Strategic alignment from a macro perspective: A comparison of the 2020-2024 strategic plans of Metropolitan Municipalities and the Eleventh Development Plan

The aim of this study is to examine the alignment between the Eleventh Development Plan and the 2020-2024 Strategic Plans of Metropolitan Municipalities. Comparison was made on indicators in the field of youth and sports. The method used in the study is qualitative and case study was preferred as the design. Document analysis was used as a data collection method and deductive content analysis was used as data analysis. The Eleventh Development Plan, the Annual Programs of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey for the following years and the 2020-2024 Strategic Plans of Metropolitan Municipalities were taken as sources. These documents were accessed through the official websites of the relevant institutions. Firstly, the themes related to the measures in the Eleventh Development Plan and the Annual Programs of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey for the following years and the measures with which local governments are in cooperation were established. Then, projects, activities and performance indicators related to youth and sports within the framework of the 2020-2024 strategic plans of Metropolitan Municipalities were coded with themes appropriate to the relevant policy area. In line with the identified themes, the projects, activities and performances of the Metropolitan Municipalities and the number of realizations of the themes, i.e. their diversity, were transformed into quantitative data. To determine the most compatible Metropolitan Municipality, an index value was calculated using the exponential function with the data obtained. In line with the findings, the most compatible Metropolitan Municipality with the Eleventh Development Plan is Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality's 2020-2024 Strategic Plan, while the least compatible is Aydın Metropolitan Municipality's 2020-2024 Strategic Plan. In addition, the most realized theme in the field of youth is '619.3. Supporting the Development and Skills of Young People', while the least realised theme is '621.2. Informing on Virtual Platform Risks'. The themes that were not realised at all were '620.2. Activating the National Youth Council of Turkey', '620.5. Improving the Institutional Capacity of Relevant NGOs', '621.1. Increasing Awareness on Health, Social Media and Legal Literacy', '623.10. Supporting Career Planning of Young People' and '623.7. Providing Vocational Guidance by Relevant Institutions'. In the field of sports, the most realized theme was '646.1. Increasing Public Interest in Sports', while the least realised theme was '648.2. Ensuring Common Use of Public Sports Facilities'. In conclusion, given the guiding document nature of the Eleventh Development Plan and the Annual Programs of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey for the following years, it was expected that they would be compatible with all themes, but this was not the case. In the preparation of future strategic plans, it is recommended that the Development Plans and the Annual Programs of the Presidency be examined more rigorously and that the relevant employees of the Presidency of Strategy and Budget and the Metropolitan Municipalities work in coordination to develop strategic plans.