The efforts in bringing the broadband internet to all the citizens of the Western Balkans region are well recognized, however, countries need to be more diligent in updating their strategic and regulatory documents. Countries are late with harmonization of legal acts and even more in delay with the implementation of innovations. Having in mind the nature of the process of digitalization, it should go in line with the market requests otherwise it threatens to remain at all times outdated and too expensive. Furthermore, these efforts should be complemented with ambitious campaign of raising citizens’ awareness about the benefits of digitalization. Since, all of the countries are currently experiencing political instability and facing elections in this year, accompanied by the pandemic crisis, the fear of slowing down the progress generated in the commitment to the Digital Agenda implementation, lingers. If the new governments decide to keep it off the list of priorities, discontinuation of the process will significantly affect its results.

Digitalization of services in the Western Balkans region is mostly driven with financial aspect, and most of the electronic services (e-services) provided are intended for the business sector. Governments should be induced to define their criteria for introducing e-government services based on the citizens’ needs. In parallel, more efforts should be invested into educating the citizens whose digital literacy is currently low, to enable understanding the benefits of the digitalization.

Digitalization is an integral part of the public administration reform. It directly influences the efficiency of administration and budget savings. The greatest undertaking for all the countries is the interoperability of all data bases handled by various government institutions. Once this process is finished, citizens will be able to obtain any administrative service by simply initiating the procedure on-line, while the rest of the process is automatized. So far, the governments offer partial solutions, with more or less success, whereas still some parts of the procedure rely on the traditional public administration.

Resistance to digitalization in one part comes from the establishment of public servants. The reform implies changing of their long-term routine, the need for more education, changing of procedures, adapting to new technologies, etc. There is a generational gap in being accustomed to e-technologies, and what is inevitably normal and easy on younger population remains difficult to those that were introduced to it in more mature ages.

Having in mind that all of the Western Balkan countries aspire to the membership in the European Union and still have to harmonize with the EU standards in terms of the democracy and the rule of law, the Digital Agenda remains one of the segments to be tackled on their way.

This research is part of the Digital Agenda Observatory and is implemented in 5 Western Balkan countries as part of the project Increasing Civic Engagement in the Digital Agenda – ICEDA co-funded by the European Union and implemented by Metamorphosis Foundation (North Macedonia) as the leading partner, e-Governance Academy (Estonia), CRTA – Center for Research, Transparency, and Accountability (Serbia), NGO 35mm (Montenegro), Open Data Kosovo (Kosovo) and Lëvizja Mjaft (Albania). The issues addressed by the reports are specifically related to the chapters relevant to the Digital Agenda in particular Chapter 10 – Information Society and Media from the EU’s acquis, with a goal to reinvigorate the issues of the Western Balkans Digital Agenda on the EU agenda.

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This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of ICEDA Partners and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.

Read the report in English.

The online connection between people now is part of their daily life, meaning that Internet services are no longer just for entertainment but are a fundamental part of society. Moreover, the willingness of citizens to conduct work or to conduct payments or services in traditional forms has decreased. Now with the widespread use of technology and the adoption of digital tools and applications, it is allowing citizens and other parties for more direct and faster participation elements that eventually would decrease the time for receiving information or a service.

The Digital Agenda for the Western Balkans is a key pillar of the European Commission’s Western Balkans Strategy published in February 2018. It covers a wide range of areas from broadband infrastructure, public sector modernization, and the digitalization of industry to digital skills and cybersecurity, and a roadmap for lowering roaming charges. Most media, civil society organizations (CSOs), and Governments in the region are do not have the resources or the capacities to cover the issues of e-government and digital rights, denying the citizens opportunities to learn about the current tendencies. Digital Agenda aims to ensure that the citizens of the region can fully reap the benefits of the digital transformation. The commitment to the Digital Agenda will ensure that citizens have the skills to match the demands of the new economy and will help modernize public administrations, strengthen cybersecurity, increase connectivity, and improve the business climate.

The issues addressed by the Report is specifically related to the chapters relevant to the Digital Agenda in particular Chapter 10 – Information Society and Media from the EU’s acquis, with a goal to reinvigorate the issues of the Western Balkans Digital Agenda on the EU agenda.

Read the report in English and Albanian.

As part of the “Open Government Data Ecosystems” Project funded by the US Embassy in Kosovo and implemented by Open Data Kosovo, ODK has produced this Handbook on Open Data.
This handbook will provide an overview on open data such as: The concept of Open Data, History of Open Data, Open Data Principles, Open Data Standards, 5 Star Data, Licensing of Open Data, Applications based on Open Data, Data Analysis, Data Science, Data Visualization, Open Contracting Data Standards, Open Data Global Initiatives, and Open Data Initiatives in Kosovo.

Handbook is available in Albanian, English, and Serbian.

“Code 4 Kamenica” represents an innovative and responsive outlet for Kamenica, especially the youth at early stages of education, to gain valuable skills in the ICT field through informal education methods and hands-on approach, which in turn contribute to fostering active citizenship through innovative technologies to be developed. This project guide provides a glimpse on how this project was implemented, the digital solutions developed and the experiences of the youth involved in the project. 

Guideline is available in Albanian, English and Serbian. 

The Code4Kamenica project is part of the Regional Programme on Local Democracy funded by the European Union Kosovo and implemented by UNDP Kosovo.

#ReLOaD #DemokraciaLokale #BalkaniPerëndimor

More about ReLOaD: https://bit.ly/2sNqPOM

Open Government Data Ecosystems is a project financed by the US Embassy in Kosovo and implemented by Open Data Kosovo. The main goal of the project is to create stronger communication between citizens and local CSOs with public institutions and promote the new Law on Access to Public Documents for good governance and the rule of law.

Since the main target groups – beneficiaries of the project are civil society organizations and journalists, Open Data Kosovo is launching two challenges with awards for these two specific groups.

The data challenge is conducting a concept document where you will incorporate ideas for a data-driven analysis (for CSO representatives) and a data-driven article (for Journalists) up to 2 pages maximum.

Award: Two best concept documents for articles and two best data analysis will be chosen for further development where after the 4 deliverables are completed, four laptops will be disseminated in total, one laptop per each winner. 

Also, every deliverable will be published in Open Data Kosovo social media platforms.

The deadline for submission is: 30 August 2020 23:59.

Call for Concept Document Application in English and Albanian.

Open ICT Education for Youth Employability is a cross-border project implemented by two partner organizations from Kosovo (consequently Open Data Kosovo – ODK) and from Albania (consequently the Albanian Institute of Sciences – AIS). The project is funded by the Delegation of the European Union in Albania through the IPA Cross-Border Cooperation Programme-Albania and Kosovo. The 27-month long project (February 15, 2018 – April 15, 2020) aims to improve the employment opportunities of young people from Kosovo and Albania by providing open access to very important knowledge and skills in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). This guideline serves as a documentation of the Project in order to help other interested stakeholders build in top of this project by creating a synergy with its activities instead of duplicating actions.

Guidelines are available in English and Albanian.

The main focus of this research paper ‘The Future Workplace in the Kosovo ICT Market’ is to understand the current state of the ICT market in Kosovo utilizing the data-driven  digital tool ‘The Future Workplace’  (www.thefutureworkplace.org) which encompasses crucial data regarding the ICT education and ICT businesses in Kosovo. The ICT Market in Kosovo has been identified as an area   of   huge   potential   by   Kosovo   public institutions, researchers as well as   international   businesses.   This   is   reflected by also the increase of the registered number of ICT businesses in Kosovo by 187% in the last 10 years.

While there has been widespread discussion of the potential of the ICT market in Kosovo, there is also a lack of reliable data to support such discussion. Hence, this has fundamentally affected the ability to analyze the ICT landscape in Kosovo.

In other words, the lack of data-driven decision-making whether that is within Kosovo education institutions, ICT businesses or during student’s decision which studies to pursue, has had a negative effect in the further development of the ICT landscape.

With this in mind, this research paper, which  includes  data  collected  from  the   Ministry   of   Education,   Science,   Technology and Innovation and from the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Kosovo, Tax Administration of Kosovo  and ICT business in Kosovo, analyzes the  ICT  market  in  Kosovo  through  looking at trends in ICT high school and university  graduates,  ICT  businesses  composition, income and trends over the years, and skills mismatch in the ICT market in Kosovo. In other words, this research paper is wholly-based on data provided by The Future Workplace (www.thefutureworkplace.org) which feeds  into  the  recommendations  for  the Kosovo education institutions, ICT businesses and students in Kosovo.

Publications are available in English, Albanian, and Serbian.

Openness represents a key condition of democracy – since it allows citizens to receive information and knowledge, necessary for equal participation in political life, effective decision-making and holding institutions accountable for policies that they conduct. Around the world, institutions undertake specific activities intending to increase their transparency and accountability to citizens.

The measurement was conducted on monitoring data and findings, a set of recommendations and guidelines directed towards institutions was developed based on research results. Recommended steps for each category of institutions are done based on indicators that were not entirely fulfilled.
Additionally, since some of the categories of institutions were sampled, i.e. executive agencies, local self- governments, courts, and prosecutions, for these institutions the recommendations and action steps are general for the whole group of institutions.

Policy paper for Parliament in [Albanian] and in [English].
Policy paper for Executive Power in [Albanian] and in [English].
Policy paper for Local Self Governance in [Albanian] and in [English].
Policy paper for Judicial Bodies in [Albanian] and in [English].

Openness represents a key condition of democracy – since it allows citizens to receive information and knowledge, necessary for an equal participation in political life, effective decision-making and holding institutions accountable for policies which they conduct. Around the world institutions undertake specific activities with the aim to increasing their transparency and accountability to citizens.

Open government is based on four organizational principles: transparency, accessibility, integrity and awareness. These principles apply to all branches and levels of government, from the central executive to local self-government, parliament and the judicial system.

The Index of Openness is a composite indicator that measures the degree to which governments in the Western Balkan countries are open to citizens and society and is designed in order to define to which degree citizens of the Western Balkans receive opportune and understandable information from their institutions.

The Index of Openness is part of the ACTION SEE – Accountability, Technology and Institutional Openness Network in SEE Project funded by the European Union, implemented by 7 organizations in 6 countries: Metamorphosis Foundation in Macedonia, CRTA – Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability in Serbia, Citizens Association Why not? In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Center for Democratic Transition (CDT) in Montenegro, Open Data Kosovo (ODK) in Kosovo and Levizja Mjaft! in Albania, and Westminster Foundation for Democracy.

Furthermore, ActionSEE is a network of civil society organizations that jointly work on promoting and ensuring government accountability and transparency in the region of South-East Europe, raising the potential for civic activism and civic participation, promoting and protecting human rights and freedoms on the internet and building capacities and interest within civil society organizations and individuals in the region in using technology in democracy promotion work.

For this purpose, in order to measure the degree of institutional openness, ACTION SEE partners following international standards, recommendations as well as examples of good practice, assessed institutions through special quantitative and qualitative indicators, which evaluate institutions on the basis of: accessibility of information on the official websites of institutions, quality of a legal framework for individual issues, other sources of public informing and questionnaires delivered to institutions.

The responsiveness of institutions to the questionnaires was an additional indicator for their openness. A lot of institutions got negative scores on indicators due to their no responsiveness, which is also important to mention for two reasons: first, that institutional responsiveness is an indicator for openness itself, and second that institution’s non responsiveness has affected their index scores negatively, because they were automatically graded as 0. Additionally, some of the indicators could’ve been graded positively if only the existing laws were implemented.

The measurement was conducted in the period from October to the end of December 2016. Based on monitoring data and findings, a set of recommendations and guidelines directed towards institutions was developed on the basis of research results. Recommended steps for each category of institutions are done on the basis of indicators that were not entirely fulfilled. Additionally, since some of the categories of institutions were sampled, i.e. executive agencies, local self-governments, courts and prosecutions, for these institutions the recommendations and action steps are general for the whole group of institutions.

Download the roadmaps in [English] or in [Albanian].