Strong Women on the Rise in the Kosovo Police

A good police service needs to fully reflect the diversity of society and therefore more senior police positions should be held by women, believes Captain Blerina Matoshi of the Kosovo Police.

Matoshi is Chief of the Professional Standards Unit in the Regional Directorate of Gjakovë/Đakovica in western Kosovo. She was promoted to the rank of captain after attending a training programme for women police officers organized by the OSCE Mission in Kosovo that included a practical training module in the United Kingdom.

Strengthening the position of policewomen has been on the agenda of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo since it established the Kosovo Police Service School, now the Kosovo Academy for Public Safety, back in 1999. Since 2004, the OSCE has supported the Association of Women in the Kosovo Police (AWKP) in its efforts to ensure that women are not only part of the police but are adequately empowered to build a gender and ethnically balanced police service.

The number of women represented in senior positions in the Kosovo Police – currently 166 women in uniform, which is around 10 per cent - is much lower than desired. Together with the police, we want to change that.

Ake Roghe Director of the OSCE Mission Security and Public Safety Department

“By helping Kosovo policewomen to improve their managerial and operational skills, we make their journey to senior ranks and positions easier. We have organized numerous activities with the AWKP, including ten training courses, to enhance the capacities of women in the Kosovo Police and to ensure that its internal structure fully reflects the diversity of society in Kosovo. We also support the creation of affirmative policies to increase the number of women and to prevent or eliminate any discriminatory act,” he adds.

Exchange with South Wales Police

Most recently, the OSCE Mission organized a practical training course in Cardiff, United Kingdom, from 29 April to 2 May 2018, giving 13 senior policewomen from Kosovo the opportunity to learn from practices of their counterparts in the South Wales Police. Part of a training package developed with the Kosovo Police and the AWKP, the course in Cardiff was preceded by two five-day modules held in Kosovo, the first on strengthening leadership skills and the second focusing on operational commanders’ duties.

A lot of different topics were elaborated, from leadership models, communication and gender equality to emotional intelligence and managing stress – all of them aiming to increase our capabilities as women leaders in our organization.

Laura Krekaj Coordinator of Community and Prevention Projects in the Kosovo Police Regional Directorate of Gjakovë/Đakovica

The Welsh police colleagues provided useful takeaways, stressed Mergime Dobra, Chief of the Communications Centre within the Regional Operation Office, also in the Gjakovë/Đakovica Directorate: “Our hosts in South Wales gave us written concepts on the chronology of preparing good and inclusive operational plans, which we often use and which serve as a model in our daily work. The training has helped me in choosing a more suitable approach to solving dissatisfaction or human resources problems within the unit I head,” she comments.

The Kosovo policewomen were mentored by senior female officers in different police districts across Wales. This enabled them to forge relationships, ensuring that the sharing of knowledge, successes and challenges would also continue after the training. “I met my counterpart and saw how the Professional Standard Unit in Cardiff works. It gave me the strength to acknowledge that we do a great job as well,” says Matoshi.

Climbing the ranks

The training in Wales also gave Matoshi, who previously held the rank of lieutenant, the courage to apply for a promotion, and in September she became a Kosovo Police captain. The promotion allowed her to retain the position of Chief of Professional Standards, as with the latest restructuring in the police force the unit could no longer be headed by a lieutenant. “The experience abroad played a very important part in my promotion,” she says. Dobra and Krekaj also passed the test to be promoted from lieutenant to captain after the training, and are now on the waiting list for senior positions.

Deepening co-operation

The joint work of the OSCE and the Kosovo Police resulted in another big success during 2018. A protocol of co-operation between the Kosovo Police and South Wales Police on strengthening and empowering women’s role in the police was signed in December. It foresees increased co-operation and the exchange of best practices between the two police organizations.

The Mission will continue to support more policewomen through a similar training programme to be implemented in 2019.

“The OSCE, Kosovo Police and AWKP efforts combined, along with the determination and skills of policewomen in Kosovo, are bound to produce results in increasing the number of women in senior ranks and management positions, and their further empowerment,” says Roghe. “I am proud of the work done by our Mission members and partners. Together we are making a difference,” he concludes.