the employer-employee relationship.

Te main problem in Montenegro is the state o the economy. Privatisation in Montenegro is only a sale

o property. People who have worked or over 25 years are lost. Tey cannot retire. People are deceived. We

should turn our attention to the economy. Tere is no lie in this municipality without at least 2-3 actories.


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Your outlook or happiness depends pri-

marily on where you live in Montenegro. Lie

is happening in Podgorica or Budva Other

than that, we barely survive in the other

municipalities.

People used to leave Bijelo Polje or Podgor-

ica and Belgrade and stay there. Tis is still

the case, this mentality. People in Montenegro

were constantly told: study so that you will

not have to work.

Education focused on businesses

8) Representatives o businesses believe that the education system does not adequatelyprepare uture employees or the market. There should be more harmonization betweenmarket needs and the educational oer. One o the most critical notes was the actthat the current education system does not involve enough transer o practical skills.

Gender mainstreaming in business

9) Employers recognize the act that there is a severe gender gap when it comes to accessto business. For a number o reasons (cultural, transitional and traditional), women haveworse start-up chances to develop their own business initiatives and thereore more eortshould be given to the stimulation o gender equality and womens entrepreneurship.

10) The situation is even worse when it comes to opportunities or people with disabilities.A more active approach to providing equal opportunities or everyone should be oneo the priorities.

Unequal distribution of investment and resources:

11) Experts emphasize what was already mentioned inthe general population survey living conditionsin the northern part o the country are signicantlyworse than in other parts. There are resources in thenorth, but there is no investment. Several peoplestated that resources actually exist (both humanand natural) and that the only thing missing isgood organization and utilization.

Internal migration

12) People leave northern cities and municipalities in order to get education and to work,

but never go back. These internal migrations are posing a serious threat to the humanand other resources o the North.

Own responsibility

13) Respondents did not avoid speaking about theirinternal migration. One o them tried to rememberwhen the last time was that there was a genuinecivic initiative launched by people living in theNorth. Another argued that although there aremany problems regarding resources, the ones toblame are not only Podgorica (i.e. it is not always

the ault o the Government and its agencies seatedin Podgorica) but also us.

Ethnic distance and a lack of trust

14) I believe that one o the reasons or the underdevelopment o the North (unlike e.g.Podgorica) is the act that mainly Serbs, Muslims and Bosniaks live there. They are kepton a leash and given just a little. This kind o statement expressed in the ocus groupwith experts, whether it is true or not, is in act proo o a certain ethnic distance and alack o trust which destroys and undermines social capital.

Survey data on the economy, unemployment, income and unequal regional development

Respondents were oered 4 dierent issues within the topic o the economy and unemploy-ment, and were asked to rank them according to their importance (with the option o addingadditional issues). By ar the most important issue was unemployment, ranked rst by 45.3%and second by 37.1% o respondents. Next in line was the economy in general with 37.6% re-


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spondents indentiying it as the rst and 24.2% as the second most important topic. Income wasrepresented at number 3, with 8.6% and 24.5% o rst and second preerences, while the leastimportant topic was equal regional development, with 8.4% o rst and 14.2% o second choices.

Gender does not account or signicant dierences in ranking the issues, which suggests thatboth men and women are equally worried about their prospects or the uture. However, agedoes matter. Even though the ranking stays the same, the dierences between preerences aremuch more emphasized. Namely, 61.0% o young people (24 and below) identiy unemploy-

ment as the most important issue, and an additional 33.9% rank it as the second most importantissue, with all other issues being less important. Finally, region does not account or signicantdierences.

When asked about those that are most hit by economic issues and unemployment, the major-ity o respondents identiy poor people (58.6% o rst and 17.4% o second choices). Next areyoung people with 12.6% o rst and 16.1% o second choices, and workers with 10.9% and14.8% o rst and second choices, ollowed by people with disabilities with 6.4% o rst and26.6% o second choices. Other groups were identied in the rst two choices with below-average requency. None o the independent variables used (gender, region and age) accountor signicant dierences in identiying groups that are specically aected by these issues.

When asked about the gap between the rich and the poor, the overwhelming majority (86.7%)identied it as widening, 11.6% as staying the same, while only 1.7% said that it is getting smaller.

When asked i the economic situation is aecting women as well, 58.4% said yes, while 41.6%said no. Womens entrepreneurship is identied as being underdeveloped by 79% o respon-dents, while 21% see it as being developed.

More than three-quarters o respondents think that social services and child protection mecha-nisms can reduce the negative eects o the bad economic and social situation. Furthermore,when asked to what extent the quality o lie depends on the quality o social and child welareprotection, two-thirds said that it does (68.7%) while one-third think that it does not.

Next in line were questions about community services and their importance. When talkingabout community support, we can note that responses are almost equally distributed. Still,more oten than not, respondents identied housing assistance (32.8%), while interpretingand translating sign language and personal assistance are the least selected (3.0% and 11.2%).

Graph 3

Graph 4


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Graph 5

Between counselling and therapy services respondents most oten identied counselling (50.2%)and then therapy (33.4%), while SOS phone lines and mediation are marginally selected with11.1% and 5.4%.

Finally, the most important issue among accommodation services are oster homes and amilyaccommodation with 37.1% and 36.2%. Accommodation in social institutions is selected by19.5% while shelter services are important or 7.2% o respondents.

Despite the act that equal regional development was not ranked highly among issues concern-ing the economy and unemployment, 84.5% o respondents still think that their quality o liedepends on it, while only 15.5% think that it is not important to their quality o lie. On the otherhand, only 36.2% o respondents think that it is realistic to expect equal regional development,while the remaining 63.8% see it as unrealistic.

Four subjects are clearly emphasized as being most responsible or equal regional develop-ment, with the government being the rst, with 61.2% giving it as their rst and 22.2% as theirsecond choice. Politicians are identied as being responsible by 7.1% o rst and 22.9% o sec-ond preerences, and municipalities by 2.7% o rst and 24.4% o second preerences. Finally,respondents also see each individual as an important actor, with 17.2% o rst and 8.1% o

second preerences.

The last part o the questionnaire was devoted to the ever-increasing concentration o thepopulation in urban centres, especially Podgorica. Four out o ve respondents (80%) see thisas a negative or very negative trend, while 94.9% think that people should be motivated to stayin rural areas and villages.


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Fighting crime, corruption and nepotism

These three problems were also quite frequent in respondents comments. They believe that a

very effective ight against corruption and nepotism is the solution to many problems in thecountry. Most respondents elaborated that their complaints about the work of the governmentcould be also related to this topic.

As expected, by ar the most important issues within this topic were corruption (50.3% o rst and28.1% o second preerences) and crime (20.0% o rst and 48.1% o second preerences). Thirdmost important, but with considerably lower requency, is nepotism, with 9.2% o rst and 5.7%o second preerences. All other issues have below-average requencies. It is important to point

out that the importance o the issues within this topic does not vary with gender, age or region.

Respondents most oten identiy the government as the one that should be responsible orthese issues, with 43.4% o rst and 30.7% o second preerences. Second most important iseach individual with 34.9% rst and 13.1% second preerences, while in third place are politi-cians with 4.1% o rst and 10.9% o second preerences.

The eorts o the government regarding these issues are seen as eective by 8.2% while theremaining 91.8% think that they are inecient. When respondents were asked about the eortso non-governmental organizations the situation is somewhat better, with one-third seeingother organizations as eective in their eorts to combat corruption, crime and nepotism, whiletwo-thirds see them as ineective.

TOPIC 2:

Graph 6

Graph 7

Politicians preer the people being poor. I they are poor, they are cheap. Tey will sell themselves or 20 or

50. I citizens were paid normally and could aord a decent lie, they could not be manipulated so easily. So,

our politicians and bosses want to keep us as low as possible.

Te only people who are rewarded are those that toe the line with the dominant political parties. It doesnt

depend on how you work. You cannot get work i you do not vote or the incumbent party.


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Health

People in Montenegro are quite concerned about health insurance, accessibility and the qual-ity of medical care. They are complaining about the lack of medical care: the lack of hospitals,medicines and low quality of services provided by the current health insurance system.

In the survey conducted, respondents recognized several important issues and sub-topics withinhealth topic. Some o them were oered in questionnaire, such as quality o healthcare services,importance o prevention, anti-corruption trainings and other, but some o the issues wereidentied by respondents themselves, without being mentioned, such as increase o resources

allocated or health system as they are considered as investment in health, social determinantso the health, public-private partnership issues, responsibility or health is shared between thecitizens and system, and others.

The quality o healthcare services was recognized as a key challenge within the topic o health.Namely, more than hal o all the respondents in the survey (50.2%) identied it as the single mostimportant aspect. Within this issue, respondents say that the expertise o health workers shouldbe better, and that their competencies, eectiveness, and proessionalism should be elevated toa higher level - namely, one o the unctions o the healthcare system which is generating humanresources, should be strengthened. Also, in the category o health workers, respondents haveidentied the payment system as a vehicle to ensure air and just compensation or the health

care services provided, recognizing that this can be an important motivational instrument orhealth workers as well as a method or improving the quality o healthcare services. The motiva-tion o the health workers is stated to be equally important or both doctors and nurses. Finally,regarding distribution o healthcare workorce, respondents and participants in the consulta-tions stated that the quality o health should be better and provision o health care standardizedthroughout Montenegro. Respondents opinion is that the most o the doctors are concentratedin Podgorica and the Government should take some measures to ensure balanced distributiono health workorce to ensure equitable access to quality health care.

Prevention has been identiied as the second most important issue, being recognizedas one o the crucial components o better health care system. In addition to choosing itas one o the important issues, a number o respondents had gone urther to state that

more care should be devoted to addressing known risk actors, most o them identiyingsmoking, unhealthy ood and stress. Also, respondents state that a way towards the betterepidemiological landscape is better education about the prevention, and strengtheningawareness about the importance o the healthy liestyle. In that eect, they propose open-

TOPIC 3:

Graph 8

I was recently in hospital and the conditions were awul. Tis is unortunate or us and all the caring and

competent people that actually work in the health sector.


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ing o youth counselling centres, within primary healthcare centres. Finally, respondentshave stated that screening programs as eective methods o prevention should be betterpromoted and used more oten.

Third, but almost equally important as the previous issue, was the health care access. Thegreatest number o complaints in this regard was related to the act that the health care systemis unnecessarily and highly burdened by procedures, paperwork and bureaucracy, and this

should be changed. Furthermore, despite the act that the reorm o primary healthcare hasbeen completed, and that chosen doctors are more available, waiting times reduced, and acces-sibility improved, some respondents still state that chosen doctors and medical examinationsin general are not available or the patients, that the waiting times are unnecessarily long, andthey are oten orced to go rom one doctor to another, even in conditions o severe illness.On the other hand, some respondents support the idea o integration o health care acrossdierent levels and establishment o health care centres one in each region o Montenegro,which would in turn improve equitable access to quality and standardized health care acrossdierent levels o health care. Some respondents have recognized the organizational model ohealth care service delivery as a limitation actor with respect to health care access.

Also, the issue which emerged as very important to those consulted within this thematic area is

corruption in health. Namely, respondents state that corruption is very present in the healthsector, having a proound eect on the health outcomes, quality o health care, while limitingthe accessibility o healthcare, and hence should be dealt with immediately. In this contextrespondents have recognized a shit o health care services provision rom the public to theprivate sector. Their perception is that the eect o corruption is such that it is oten impossibleor more expensive to get treatment in government-operated health institutions than it is inprivately owned ones. Also, the respondents state that the act that doctors work or both publicand private healthcare institutions increases the level o corruption in healthcare system. Finally,respondents state that the corruption in health should be dealt with on the system level, andthat corruptive practices should be penalized.

Investment in health was an issue which was requently mentioned by respondents. All o the

responses in this category mention that the current level o nancial resources allocation or thehealth isnt sucient and that the share o GDP or health should be higher. Also, the paymentmodel should be changed to ensure that the unds ollow patients, where provided health careservices should be nanced instead o the existing capacities. Also, more important, respon-dents see this allocation as investment rather than expenditure. They state that this allocationis investment in society and investment in development and human capital. Furthermore, inthis category o answers, some respondents identied that equipment in health institutions asoutdated. However, some o the examples used to support this opinion were apparently wrong(or example oncology clinic was stated as poorly equipped, while it is in eect equipped as perthe highest European standards). Furthermore, respondents have identied lack o space in thehospitals. However, given that the data show that hospital capacities are underutilized, it couldbe that this issue should be tackled through better resource organization and planning, rather

than adding new ones. Finally, this line o responses indicates that the perception o healthcaresystem is changing rom what was perceived as ree healthcare in the past, towards percep-tion that we pay or the healthcare and thus have a right to demand better quality. Namely,respondents become aware that they allocate part o their income or this purpose, and giventhat there are other private expenditures or health, they demand that public healthcare systemprovides better services or money they pay. Finally, despite the act that the unds allocated orhealth are not seen as enough, respondents say that even the unds available should be spentin a more rational and ecient way and the system should be organized in a way so that thisrationality and eciency is achieved.

Social determinantso health were picked up as important by number o respondents. Namely,as is known rom numerous research, social actors are very important in determining health

o an individual. Respondents in the survey have recognized this, and stated that the healthoutcomes depend on social determinants, and that we need to improve our living standardwhich will aect our health.


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Reorm o the reorm is an issue that was underlined by respondents. Apart rom perceivingsome o the aspects o healthcare system as bad, such as waiting times, organization o servicedelivery, dental care and other, number o respondents have stated that new reorm o thehealthcare should be done, despite the act that the reorm has already been done, in eect

judging this reorm as not good or adequate response to the current needs. Other issues thatshould be considered when planning reorm are unnecessary bureaucracy and paperwork,system centred around patient, equal accessibility to healthcare or every person, shorter wait-

ing times (probably related to secondary healthcare), better treatment or vulnerable groups,more medical sta. Finally, some respondents stated that a comprehensive research on thereorm should be done to evaluate its eects and downsides so that the new reorm is done ina better and more purposeul way.

Public-private partnership in health is an issue that requently appeared in responses. How-ever, no clear opinion on how or in which direction it should go can be distinguished. Somerespondents state that public and private institutions should be integrated, which would in eectincrease the access to quality healthcare, while other voiced their concern that this integrationwould only mean another way or public resources to be drained. What was voiced oten is thatGovernment needs to exercise better control over private healthcare institutions. Also, somerespondents think that mandatory insurance should be expanded so that rights regarding basic

healthcare services can be realized also in private institutions. Finally, some respondents werementioning voluntary health insurance as an option which should be considered.

Privatization o the dental care is also one o the issues respondents raised. Namely, the currenthealthcare system provides ree dental care only or children, elderly and pregnant women. Re-spondents state this as one o the faws o the system, and something that should be changed.Given that the reorm o the reorm, as stated above, is something that is mentioned oten,this should be one o the things to consider reorming.

Respondents have also identied ood saety as one o the issues that should be important,which is also one o the EU-wide priorities. Respondents think that issue o ood saety is notaddressed properly, and that the Government should do more in that respect. As one o the

main ways to deal with this issue, respondents have stated that existing control system shouldbe strengthened and more rigorous so that the ood saety level is higher.

Good governance is also one o the issues mentioned by respondents. They state that it is veryimportant that healthcare sector is managed in a good way, so that the quality, eciency and avail-ability o healthcare protection is increased. In this sense, given that the healthcare sector is one othe biggest sectors in Montenegro as per number o employees, respondents say that it is importantor anyone who wants to manage the healthcare to have a broad understanding o the overall socioeconomic context within which the healthcare sector is operating. Also, procurements in healthshould be done in a more transparent manner, so to reduce corruption and increase ecient andrational use o unds invested in healthcare. Respondents recognize importance o the cooperationwithin and outside Government, with non-governmental entities. Also, this cooperation should be

achieved on both national and local level, with involvement o international agencies.

Apart rom the issues and its importance, respondents were asked to rate the eectiveness o theGovernment in dealing with the health-related issue. The consultations showed that only one out ove respondents think that the government is eective in dealing with health-related issues, while4 out o 5 see them as inecient. Furthermore, the majority o respondents say that the govern-ment is ineective as opposed to only one-third who thinks they are only somewhat ineective.

However, eorts made by other organizations (e.g. NGOs) are not seen as having any bettereect: 27% say that other organizations are eective, while the remaining 73% think they areineective (again, two-thirds o them say they are completely ineective).

The government is by ar most responsible or dealing with these issues, with 62.5% o respon-dents identiying them as their rst and an additional 26.6% as their second choice. In additionto stating that each individual is and should be responsible or the quality o the health system,respondents identiy local municipalities (24.7% o second choices) and politicians (12.9% osecond choices) as being responsible or these problems.


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TOPIC 4:

Graph 9

Equality

The problem of equality in many forms came up very often. People are especially concerned

about the growing gap between the rich and the poor, but this is not the only aspect of inequalitythat they talk about. Their concerns include gender inequality (and violence against women),discrimination against minorities, treatment of homosexuals and people with disabilities.

Although equalitywas identied as a separate topic by the general Montenegrin population,it was an underlying theme in most o the other topics. One must be positively surprised bythe act that the citizens o Montenegro nominated this topic by themselves at this time whenthere are many other urgent problems that they ace.

Decision making that includes women

1) Exclusion o women rom the decision-making process in politics, the economy andsociety in general was one o the problems that were strongly emphasized not only in

consultation, and not only by people that are involved in this issue, but also in otherthematic ocus groups.

A lack of understanding

2) It is evident that even people that are in charge oleading the processes related to gender issues do notully understand the problem. For example, there arealmost no men in the Parliamentary board in charge ogender equality which refects the attitude towards the

importance o what this board does. Figures are also very discouraging when it comesto other political, public or other positions that are imbued with any power.

Equal job opportunities

3) Access to decision-making positions. Statistics show that women are becoming equallyand even more educated than their male counterparts. However, women still do nothold important decision-making positions. Capable educated women are deputies,number 2s, and important sta members.

4) Equal salaries. Gender inequality is refected in the amount o income and salariesreceived by men and women or the same positions that they hold. Unlike beore, thisinjustice is now well-documented in ocial and unocial statistics.

Survey on equality

The issue that emerged as the most important within the topic o equality is gender (in)equality.Namely, 40.8% and 18.2% o the respondents rate gender issues as the rst and second most im-portant issues respectively, more oten than any other topic. The second most important topic isethnic (in)equality, identied as the rst and second most important issues by 25.4% and 47.2% orespondents respectively. On the other hand, , respondents identied with below-average requencyreligious (in)equality as the third and wealth (in)equality as the ourth most important issues.

Women are whining about not being ac-

knowledged enough. I can give you examples o

women in power.


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Graph10

When we look at the importance o these issues separately or male and emale respondents,the ranking stays the same. However, we see the dierences, such that women, more oten thanmen, state gender inequality as being the most important topic. Still, the dierences are onlymarginally signicant. The regional and age distribution did not show statistically signicantdierences, except in one instance, where young people perceive ethnic inequality as muchless important than others do.

Respondents see equality and the respect o human rights as an important aspect o the qual-ity o lie in Montenegro. Namely, roughly 80% o respondents state that the quality o liecompletely or somewhat depends on these issues, while only 20% see them as unimportant.

Most responsible or dealing with these issues, as respondents identied, is the government,being the rst-choice response or 47.4% and the second choice response or another 31.8% orespondents (a total o 81.2% o respondents). Also important and responsible or dealing withthese issues, with requency considerably higher than that o all other subjects (save or theGovernment) are the individuals themselves (48.8% o rst and second preerences combined).Respondents have also identied municipalities, politicians and media, but their requenciesare considerably lower, namely 19.2%, 14.5% and 6% o rst and second preerences combined,respectively.

However, when asked about the eectiveness o the government, 22% o respondents see itseorts as eective. Also, 23% o the respondents think that citizens have equal access to thedierent kinds o services that are provided by the Government or municipalities.


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TOPIC 5:

Te environment the most important Montenegrin resource that economic development should be based on.

Our state does not have a vision. Corruption

enables investors to do as they wish... Tose who

are guilty o destroying the environment are notbeing punished.

In Montenegro, people could get together

around some major topics such as the protection

o the River ara. However, when it comes to lo-

cal issues, there is no solidarity.

Te environment and development are at the

moment in conict.

The environment

Many people are concerned about the protection of the environment in Montenegro. They are

complaining that their quality of life is being endangered by pollution and that natural resourcesare not being utilized in a sustainable manner. They are afraid that this could be one of the mostimportant problems for the future generation.

Rapid destruction of environmental and cultural heritage

1) It is the overwhelming opinion that rapid destruction o natural resources is taking place.The reasons or this destruction are: uncontrolled and illegal construction, construc-tion that is not in line with the natural surroundings, industry that produces pollution(harbours that are major polluters, ship construction sites, etc.), shery sites (that havea negative eect on the coastal fora and auna), pollution o the sea by ships that werenot supposed to be granted access to the bay without certicates proving that theyare environment riendly, etc.

Incompetence and negligence of the people that are in charge of the decision-making processes

2) The people who are in a position to make decisions regarding the environment on dier-ent levels (rom local to national) are believed not to be suciently competent to reach

decisions that infuence the environment. Participantso the ocus groups and discussions criticized their de-cisions. It was emphasized that investors are not to beblamed or the destruction o the environment but the

act that the representatives o the state did not takeenough care to protect the environment.

3) Lack o regular control. Most o the problems would be solved i the procedures thatare already in place were implemented and i existing state services were more diligentin their work.

4) Lack o knowledge-based oundations or the decision-making process. Respondentsemphasize the act that there are not enough scientically supported studies that arethe basis or decisions that infuence the environment. There are people who possess theknowledge and that could be consulted but they are oten not invited to state their opinion.

5) Excluding citizens rom decisions. Respondents complain that in many cases thepublic are not well inormed about the place, dateand the topics o the public discussions. Even whensome citizens try to point out the problems thatthey ace, their voices are ignored. Civil society issometimes not interested enough in local topics.

Environment as a developmental opportunity

6) Many respondents emphasize that the environment has not been used enough as aresource or development. Sustainable development which would maximize the tourist,

agricultural and cultural resources o Montenegro is not utilized enough.


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7) State support or businesses to be environmen-

tally conscious.

Creating synergy around environmental issues

8) When it comes to the environment the government, non-governmental organizations

and civil society, the education system, the media and others should be more connected.

Non-governmental organizations are especially responsible or creating such a link.

Respondents also recognized the very important social role o media representatives

that are not supposed to ocus only on popular stories, but engage in real investigative

journalism that could help discover and prevent destruction o environmental resources.

Downsides of decentralization

9) In the case o Montenegro, respondents noticed that decentralization had had a number

o downsides. Namely it enabled local governments to make decisions or which they

were not ready both nancially and in terms o human capacities.

Survey on the topic of the environment

Pollution is the most important issue within the eld o the environment with 63% o the rstand second choices combined. Following it are waste management on one side and energy e-ciency on the other, which were identied by 44.6% and 43.1% o respondents respectively (thepercentage indicates the requency o rst and second choices). On the other side, respondentsselected preservation o the ecosystem and preservation o national parks as less importantissues with 30.4% and 18.9% respectively (again, the percentages indicate requency o rstand second choice preerences combined).

Almost two-thirds o the respondents (64%) state that it is very or somewhat realistic to expectthe environment to become a development priority, while only 34% see this as an unrealisticexpectation. Furthermore, an encouraging 71.5% o individuals and organizations surveyed inthe process think that their own contribution to the process can be important.

On the other hand, respondents perceive that the environment and economic developmentcan be in confict. Indeed, when asked, 30% o respondents gave an armative response stat-ing that environment protection and economic development are in confict, while 42% say thatthey are in confict to some extent, while only 18% think that they are not in confict.

Most o the respondents put each individual as being most responsible or development with59.1% rst and 9.5% second preerences. Also, the government is again one o the most respon-sible, with 29.4% o rst and 42.3% o second preerences. In addition to these two, respondentsidentied municipalities and local communities as being responsible or the environment, with22.3% and 13.5% o rst and second preerences combined respectively. All other responsesappear below average, with requencies several percent lower. Even non-governmental organiza-tions, some o which have had a mission to protect the environment and act on it or decades,are identied as responsible by only 4.6% o respondents in the rst two preerences combined.

Graph 11

Sometimes companies would like to be more

environmentally riendly, but they do not have

enough capacity. In these cases, the state should

intervene and support them.


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Graph12

Four out o ve respondents think that the eorts o the government in the area o the environ-ment are ineective. Out o those 80%, three-quarters think that they are completely ineective,and one quarter think they are somewhat ineective. When asked about other organizations,the percentages are better: 45% o respondents perceive other organizations eorts as eective.


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TOPIC 6:

Building inrastructure

People are complaining about basic infrastructure roads, water-supply systems, electricity-

supply systems, housing, etc. However, infrastructure is being mentioned also as a potential foreconomic development (tourism, agriculture and industry).

Inrastructure is rather underdeveloped in Montenegro and the existing inrastructural resourcesare not utilized suciently. Four main subtopics that emerged rom the specic consultations wereurban planning, the transportation infrastructure, the environmental infrastructure andtechnology.

Urban planning

1) Solving the problem o illegal construction. One o the most important problems thatMontenegro aces in this eld is that o illegal construction. This problem is not exclu-sively Montenegrin. Many countries in the region are acing the same issues. However,

the problem is very severe in Montenegro bearing in mind the act that this countryseconomy relies heavily on tourism.

2) Illegal housing. This is a subtopic within illegal construction. Namely, many houses that

were illegally built outside o the urban plans are now providing necessary housing or

a number o low-income amilies. Resolving this problem by controlling construction

and legalizing some o the buildings will be o utmost importance in Montenegro.

Transportation infrastructure

3) A very poor transportation inrastructure is one o the main developmental obstaclesand barriers in the country. It infuences heavily the competitiveness o the Montenegrin

economy and endangers tourism. Respondents agree that the ollowing three sectorsshould be priorities:

o Maritime inrastructure;

o Railway inrastructure;

o Road inrastructure.

The rst is a very important precondition or the optimal and environmentally sae useo coastal resources (e.g. the Port o Bar), while the latter two will, among other things,improve connections between the North and the rest o the country, thereby reducinginequality.

Environmental infrastructure

4) Ecient energy use it is possible to save approximately 63% o the energy that is cur-rently being used and thereore indirectly support development.

5) The water supply, wastewater management and waste disposal systems are another

unsolved problem in the country that requires an eminent and sustainable solution.

Technology

6) Development o so-called technopolises cities with eective and ecient use o re-

sources mediated by opportunities provided by the latest technology.


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Survey on infrastructure

The most important inrastructural issue, as identied through the on-line survey, is the highwayconnecting the North and South o Montenegro 44.9% o respondents gave it as their rstpreerence with an additional 13.2% o second preerences. The second most important issue isthe development o roads, bridges and railways, with 14.3% and 36.3% giving it as their rst andsecond preerences. On the other hand, with below-average requency, respondents selected

development o renewable sources o energy (18.6% and 16.6% o rst and second preer-ences), building new schools and hospitals (12.3% and 16.6% o rst and second preerences)and building better water supply systems (10.0% and 17.2% o rst and second preerences) asdevelopment issues within the topic o inrastructure.

The quality o lie in Montenegro somewhat or completely depends on the completion o newinrastructure projects in the opinion o 82.3% o respondents, while only 17.7% think that this isnot the case, and that inrastructure does not play an important role in the quality o lie. Whenasked about the prospects or important inrastructure projects being realized, 45.6% think thatit is realistic that these projects will be realized, while 54.4% disagree. Finally, the governmentseorts towards building the inrastructure are ineective or 74.5% o respondents.

On one hand, the nancial easibility o large inrastructure projects is one o the issues that

are oten cited against them, while on the other hand the indirect and non-nancial eects areused as an argument in avour o such large projects, thereore we wanted to test this idea withthe respondents. When having to choose whether nancial or non-nancial eects are moreimportant in deciding whether to construct an inrastructure project, 19.6% say that nancialeects are more important while only 7.2% say that non-nancial eects are. Still, the majorityo respondents (73.2%) say that both are equally important and should be taken into consid-eration when evaluating potential projects.

Adequate living space is very important or the quality o lie in Montenegro, with 80.5% orespondents saying that it is highly or to some extent important. When asked how realistic it isor amilies to have adequate living space, 43% o respondents say that it is realistic, while 57%think that it is not. The governments eorts in the area o adequate housing are seen as eective

by one in ve respondents, while our out o ve think that the eorts are not yielding results.

Graph 13


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TOPIC 7:Education

This topic appears in several forms. Most prominent is concern about the future for young

people in Montenegro. Apart from that, people are worried about the accessibility andquality of education. There is another context in which education appears and that is theneed to put knowledgeable people in positions to make decisions for society, so in a sense,people are wishing for a society based on knowledge.

It was very interesting to learn that citizens chose education as one o the eight most importantpriorities o the uture. Their understanding o what needs to be improved matches with whatthe experts said.

Evaluation of the transformation of the system of higher education

1) One o the preconditions that were mentioned was detailed evaluation o the eectso the new educational system according to Bologna process of higher education reform.

The question was whether this transormation has improved quality and by how much.

2) Improvement in the quality o education and the applicability o attained knowl-edge; strengthening o social and practical skills and abilities.

3) Strengthening o critical opinion and active methods.

4) Constant insistence on improving literacy and key competences.

5) Improvement in conditions or work and school equipment.

6) Strengthening o capacities and new methods in the education process.

7) Transormation o teachers education.

Education and the labour market

8) Respondents believe that there is a certain mismatch between actual labour marketdemands and the proessional proles that are being produced by the education systemin Montenegro.

9) There should be more cooperation between the business sector and the educationalsystem. Companies should provide guidance about their needs when it comes to la-bour. Also, they should provide support by nancing talented individuals or supportinghigh-quality programmes.

10) More emphasis should be given to the proessional orientation o young people.

Survey on the topic of education

In an eort to identiy which issue within the topic o education is the most important, and howdierent issues rank, respondents were asked to rank according to their preerence 6 dierentissues (as was the case with issues within other topics that were surveyed). However, within thetopic o education, although some dierences in the importance o issues exist, these dier-ences are much less evident than in other topics, leading us to the conclusion that all aspectso the education process are perceived as being equally important. That said, elementaryeducation has the highest requency o the rst two choices, with 17.9% o rst and 37.4% osecond preerence. Preschool education is the second most highly rated, with 29.7% o rst and10.3% o second preerences. Matching education to the needs o the job market is the thirdmost important aspect with 27.4% o rst and 11.1% o second preerences (38.5% combined).Quality o university education is in ourth place within this topic, with 26.9% o respondents


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identiying it as the rst or second most important. Finally, respondents that participated inthe on-line survey indicated that the least important issues are high school education (20.6%combined) and the devaluation o diplomas (18.8% combined rst and second preerences).

The quality o lie in Montenegro depends on the quality o education, in the opinion o 62.4%o respondents, while 37.6% think that it does not. More than hal o the population interviewed(55.1%) think that it is realistic to expect education to become an important priority.

The quality o education in Montenegro is rated as very poor. Namely, only 2% o respondents

think that it is very good, 25.2% rate it as good, 49.4% as bad, while 23.4% think it is very bad.On the other hand, 17.3% think that education in Montenegro can be ully competitive in theregion, with an additional 43.8% saying that it can be competitive to some extent (a total o61%). The remaining 39% o respondents think that our education cannot be competitive inthe regional context.

The same question about the competitiveness o the education system was elevated to thelevel o Europe and the world. 7% and 4.9% o respondents said that education can be ullycompetitive at the level o Europe and the world respectively, 30.1% and 25.4% think that itcan be competitive to some extent, while the remaining 62.9% and 69.7% think that it cannotbe competitive with European and world universities respectively.

The most responsible actor or dealing with the issue o education, according to this survey, isthe government 57.6% o respondents give it as their rst, and an additional 29.5% as theirsecond preerence. The second most responsible actor or education is the individual, with34.3% o rst and 16.0% o second preerences. Municipalities and politicians are also identiedby 16.5% and 10.5% o second preerences, respectively. All other subjects are not identiedas being responsible or education, with requencies no more than a ew percentage points.

Given that the government is perceived as being the most responsible or education, it wasinteresting to see how respondents rate the eectiveness o the governments eorts. We cansee that 23.2% o the respondents rate their eorts as eective, while 76.8% rate them as ine-ective in their eorts. The eorts o other organizations are not rated much better either, with

30.7% rating them as eective.

Graph 14

Graph15


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TOPIC 8:

Te value system in Montenegro is corrupt. Beore, one was valued or being honest, humane, knowledge-

able. Not any more. Now, the most valued quality is political afliation. You are not rewarded or your work.

Values

In many responses people expressed their concern about rapid changes in values. There are

a lot of specific values that they mention, but most prominent are solidarity, family values,tolerance, respect for others and non-discrimination.

Values are one o the most ambivalent issues in these consultations. They have been emphasizedas a problem in many interviews, but most o the respondents actually do not have an ideaabout how values should be changed or who is responsible or such a change. Although mosto the respondents in the specic ocus group that was organized about this topic believedthat the quality o lie depends on the values that dominate society, the question about whichdirection these value systems should be changed in remained unanswered. The other point thatmost o the respondents agreed upon was the act that the value system was going through aparticular type o crisis at the moment. They are mostly sceptical about the values that dominatethe population o the country and they evaluate those as mostly negative.

One o the positive ndings is the act that according to the respondents, every individual is mostresponsible or restoring a more positive system o values. The second place is occupied by the state.

The negative values most criticized by the respondents are:

General apathy and a lack o will to infuence positive changes by ones own example;

Tolerance o the attitude that taking shortcuts is acceptable;

So-called subject psychology which means that people are not behaving as partici-pants but as passive subjects,

Promoting inequality in the sense that an individual is being merited primarily byhow much he/she owns;

Too much value given to material things, especially money.

Some o the respondents see this change as global. However, some o them believe that thingsare rapidly changing in Montenegro. Most o those who are critical believe that the incumbent

party supports this kind o value system because it helps them win elections.

Most respondents do not believe that change is possible and are looking to the outside ordecisive infuences towards improving it. Some o them are mentioning specic organizations(e.g. the EU), but most o them emphasize the weakness o the society itsel and the inabilityo our institutions to deal with the problem by themselves.

Survey on the topic of values

The values that dominate Montenegrin society such as solidarity, amily values, tolerance, re-spect or others and non-discrimination are perceived as being very important or the qualityo lie. Namely, 43.1% o the respondents say that their quality o lie depends on values in the

most part, and an additional 40.3% say that it somewhat depends on values. Only 16.5% orespondents say that their quality o lie is independent o values.

More respondents rate the predominant values negative than positive 70.2% versus 29.8%


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respectively. When asked about the governments eorts regarding values in our society, only14% see these eorts as eective, while 86% nd them ineective. Though the percentages arestill low, other organizations are seen as being more eective, with a 30:70 ratio o those whorate them eective to those who rate them ineective.

When asked to identiy whose responsibility it is to change and aect the values that dominateour society, 54% o respondents said that each individual is most responsible, with an addi-

tional 10.6% stating this as their second choice. Ater individuals, the most responsible actoris the government, with 24.1% o rst and 39.7% o second choices. Also, but with much lowerrequency, respondents stated that this is the responsibility o municipalities, the local com-munity, the media and politicians.

Graph 16


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Documents

The Montenegro I want - Report on Post-2015 National Consultations