Mission helps improve participatory governance in Kosovo
Getting the public involved in local decision-making is a key challenge faced by municipal officials in Kosovo. When they met in 2007, they also identified human resources, and financial and project management as troublesome areas. To help them tackle their concerns, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo - which helped organize the meetings last year - has set in motion a series of workshops and published guidebooks with clear information on legislation and best practices.
Identifying problems
In the summer of 2007, the OSCE Mission, together with the Association of Kosovo Municipalities and Kosovo's Ministry of Local Government Administration, organized a series of meetings with municipal officials to identify their needs and the problems they face in their day-to-day work.
"In almost all of our meetings, three issues came up: public participation in decision-making, human resource management, and financial and project management," says Edis Arifagic, who works with the Mission's Local Governance Unit.
The meetings were held with municipal officials from operational and strategic levels, all of whom are taking part in the workshops to acquire the tools and knowledge that will help them in their work.
A comprehensive approach
Jahir Zuka is a Legal Officer working for Ferizaj/Urosevac, a municipality of some 170,000 inhabitants 30 kilometres southeast of Prishtine/Pristina. After taking part in one of the first five regional workshops on participatory governance in March, he says it will now be easier for him and his colleagues to include the public in decision-making.
Officials from 27 municipalities and three pilot municipal units participated in the workshops. Training sessions on human resources and on financial and project management will follow soon.
"It is very important that participants come from all managerial levels," says Ulpiana Lama, a local governance expert and one of the trainers. "It is also what makes these workshops so useful."
"Attending the training together will enable them to improve co-operation in the future. Their positions are complementary and they now have a better understanding of each others' responsibilities," she adds.
Tools and recommendations
Before the training sessions were put together, the Mission developed a guide for each of the three problem areas. The Municipal Guide on Participatory Governance is divided into three chapters - information-sharing, public inclusion and decision-making - each one offering recommendations and tools on how to achieve specific goals.
"The guide recommends as good practice providing free access to official documents and information on municipal activities and plans," says Arifagic. "Holding public meetings, hearings and surveys are inclusive methods that enable a municipality to share information and collect feedback from the public," he adds.
Zuka finds it useful that the guide cites current legislation. "Now everybody can easily discover the legal basis for public inclusion. I especially like the explanation on the procedures relating to freedom of access to information and to official documents."
Looking to the future
Following the first series of training sessions, each municipality is expected to improve the work of its public information offices and municipal archives, hold public consultations and take decisions with the public's help.
"Municipalities must continuously provide information about their work to the public," says Sazan Ibrahimi, Executive Director of the Association of Kosovo Municipalities. "Transparency is more than simply inviting citizens to a public hearing and fulfilling legal obligations."
He says that local authorities must consult the public before setting any priorities. And the new guide will help them include the public's voice in decision-making - from start to finish.