Analysis of openness of local self-government in Kosovo

In co-operation with partners of the Balkan network of non-governmental organizations ACTIONSEE, Open Data Kosovo (ODK) has conducted a public policy analysis that measures the level of transparency, openness, and accountability of local governments in Western Balkan countries.

During the period from October to December 2016, members of the ACTIONSEE network and Open Data Kosovo worked on detailed research based on scientific methodology through which it was analyzed how open are the governances at the local level, taking as a sample 144 municipalities out of 6 countries and over 60 indicators per municipality. Criteria that measure how open are municipalities are mainly focused on four areas: Accessibility, Efficiency, Integrity, and Transparency. 7 The aim of this research is to analyze the readiness of municipalities to serve as institutions for the needs of citizens. The openness of local governance to our study includes the transparency and efficiency of institutions and their communication with citizens.

In the regional comparison of local governments, Kosovo is almost the last with only 26.7% of the criteria met. Albania stands last, marking only 12.1%, while the most successful from all Western Balkan countries is Montenegro which met 57.5% of the criteria.

Municipalities that were subjected to evaluation were randomly selected in a sample, and those are Dragash/Dragaš, Ferizaj/Uroševac, Gllogoc/Glogovac, Graqanicë/Gračanica, Klinë/Klina, Kllokot/Klokot, Malishevë/Mališevo, Mamusha/Mamuša, Mitrovica, Partesh/Parteš, Podujevë/Podujevo, Ranillug/Ranilug, Shtërpcë/Štrpce, Zubin Potok, Zveqan/Zvećan. Of these: the most successful are Mitrovica (59.8%), Dragash/Dragaš (44.5%) and Podujevë/Podujevo (39.7%). At the end of this assessment are ranked the municipalities such as Zveqan/Zvećan, Zubin Potok and Partesh/Parteš, who have met 0% to 1% of the criteria.

The main problems that were observed are in the area of communication with the public as well as civic participation in decision-making, monitoring, and evaluation of projects and policies. Likewise, Kosovo’s local governments are among the least transparent when it comes to the budget, organizational information and public procurement transparency.

Download the report for the measurement in 2016 in English or Albanian.

Download the report for the measurement in 2017 in English.