On 26 January 2017, Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS) has organized one-day seminar for the Civil Society Organizations in Kosovo on the SIGMA Principles of Public Administration. This Seminar was co-organized with SIGMA/OECD and the aim was to familiarize the civil society in Kosovo with SIGMA Principles of Public Administration, both in local and central level. Gathering more than 30 CSOs throughout Kosovo, this event served as an opportunity to thoroughly discuss each of the Principles defined by the European Commission, indicators and sub-indicators, as well as their relevance to the local level. Furthermore, CSOs had the chance to receive first-hand information with regards to SIGMA’s approach towards Public Administration Reform (PAR) process from the SIGMA Representative and Coordinator for Kosovo, Mr. Jesper Johnson, who was engaged as a lecturer during this seminar. During the morning sessions, the participants discussed about the areas of PAR Strategic Framework and Policy Development and Coordination, while in the afternoon sessions the discussion focused on the remaining Chapters of Public Service and Human Resource Management, Accountability, Service Delivery and Public Finance Management. Each session was followed by an interactive discussion on several principles relevant to local level. Apart from the Principles, participants focused on the overall process of Public Administration Reform in Kosovo, challenges, latest SIGMA Assessment Report for Kosovo and civil society’s role towards the monitoring of PAR. Several multi-media videos were presented in the beginning of each session, briefly explaining each of the Chapters. This Seminar was organized under the project entitled “WeBER – Western Balkans Enabling Project for Civil Society Monitoring of Public Administration Reform”, financed by the European Union, and co-financed by the Royal Netherlands Government.

Venue: Hotel Emerald, Prishtina, Kosovo.