OSCE helps evaluate local governance reform in Kosovo

A workshop to evaluate local governance reform in Kosovo, organized by the OSCE Mission, concluded on 18 June 2011 in Mavrovo in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

The event was attended by 19 mayors, five relevant ministries including local government administration, labour and social welfare, finance, economic development and forestry and rural development, as well as representatives of the Association of Kosovo Municipalities.

Participants discussed the progress achieved over the last year in the transfer of competencies and their exercise by municipalities.

“We agreed that the territorial reorganization, as illustrated by the former pilot municipal units, can be considered a success,” said Besnik Osmani, the General Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government Administration. “Further efforts are nonetheless needed when it comes to the provision of welfare services and the management of forestry resources by municipalities that now have full ownership of these competencies.”

Participants, including representatives of the OSCE Mission, noted that human resources and capacity constraints, as well as the harmonization and the implementation of legislation, are among the remaining challenges for municipalities in fully exercising the transferred competencies.

“A continued dialogue between the central and local levels to resolve these issues remains a key component of the ongoing local governance reform in Kosovo,” said Wilma Theuws, the Director of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo’s Democratization Department. “The OSCE will continue to support the reform of local governance in line with the European Charter of Local Self-Government and in the best interests of Kosovo’s residents.”