Project

Civic Involvement for Transparency and Accountability in Kosovo

Grantee: Kosova Democratic Institute

Within the broader context of advancing good governance at local level, the project objective was to enhance the involvement of civil society in local governance through: local assembly monitoring; policy analysis and policy dialogues with public officials; and advocacy campaigns.
The grantee sought to promote two-way communications between local officials and citizens in 14 selected municipalities and to support the strengthening of the capacities of locally-based CSOs to monitor the performance of municipal assemblies and municipal government in order to improve accountability. The emphasis of the project on transparency and accountability in municipal government while also reinforcing the position and capacities of civil society at local level was entirely appropriate. The project took place in a difficult context. Yet, despite having to deal with public passivity and indifference about politics, along with a political establishment under little direct pressure to change, it did succeed in highlighting the importance of democratic processes and in engaging citizens in the public sphere. It also made some progress in pressing local government institutions to think differently about their responsibilities.