Governments in the Western Balkan countries have been implementing public administration reforms (PAR) for over a decade now, with varying degrees of success. The Government of Kosovo acknowledged PAR as one of the fundamental areas of reform on any country’s path to EU membership and a set of principles was prepared for the accession countries to follow and comply within this area in order to become successful EU member states.  As a complex and all-encompassing reform, PAR in the Western Balkans region is being thoroughly assessed through the lenses of the SIGMA Principles of Public Administration, developed by the OECD/SIGMA and endorsed by the EU. These Principles define what makes a well-functioning administration in terms of its ability to deliver transparent, efficient and effective services to citizens, and to support socio-economic development.

WeBER PAR monitoring strongly relies on strengths, skills, and local knowledge of the civil society in the Western Balkans. It builds on the SIGMA’s Principles of Public Administration as a cornerstone of PAR, while assessing them from the standpoint of an independently produced PAR Monitor methodology. The WeBER project has completed its first monitoring cycle. Its structured and evidence-based approach to PAR monitoring brings the reform closer to the public, by particularly focusing on PAR aspects with most relevance to the civil society and the public. The WeBER monitoring focus rests strongly on the citizen-facing aspects of public administration, particularly examining issues of transparency, information provision to the public, citizen participation, accountability, equal opportunity and integrity.

Findings of the report show that across all six PAR areas assessed, Kosovo emerges the second, following Albania as the most advanced case in the region, Overall, Kosovo has acquired 219 out of a total of 581 points across all WeBER indicators, or 38%. Moreover, findings suggest that Kosovo performs best in the area of PDC and SD although the scores are average whereas worst in the area of SFPAR. Specifically, the overall results (in terms of total scores) show that compared to the other six Western Balkan countries, Kosovo ranks second only after Albania, leaving behind the leaders in the EU membership process, Montenegro and Serbia.