Towards Open Government Kosovo
Author: Shqipe Gjocaj
What if ordinary citizens, professionals, researchers, activists, students, had easy access to qualitative government data? What does it mean to partake in a data revolution society?
When one thinks of open government, several concepts come to mind. Accessible information, statistics, transparency, accountability, citizens’ participation, and so on. Concepts quite familiar to Kosovo society as adopted in the anti-corruption discourse and uttered in various public spaces, from conferences to protests.
While there is no one-fixed term of ‘open government’, as different nations have adopted different definitions depending on their priority areas and political and cultural contexts, it is worth emphasizing that open government is both an ideal to inspire and strive for, as well as an actual strategy that seeks to provide its citizens with the opportunities and tools to participate actively with the government in ways that fits their needs and their lifestyles in various policy areas, be it in justice, education, health, or other. Thus, open government provides an unprecedented opportunity to bridge the gap between the government and its groups of citizens.
Open Government Partnership (OGP), a multilateral initiative established in 2011, stands strongly by the idea that data should be freely available for everyone to access, use, and re-publish as they wish. This not only ensures that citizens are properly informed what the government is doing, but also avoids data monopolies. Moreover, OGP considers cross-cutting themes such as gender, diversity, inclusion, language and accessibility of major significance in open government. Thus, a human rights approach is integral in the work of OGP.
Moreover, in terms of making open government a tangible reality where transparency, accountability and participation truly materialize, OGP’s central focus lies on the quality of communication and cooperation between civil society organizations and public institutions. Not only is it essential that civil society monitors and criticizes the implementation of national action plans, but that a partnership is built and expertise is exchanged.
Kosovo had initiated its efforts in joining OGP as a member state back in 2013. In its First National Action Plan 2014–2016 for Open Government Partnership, the Government of Kosovo was determined to address the four following challenges related to open government: 1) Improving public services, 2) Increasing public integrity, 3) More effective management of public resources, and 4) Increasing accountability of corporations.
However, it is notable that there was little reflection on OGP’s cross-cutting themes on Kosovo’s first NAP. For example, within the second challenge, that of increasing public integrity, Kosovo’s government is committed towards improving gender equality and increasing women’s participation in public administration. However, not only is gender a cross cutting perspective that should be reflected in all priority thematic areas, but according to OGP’s gender strategy, countries are expected to ensure that women’s groups fully participate in OGP co-creation process of every country, that there is commitment to tackling gender based violence, and ensure that women’s voices and participation in shaping policies are enhanced.
Kosovo’s new initiative in joining OGP currently being developed and the new National Action Plan is being designed, should therefore not only reflect on its previous points but take further into consideration the core principles of open government.
Kosovo has a solid legal basis in terms of freedom of information, otherwise known as ‘sunshine laws’ which in the western world were passed with the intent of fostering a transparent, accessible, and accountable culture.
Kosovo’s sunshine laws include the following: Law on Access to Official Documents, Law on Protection of Informants, Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Discharge of a Public Function, Law on Financing Political Parties, and the Law on Declaration and Origin of the Property and Gifts of Senior Public Officials, The Law on Information Society Government Bodies (which also established the Agency for Information Society). The legal framework also includes the Strategy on Electronic Governance 2009–2015 and its Action Plan, and as well as the Interoperability Framework.
However, even though radical transparency is aimed for in open governments, privacy and confidentiality must be considered alongside access to information. Thus, robust data protection mechanisms and procedures are just as essential to open government. Kosovo is legally well equipped in terms of this aspect as well. The Law on Protection of Personal Data and the National Agency for Protection of Personal Data.
However, one of Kosovo’s major state-level problems is lack of law enforcement. Kosovo’s ‘sunshine laws’ are no exception. In 2006, the Government of Kosovo approved the Open Data Charter which foresaw among others, the opening of a National Portal for Open Data aiming at presenting detailed data on numerous fields. However, the portal in question does not have sufficient data from the institutions, some have only reported data from previous years, and many institutions have not reported any data at all. The webpage is thus barely functional or useful.
Similar lack of data quality and accuracy is noticed in the data by Kosovo Agency of Statistics. They are usually published in PDF, commonly presented as scanned documents and rarely in excel of other machine-readable formats that enable easy usage and interpretation of data.
This sums up the most relevant note in regards to the current developments in open government, that Kosovo has generally a lack of data problem, as well as lack of sufficient disaggregated data in terms of inclusion and diversity such as gender or ethnicity. On this point, it is crucial to note that unless data is easily accessible and analysable, they cannot be considered open data as it is not enough to merely publish them but to help develop and maintain the overall governmental ecosystem.
While new, fast technologies are leading to a rapid increase in the data availability providing endless opportunities not only in informing but transforming societies as well, it is essential that Kosovo’s relevant institutions and stakeholders from civil society speed the process for Kosovo’s membership to OGP. Moreover, not only is it critical for institutions to enforce the legal basis for open data which is generally based on the EU framework, but also to properly and continuously increase their capacities on how to work with data in order for everyone to be able to cultivate ‘data literacy’ in a democracy.
*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.
