Kosovo towards a new National Action Plan for OGP

Author: Shqipe Gjocaj

Kosovo’s National Coordinating Committee for Open Government Partnership (OGP), consisting of governmental and non-governmental representatives, including the CSOs, media, private sector, and interested citizens, have gathered in a co-creation process to discuss the drafting of Kosovo’s new National Action Plan for OGP, providing insights and recommendations. Building trust in institutions and involving citizens at a higher rate have been highlighted as crucial.

In the last five years, Kosovo has made significant improvement towards digitalization of services and data openness. It has provided a considerate number of e-platforms and digital solutions, it cherishes a solid legal basis on the freedom of information and access to public documents, it ranks among the 50 countries with the highest rate of internet penetration and digital capabilities, as well as with a high rate of possession of smart phones. Furthermore, Kosovo is one of the few countries that fully discloses the property, assets, income and debts of about 5000 public officials of the country was considered as an achievement.

Nonetheless, key stakeholders involved in the co-creation process of the new National Action Plan 2022–2024 of the Open Government Partnership, both governmental and non-governmental, are well aware of the gaps and the further needs to make progress on a domestic level. Its commitment to fight corruption and build a culture that demands transparency, accountability, and effective services and solutions, will be even more reaffirmed when Kosovo acquires membership in the Open Government Partnership (OGP).

Kosovo is currently in the process of drafting the new National Action Plan 2022–2024 of the Open Government Partnership. By focusing on four priorities: anti-corruption, digital governance, open data, and citizens’ participation in decision-making, central and local government officials, civil society organisations, local councils, media representatives, and interested citizens have come together in a co-creation process to provide their inputs regarding the content and methodology of the National Action Plan for OGP.

Public consultations, meetings and workshops led by Kosovo’s National Coordinating Committee for OGP resulted not only in vibrant discussion among participants. It also ensued with recommendations that help address key issues in the four priority areas of the new National Action Plan for OGP. The activities in question have, among others, proven the need to strengthen the capacities of the staff in public institutions, improve the existing digital solutions and the access to publication of data, intensify the fight against corruption, and increase citizens’ participation in decision-making.

A crucial highlight of the Committee’s work during these two past months has to do with the attitudes towards the attempts to combat corruption. Critical voices within the Committee regard the achievements in anti-corruption so far as insufficient. It is one of the fields that requires systemic and strategic efforts on an institutional as well as on a cultural level. OGP members fight corruption by undertaking reforms in transparency, public oversight, and public accountability. Hence, OGP Kosovo membership presents an important opportunity to step up the efforts in combating this phenomenon.

Another worthy aspect of the public consultations that took place in various regions of the country was the focus on local governance and having local government officials as well as local councils (informal decision-making bodies) elaborate on key issues that affect people in remote areas. For example, while the digitalization of obtaining certificates through kiosks has been highly appreciated as a digital solution, various representatives from the local level emphasised the need for these electronic kiosks to be extended to some more remote areas.

Participants also recommended the institutions to develop a common data generation system for social cases at the municipal level as some institutions have lists that do not match with each other, and develop an online system with data on children with disabilities and the services they need to receive. It was claimed that such online systems would significantly help with financial planning and purchasing of services or support for organisations that work and provide licensed services to them.

Citizen participation as one of the core values and one of the top priorities of the new Action Plan for OGP was highlighted in the co-creation process. Therefore, it was recommended that information on public debates and citizens’ participation in decision-making should be more active through various channels, starting from local media, the website of the municipality and social networks, to live broadcast on social networks so that citizens can be informed about what is being discussed and raise various issues.

Women’s participation is crucial and needs to be taken into account by any representative regardless of the sector one belongs to. The small participation of women in decision-making — be it in public budget hearings and other meetings that the municipality holds with citizens, is a sign of lack of consideration for inclusivity and women’s status as active citizens. Without women, calls on democratic values, equality, and citizen participation, does not make full sense. The principle of inclusion applies to the non-majority groups and communities. The Committee highlighted the challenges that many women and men from marginalised ethnic minorities in Kosovo (Roma, Egyptian, and Ashkali) face.

By aiming for active citizens’ participation and inclusivity, plural voices of the citizens will be heard. Even more importantly, by listening to the citizens and involving them in public hearings and consultations, institutions and organisations will be able to come up with data systems and solutions to respond to the needs of various social groups.

Along with the rest of criteria for membership which Kosovo fulfils, the Action Plan for OGP will be a strong tool in materialising the principles and objectives on both national as well as local level. Following the Estonian model in its digital transformation, which is built upon nourishing mutual trust between the government and the citizens, Kosovo has an important and demanding job in further developing and maintaining strong networks with key stakeholders from various sectors where different perspectives are taken into account. Close cooperation and trust as main principles will have people believe that digitalization will bring about systemic changes which will benefit everyone.

* 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑂𝑝𝑒𝑛 𝐷𝑎𝑡𝑎 𝐾𝑜𝑠𝑜𝑣𝑜 𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 “𝐼𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑂𝑝𝑒𝑛 & 𝐺𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝐺𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒” 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝐴𝑇𝑅𝐴 2020 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚 𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑚𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝐾𝑜𝑠𝑜𝑣𝑜. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑂𝑝𝑒𝑛 𝐷𝑎𝑡𝑎 𝐾𝑜𝑠𝑜𝑣𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑚𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠.