In a historical overview, the preparation process of the Sustainable Development Strategy in the Czech Republic is illustrated as continuous learning by all stakeholders, on the one hand, facing institutional and personal limits of public administration’s capacity for strategic governance, on the other hand. The main positive output of preparing the SDS in the Czech Republic has been the strengthening of the institutional and individual capacities for strategic governance among all involved stakeholders (including ministries). These capacities are then applied in agendas such as the cohesion policy and preparation of the National Strategic Framework 2014–2020.