Pristina, 29 November 2018 – Open Data Kosovo has presented the analysis “Open Governance of Executive Power in the Region and Kosovo” which analyzed institutional openness of the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministries and Agencies within the Prime Minister’s Office. The Analysis i based on the Annual Regional Openness Index where part of the measurement are all public institutions.

The measurement for the Executive Power ranked Montenegro in the first place scoring 50% of the indicators, Serbia was ranked third scoring 47% of the indicators, where Kosovo scored 33% of the indicators, thus, being ranked third in the Western Balkans.

Opening speech was held from the representative of the EU Office in Kosovo, Z. Libor Chlad, Minister of the Ministry of Ministry of Public Administration, Z. Mahir Yagcilar, and the Executive Director of Open Data Kosovo, Blerta Thaci, whereas the finding of the analysis were presented by Blerina Ramaj.

After the publication of the analysis, a panel discussion was held which was composed of: Besa Luci, Editor in-chief at Kosovo 2.0, Bardhyl Jashari, Executive Director at Metamorphosis Foundation, Nora Latifi-Jashari, Executive Director at GAP Institute. The panel was moderated by Fitim Mulolli from Westminster Foundation for Democracy.

*This roadmap is part of the project ‘Accountability, Technology and Institutional Openness Network in SEE’ – ActionSEE, which is implemented in the Western Balkans and is financed by the European Union.

Date: 29 November 2018

The participants of our Countering Through Technology training have been certified after having spent three weeks equipping them with crucial skills for their bright futures in the ICT field.

These youngsters from the municipality of Gjilan showed great enthusiasm and learning capacities during the time we spent training and mentoring them. Now they are more than prepared to enrich the workforce.

A huge thank you goes to Njësia për Rini – Gjilan for their contribution to these activities and readiness to make a change for our shared community.

Countering Through Technology is a project funded by the OSCE Mission in Kosovo and implemented by Open Data Kosovo.

Date: 30 November 2018

The bilateral meeting between public officials of the Republic of Kosovo, the Republic of Albania, Municipalities, Government, Judiciary and the Parliament, were present to discuss the ‘Roadmap for Good Governance for Kosovo’s and Albania’s Institutions’, in partnership with NGO Lëvizja MJAFT from Albania.

In the roadmap published by ActionSEE different components have been analyzed which show the openness of all public institutions in the region together with the representatives of the Kosovo and Albania institutions who are discussing the recommendations from this roadmap.

Some of the findings from this report are as follows: -Kosovo ranks 3rd in the openness of the legislative power with a result of 31% of the indicatos -Kosovo’s Parliament has scored 49% of the indicators -Kosovo’s Courts rank 3rd in the region having scored 43% of the indicators

In regards to regional comparison in regards to local self-government, Kosovo ranks the last having scored 23% of the indicators.

*This roadmap is part of the project ‘Accountability, Technology and Institutional Openness Network in SEE’ – ActionSEE, which is implemented in the Western Balkans and is financed by the European Union.

Date: 5 December 2018

The #HourOfCode2018 was held together with kids from Akademia jCoders by writing lines of code and having the most joyful of Wednesdays in our offices!

We joined this worldwide learning effort all the while trying to teach those kids simple lines of code and inspire in them the love of coding but during the process, it was us who got inspired by the experience!

These kids not only are bilingual (yes, we’re counting programming languages), they managed to lighten up our spaces with some very smart questions and overall joy.

Date: 5 December 2018

In order to establish Government, which is Open and Transparent, we need accessible Data. Thus, GOT Data is back by popular demand. GOT Data is an annual international conference, which gathers public officials and other International open data and transparency stakeholders to discuss the importance and impact that open data has.

This year’s event unfolds on 5-6 December 2019 in Pristina, Kosovo, and will present insightful talks on Open Contracting, Artificial Intelligence and Policy-Making, Data Journalism, as well as models of collaboration between implementing partners. With civil society’s evaluation of current circumstances with a never-ending search for improvement, we direct our attention towards the rapid development of new technologies, and how these can be incorporated into methods which seek to optimize existing processes.

This MeetUp was organized with the aim to introduce the #Tech4Policy selected teams from year one to those of year two – 18 young girls all of who signed their very first contracts with Open Data Kosovo and started their bright future in the tech world.

It is activities like this that help us reflect on the direct results of our hard work and dedication.

Tech4Policy is a project funded by European Union Kosovo and implemented by Open Data Kosovo and Girls Coding Kosova, which aims to promote democratic engagement and support evidence-based policy-making through the establishment of youth-designed digital solutions.

Date: 31 December 2018

Global Game Jam is the world’s largest game jam event, in which people from all over the world bring their creative minds together to produce a game. It heavily believes on the idea that people have to get together, be creative, and share their experiences using video games.

It is an effective tool towards globalization. Today, we proudly inform you that for the first time Global Game Jam has come to Kosovo. 30 participants have gathered in Open Data Kosovo office and are designing a game within a set theme.
Global Game Jam ends on Sunday at 17:00. Tech enthusiastic Kosovar youngsters have already started their journey on designing a game.

This event was initiated by Girls Coding Kosova and implemented by Open Data Kosovo. A special thanks goes to our sponsors, Meridian Express, GAGI PRINT, and XPortalEsports.

Date: 25-27 January 2019

As part of the Tech4Policy Project (www.tech4policy.com), which aims to empower young women in designing a digital solution which encounters governing issues and democratization in Kosovo municipalities, the event “Data on Education in Kosovo” was successfully completed.

This project aims at increasing young women employability in the ICT sector, and at the same time through technology and active civil society, the community is trying to further develop good governance in Kosovo municipalities.

As a final phase of the project, 9 young women part of the incubation phase, together with ODK executive director, Blerta Thaci, presented more on the digital solution in the making. An inclusive audience was present, through which we received many different ideas as a result of several profiles.

Open Data Kosovo would like to express its gratitude to all you who were present in our event and would like to thank Venture UP for providing the venue which made everything easier for us.

Date: 31 January 2019

The Open Contracts Platform has been launched for the Municipality of Lipjan. This platform enables all citizens free access to data in regard to the contracts signed by the Municipality of Lipjan with economic operators. These data involve the entire process, from the contract introduction to the procurement procedures and the publishing of the signed contract.
These data involve the entire process, from the contract introduction to the procurement procedures and the publishing of the signed contract.

These data involve the entire process, from the contract introduction to the procurement procedures and the publishing of the signed contract.

The Municipality of Lipjan is the second beneficiary of the Open Contracts Platform, after the development of such a platform for the Municipality of Prishtina. These data involve the entire process, from the contract introduction to the procurement procedures and the publishing of the signed contract.

Open Data Kosovo will continue to further develop this platform for other Kosovo Municipalities as a result of the cooperation with the Agency for Information and Society which has institutionalized this platform by making it a part of the government domain and by increasing the data openness level based on international standards.

Open Data Kosovo would like to express our deepest gratitude to the Mayor of Lipjan Municipality, Mr. Imri Ahmeti, and the municipal officials for the cooperation which enabled an effective platform development.

Date: 6 February 2019

This workshop was held in Viti, one of the beneficiaries of the Tech4Policy project, where the digital platform EduPerformanca has been implemented.

This platform aims to provide an outlet to students to evaluate the education that they are receiving.The aim of the workshop was to demonstrate to students how they can use the platform. Link – http://viti.eduperformanca.org/

Tech4Policy is a project funded by European Union Kosovo and implemented by Open Data Kosovo and Girls Coding Kosova, which aims to promote democratic engagement and support evidence-based policy-making through the establishment of youth-designed digital solutions.

Date: 19 March 2019