OSCE Mission in Kosovo

Promoting the participation of women and young people in Kosovo’s public life is a central element of the Mission’s democratization activities. It promoted a gender quote of 30 per cent in Kosovo’s electoral system; the recruitment of women police officers; a stronger participation of women and youth at the elections; and the establishment of anti-trafficking and domestic violence help lines. It now focuses on helping bring women and young people into the decision-making processes by setting up a variety of forums for them, such as women and youth caucuses and “action councils.”

Assembly caucuses

The Women Caucus of the Assembly of Kosovo is a cross-party multi-ethnic forum that brings together some 40 women parliamentarians who represent all communities that participate in the work of the Assembly. The Caucus promotes the interests of women by getting involved in the legislative process and the implementation of laws, such as the Law on Gender Equality or the Law on Health.

The Mission helped establish the Women Caucus in 2005. Since then, its efforts have shifted to improving the Caucus’s communication and co-ordination with government institutions, such as the Agency for Gender Equality, to make sure that draft legislation is reviewed for gender equality at an early stage. It also supports the Caucus’s efforts to work with civil society and women organizations and to obtain a more formalised, stronger position in the Assembly.

The Youth Caucus functions in a similar way. A cross-party multi-ethnic forum within the Assembly of Kosovo, it consists of 25 deputies who are 34 or younger and represent all of Kosovo’s communities in the Assembly. The Mission supports the Youth Caucus in its work through advice and coaching on the legislative drafting process and on how to oversee the implementation of the adopted laws. A key law in this respect is the Law on Youth Empowerment and Participation.

Municipal women caucuses

The Mission helped establish women caucuses in 34 municipalities. These advocate for the interests of women and their participation in local decision-making. As a result of their efforts, several municipalities have adopted regulations to increase the participation of women – including on leadership level – in the work of municipal administrations. With help from the Mission, these caucuses also advocate for better inheritance and property rights; projects to reduce early marriages and school drop-out; improve reproductive health measures; and help women start up businesses.

Gender-responsive budgeting

Based on collected data and analyses of budgetary decisions, the Mission works with select municipalities to make budgeting more gender-responsive, which means that gender concerns are more taken into account in such sectors as health, education or culture. A next step will be the development of action plans for the next municipal budgets. The Mission also helped publish a gender responsive budgeting manual, with was developed under Swiss-Kosovo co-operation project.

Youth action councils

Since 2011, the Mission has assisted youth non-governmental organizations develop a common platform and action programme. As a result, a central and more than 30 youth action councils were formed whose goal it is to increase the participation of young people in political decision-making process. The Central Youth Action Council serves as the central co-ordination body and works with some key central institutions, including the Assembly of Kosovo and the government. The Mission helps all youth councils with their advocacy and outreach work. The Central and most of the local councils have developed their own action plans, and several of them have managed to secure municipal funding for their initiatives.