analytical capacities should be strengthened not only at the national level but also at the level of selfgoverning regions and larger cities responsible for larger local school systems the development of the analytical and planning capacities of selfgoverning regions and larger cities could be supported by special development interventions either in the framework of eufunded development programmes of the education sector or in the framework of the programmes targeted at supporting administrative and public management capacities an interesting model is the local learning initiative in germany see box in general capacity building should become a key policy instrument in a policy environment where as in the slovak republic the decisions of local players have an increasing impact on policy outcomes this should reach not only selfgoverning regions and local municipalities but also institutional level lay actors such as the members of schools boards there are many policy goals that require the use of more sophisticated often soft policy instruments