LESSON
Lesson Learned: Civic Involvement for Transparency and Accountability in Kosovo
The initial project idea was for the grantee to replicate its earlier experience in monitoring the national legislature in Kosovo at the level of the municipal assembly. However, following a request to the grantee from UNDEF to make adjustments to the project plan, its focus switched from managing a team of locally-recruited consultants to preparing selected CSOs to monitor the work of municipal assemblies and of the work of municipal government, more generally.
Project Partner
Kosova Democratic Institute
Project Description
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.
Report
Evaluation Date
August 2015
Theme
Country