Empowering Civil Society Inclusion on Democratic Policy-Making in Kosovo

The grantee could have been more rigorous in its development of a monitoring and evaluation plan so as to track the status of public consultations, the progress made towards implementing the new rules of procedure, and to assure that corrective measures are taken to address any problems encountered.

The project was implemented at the right time when the government of Kosovo was in the process of updating and consolidating its national framework for democratic governance. The grantee seized this opportunity and the partnership it developed with the key officials who were driving this process and with the group of CSOs in the Advisory Group gave the reform effort structure and momentum through its regular meetings, topical workshops, training and information sharing.

As the project worked to change the structure of consultations rather than working on a specific law or case, it should have a wide impact. The institutionalization of government reforms made consultations less dependent on the individual good will of a public official. Further consolidation of these reforms was expected with the anticipated adoption of the Governmental Strategy for Cooperation with Civil Society. Much of that strategy is reportedly based on the contents of the manual that the project helped develop.

The approach of addressing demand and supply for CSO input was efficient as well as effective as it built government support for and use of CSO input at the same time as working to ensure that the CSOs would be able to respond constructively to those openings. The choice of governmental partners was also effective, as these offices were directly responsible for setting the standards for consultations and ensuring compliance with them in all government and municipal drafting in Kosovo.

The project continued many of the elements of an earlier UNDEF-funded project implemented by another CSO consortium. It took over its Advisory Group of about 20 CSOs that met to discuss legislative issues targeting the Assembly of Kosovo, and expanded that group to include a wider range of CSOs and issues related to government consultations and policy making.

The project led to successful collaborations between civil society organizations and the legal offices of the Office of the Prime Minister and Ministry of Local Government Administration. This improved the flow of information and quality of public consultations. There was an impressive range of participation from civil society and government, and they worked on a wide range of issues and regulations and legislation.