4. How to measure the impact of public policies on human development?
Map 4.6 The total amount of EU funds spent from the budgets of local governments of municipalities and counties from 2007-2010 in a given county per capita (in PLN 2007)
1310 - 2233 843 - 1309 574 - 842 346 - 573 64 - 345 Source: Own study based on the Central Statistical Office data.
The purpose of regional policy is to influence the process of social and human development. In other words, it is the realisation of explicitly targeted actions and changes, which are financed by, inter alia, the Structural Funds. The effective use of these funds is considered an important factor in the socio-economic growth in Poland, and in the context of UNDP projects – of its human development. Analysing the expenditures funded from European funds is quite problematic. The first reason is their “progressive” share in local government budgets over subsequent years. The ongoing nature of projects makes it impossible to effectively analyse investments year by year, as the variance is too significant. Map 4.6 above shows the total financial flow from 2007–2010 in real terms (in PLN 2007) per capita by county. What is evident in this case is the low level of allocation of EU resources in the Greater Poland voivodeship. There are also several voivodeships in which, due to large intraterritorial differences, the share of European funds is higher. These are primarily Mazovian, Lesser Poland and West Pomeranian voivodeships. The regions which undoubtedly benefit from European funds are also visible. These are mainly Lubusz and Eastern Poland. The largest expenditure per capita was recorded in the following counties: Żory, Poddębice County, Tychy, Sopot, Janów County, Rybnik, Konin, Suwałki, Bytom, Białystok, Wieruszów County, Elbląg, Zabrze, Opoczno County, Słubice County, Pszczyna County, Gołdap County, Jelenia Góra and
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