Effective communication requires strategy and interaction

The Ministry of Local Government Administration, supported by the OSCE in Kosovo, held a round table on the topic “Online Platforms on Local Governance – Sharing Experience and Information with Civil Society”, at which the KLGI Institute was represented by Mr Besnik Muçaj, Programme Manager.

The event served as an opportunity to showcase and discuss online platforms for local governance. On this occasion, Muçaj stressed that the municipal administration must become the main source of information and communication with the media and citizens, while municipalities should be at the centre of communication processes within the local community and thus become an important communication actor in a new environment.

Despite findings that progress has been made at the level of local government and the consolidation of municipalities, institutional accountability and transparency remain challenging issues. These two elements (transparency and accountability) are known to be essential for good governance. The path to efficient public information must be the foundation of good governance, while effective communication with citizens and their participation in developing and implementing municipal policies is crucial.

Despite efforts to advance a unified system of online platforms (websites; official social media), many obstacles and uncertainties remain in functional, technical and operational terms. Beyond this, communication must change from closed to two-way, and for this to happen a strategic approach and a common agenda among local actors are needed.

Currently, websites are very limited in presenting the values of communities and of the towns themselves. To this end, the KLGI Institute has made a contribution, in cooperation with the infokomuna platform, to presenting developments in and around towns.