On February 12, Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS) held a Panel Discussion to launch a monitoring report entitled: “Social Accountability Tools as Means for Accountability Success: Two Municipal Case Studies in Kosovo”, held in Prishtina.

Kosovo continues to face structural challenges that hinder development and the quality of life of citizens. The country is still engaged in a complex state-building process, erecting its structures and building its services. While there are important changes taking place in transparency and accountability in public expenditure, there is still much work to be done on this regard. Therefore, Social Accountability tools are being increasingly employed by civil society organizations to monitor the use (and misuse) of public funds for quality service provision by local governments. GLPS – in cooperation and supported by USAID Transparent, Effective and Accountable Municipalities – has for the first time employed two of these social accountability tools in Kosovo, including: a. Social Audit and b. Public Expenditure Tracking Survey (PETS), for four (4) different projects in the municipalities of Pristina and Vushtrri.

More specifically, during a nine-month period, the project engaged in a set of activities that tackled the quality of procurement activities related to the implementation of “Bllok pas Blloku” project in Pristina, public transportation services in Pristina, the construction of schools in the villages of Vushtrri (Pantine, Druar, Maxhunaj), and provision of medical services in healthcare centers of Vushtrri. Results stemming from this monitoring period included in the comprehensive report that is to be presented during this event.

Panel included representatives from the municipality of Vushtrri and Prishtina, members of the Social Audit Teams and representatives from the USAID Kosovo. In general, panelists agreed on the findings of the report and have shown commitment towards dealing with the problems identified during this period.

Findings from the report are visualized in the infographics that can be found here and here.

Venue: Orion Conference Centre (str. Rexhep Luci, 10000 Prishtina, Kosovo)