Inter-institutional cooperation, the best path towards empowering the local level

The KLGI Institute held a workshop on the topic ‘Relations between Central Government and Local Government’, which addressed cooperation, communication and joint commitments between the central and local levels.

Participants in the event were officials from Kosovo's municipalities, who had the opportunity to benefit from lectures and joint debates with the Secretary General of the Ministry of Local Government Administration, Rozafa Ukimeraj, and the Acting Executive Director of the KLGI Institute, Besnik Muçaj.

The workshop sessions presented the progress, challenges and prospects regarding cooperation and communication between the two levels of government. On the one hand, the challenges relate to communication that is still fragmented, the lack of strategic planning by municipalities, the lack of policy and legislative cohesion, the lack of standards and criteria for the allocation of funds by line ministries and the lack of checks and balances mechanisms in Municipal Assemblies. On the other hand, progress is seen in the legality of municipal acts, the recent free and democratic elections and the obligations fulfilled under the European agenda.

The Secretary General of the Ministry of Local Government Administration, Rozafa Ukimeraj, stressed that substantial reform of local government must start with the new municipal structures. The progress achieved in improving relations between the central and local levels is the result of a progressive legal basis, the constitutional principles that have been established, and the incorporation of the European Charter into the constitutional principles and into local government legislation. Secretary Ukimeraj also spoke about good practices that have been tested in Kosovo's municipalities and are serving as a model for countries in the region, as well as about the MLGA's commitment to advancing coordination and supporting municipalities in the fields of strategic planning and sustainable development.

The Acting Executive Director of the KLGI Institute, Besnik Muçaj, highlighted the legal, procedural and functional ambiguities between the levels of government, which are emerging as an obstacle for municipalities in the functional implementation of competences and services. As a result, municipalities are failing to draw up sustainable development policies and plans.

Only when these challenges are addressed through cooperation and coordination between the two levels of government will we have secured sustainable foundations for development and for achieving integration goals.

This grant has been funded by the Democratic Society Promotion (DSP) project – funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (DANIDA) and managed by the Kosovar Civil Society Foundation (KCSF).