This workshop was held in Kamenica, 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://kamenica.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: 20 March 2019

The information session regarding Albanian ICT Awards Ceremony, aiming to inform the audience more on this event and on application procedures, took place in the Open Data Kosovo office today.
We are happy to have welcomed ICT Awards in our office for this awards ceremony. Achievements in the ICT sector will be awarded in this ceremony, if you feel your achievements could receive one of them, apply here.

Date: 21 March 2019

This workshop was held in Klina, 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 – evaluation data which will be received by the Municipalities. The aim of the workshop was to demonstrate to students how they can use the platform. Link: http://klina.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: 21 March 2019

Open Data Kosovo in cooperation with Girls Coding Kosova within the Tech4Policy project funded by the European Union Office in Kosovo has launched the “EduPerformance” platform for three (3) municipalities in Kosovo. This digital solution was developed by 9 young women of the Tech4Policy project in order to evaluate course performances in high schools in 3 municipalities – Viti, Kamenica, and Klina.

Through this piloting platform, pupils will have a digital tool through which they can freely express their thoughts on certain classes in the respective municipalities. Moreover, a lot of data will be released through which the general public can learn more about the respective schools development. Part of the networking event of this platform were also the Mayors of Kamenica and Viti. The Mayor of Kamenica Municipality, Mr. Qendron Kastrati emphasized that this a really good initiative which will enable them as a municipality to take into consideration pupils reviews on the performance of education, how accurate the professors are, professors assessment procedures, professors behaviors towards students and whether international education standards are applied. Additionally, the Mayor of Vitia Municipality, Mr. Sokol Haliti emphasized that he has engaged the Directorate of Education and School Directors to address the data and the reports raised by students. He then continued by stating that they are working closely with youth centers and student councils to fill in the platform and receive as much data as possible. During this project, 250 young girls from all municipalities of Kosovo have been engaged and have developed digital solutions that contribute to the active citizenry and engagement of the community. These young girls are trained in the field of ICT and in order to contribute to their potential future employment, ODK invited over 25 local private companies operating in the ICT field. Girls had the opportunity to meet with these companies representatives and talk about cooperation opportunities.

http://vitia.eduperformanca.org

http://kamenica.eduperformanca.org

http://klina.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. Thank you ICT Companies: Akademia jCoders, StarLabs, ABC TECH Group, Shkolla Digjitale, Appdec, Manaferra, Novus Consulting, Venture UP, TIME FRAME, Celonis, Frakton, Appbites, OpenResearch, Vizah GmbH, UCX Kosovo, ICT Awards, Gjirafa.com, Incodeks, Zombie Soup, Adrius, RiKont – Informatika Computers, PBC Academy, KUTIA.

Date: 27 March 2019

Deputy Mayor at the Municipality of Pristina, Mr. Muhedin Nushi accompanied by Open Data Kosovo Executive Director, Ms. Blerta Thaci, presented the “Open Contracts” Platform.

Such a Platform aims to assist on the increase of transparency in public procurement in order to enable an easier access for everyone, from citizens to different media organizations. A special thanks goes to Open Contracting for the technical assistance and encouragement towards the development of such a Platform. Open Data Kosovo thanks the Municipality of Pristina for their cooperation, it is always an honor to have the support of state institutions in order to better contribute to good governance. For more go to www.kontratat.rks-gov.net/prishtine

Date: 10 April 2019

The “GraphQL” Meetup was successfully finished, where many local software developers got introduced and learned more about GraphQL and Hasura GraphQL Engine (Hasura).

Thank you Marion Schleifer for sharing your knowledge with us, it was a pleasure for Open Data Kosovo to have you here!

For more: hasura.io

Date: 15 May 2019

Open data plays an important role for a better, more transparent and accountable governance. In order to discuss these issues, the Open Data Kosovo in cooperation with Democracy for Development Institute (D4D) organized the Tuesday Salon with the topic “Open Business Data: Is Public Procurement and Corruption connected?”.

During this discussion, the necessity of opening the business data, in context of transparency, in order to eliminate factors such as corruption and misuse, was emphasized. Meanwhile, special emphasis was placed on citizens’ engagement in informing about the spending of public money, which should be rationally.

Part of the panel in this salon were: Afrim Atashi, Director of the Department for Prevention of Corruption in Public Procurement, Anti-Corruption Agency; Nora Jusufi, Researcher, GAP Institute and Agim Sheqiri, Procurement Expert, Procurement Review Body.

This panel was held as part of the Improving Government Transparency and Business Practices thorugh Open Data which is financed by the U.S. Embassy in Pristina, Kosovo. Visit www.biznesetehapura.com for more.

Date: 21 May 2019

The final event of the ‘Digital Development Program’ as part of the “Building Strong and Resilient Communities in Mitrovica” Project was held on Friday in ODK premises.

32 students were present and received a certificate on behalf of the successful completion of the ‘Digital Development Program’ where they gain crucial web development skills.

Additionally, the student received a soft skills lecture which willwith the aim to help them in the process of job search. For example, they were trained on how to create a CV and motivational letter – two very important documents during job search.

Date: 17 June 2019

The opening remarks of the public debate were held by Blerta Thaçi – Executive Director, ODK, and Kujtim Gashi – General Director, Agency of Information Society/ Ministry of Public Administration. Firstly, Mr. Gashi emphasized that opening data, cooperation with civil society, increasing awareness about open data, are some of the steps AIS is taking. Whereas, Z. Lluka, Minister at the Ministry of Economic Development, emphasized the great importance of the publication of data produced by the government in formats that are easily-accessible increases institutional transparency, increases the trust on public institutions, and positively affects Kosovo’s economic development.

Then, Ms. Kusari from European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in Kosovo highlighted the importance of open data e.g. identifying the business owner, which helps EBRD and other investors to financially assist several businesses in order to avoid businesses with the same owner benefit from this assistance numerous times.

Whereas, Mr. Zeka from American Chamber of Commerce in Kosovo – Oda Ekonomike Amerikane në Kosovë emphasized the importance of publishing data from the Tax Administration of Kosovo on what products enter Kosovo’s market in order to contribute to the overall development of sustainable competition.

Recommendations from this panel discussion were to increase inter-institutional cooperation in order to provide a more efficient flow of data from one institution to the other. Moreover, investment in human capital is crucial for successful open data initiatives.

This public debate was held as part of the Improving Government Transparency and Business Practices thorugh Open Data which is financed by the U.S. Embassy in Pristina, Kosovo. Visit www.biznesetehapura.com for more.

Date: 20 June 2019

The first Group has finished the ICT training and got certified today amounting to 12 certified participants. This is the first round of Techstitution 3.0 trainings. Congratulations to all the Techstitution 3.0 participants for an amazing job done.

In sum, Techstitution 3.0 aims to equip Kosovo youth with the necessary ICT skills and capabilities for a prosperous future as a programmer. As such, the youth engaged in these trainings had the opportunity to contribute to the development od the Open Contracts platform to two new Municipality beneficiaries.

Date: 12 July 2019