Standing Committees, a guarantee of more transparent and efficient municipal bodies

The Kosovo Local Government Institute (KLGI), together with the Ministry of Local Government Administration (MLGA), organised a workshop to discuss the “Draft Administrative Instruction on the Procedure for the Establishment, Composition and Competences of Standing Committees in Municipalities.

The workshop aimed to familiarise participants with the legal framework for the organisation and functioning of Committees in municipalities and to identify the challenges in organising and running the Mandatory Committees. Participants in the workshop were the Chairpersons of Municipal Assemblies and representatives of the Ministry of Local Government Administration and civil society.

This instruction regulates the procedure for the establishment, organisation and competences of consultative committees in the municipality. The Municipal Assembly needs auxiliary bodies in order to examine in detail the municipality's policies, strategic documents, decisions and regulations, on the one hand, and to oversee the activities of the executive branch, on the other.

These committees are auxiliary bodies of the Municipal Assembly, through which it is guaranteed that municipal bodies are more transparent, more efficient and accountable to citizens. Therefore, the meeting aimed to recall the legal obligations regarding the procedure for the establishment, composition and competences of Standing Committees in municipalities, and to present best practices and the challenges that have been or are being faced in organising and running these committees.

The aim of the consultation on this Draft Administrative Instruction was to obtain the opinions, comments and recommendations of specific interest groups regarding the provisions of this Draft Instruction. Indeed, the importance of public consultation with relevant stakeholders will have a direct impact on the quality of the content of this Draft Administrative Instruction.

The KLGI Institute works, through educational programmes, to build the capacities of the country's municipalities.

This activity was carried out within the project ‘Support for Stronger and More Sustainable Municipalities (SSSM)’, funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Kosovo