Kosovo Action Plan Review 2023-2025

Kosovo’s first action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... addresses key areas of open government, including open dataBy opening up data and making it sharable and reusable, governments can enable informed debate, better decision making, and the development of innovative new services. Technical specifications: Polici..., citizen participationAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, citizen participation occurs when “governments seek to mobilize citizens to engage in public debate, provide input, and make contributions that lead to m... More in decision-making, public procurementTransparency in the procurement process can help combat corruption and waste that plagues a significant portion of public procurement budgets globally. Technical specifications: Commitments that aim t..., and political financeProviding for transparency in the funding of campaigns, political parties, and democratic politics is an essential accountability mechanism for democratic government and is a growing focus area in OGP... transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More. The action plan saw an ambitious co-creation processCollaboration between government, civil society and other stakeholders (e.g., citizens, academics, private sector) is at the heart of the OGP process. Participating governments must ensure that a dive... with active involvement of the National Coordinating Council, Kosovo’s multi-stakeholder forumRegular dialogue between government and civil society is a core element of OGP participation. It builds trust, promotes joint problem-solving, and empowers civil society to influence the design, imple.... The Ministry of Local Government Administration should maintain this momentum by engaging civil society in the implementation of the commitments.

Kosovo’s 2023-2025 action plan, its first as a non-voting member of OGP, comes 10 years after the Government of Kosovo first expressed interest in joining OGP in 2013.[1] The action plan contains 13 commitments covering digital public services, open data, public participation, and anti-corruption.^[2] The commitments align with the government’s priorities around good governance, anti-corruption, transparency, and digitalization of the public sector.

In March 2023, the OGP Steering Committee approved a decision that allowed non-universally recognized states (as defined by membership in the United Nations) to become non-voting members in OGP.[3] While waiting for that opportunity, Kosovo worked to meet OGP’s technical eligibility criteria, passed the Values Check, and prepared an OGP action plan. Once the Steering Committee made its decision, Kosovo sent the letter of interest to join OGP on 17 July 2023.[4] On 31 July 2023, the Steering Committee welcomed Kosovo’s membership in OGP and invited Kosovo to attend the OGP Global Summit in Tallinn, Estonia, on 6-7 September 2023.[5]

The Ministry of Local Government Administration (MLGA) created the National Coordinating Committee (NCC) in October 2021 as Kosovo’s multi-stakeholder forum. The co-creation process started with a two-month consultation period from 8 March to 29 April 2022 and involved 11 NCC meetings, including four thematic workshops and seven public discussions in major municipalities of Kosovo. A civil society representative noted that the MLGA point of contact’s background in civil society helped facilitate a highly open and participatory co-creation process.^[6] In September-October 2022, the MLGA published the draft action plan for public consultation and a budget was prepared in November 2022 for government approval in December 2022.^[7] When it was confirmed that Kosovo was eligible to join OGP, the MLGA organized another round of consultations on the action plan from May to July 2023. The action plan was approved in December 2023.^[8]

Future co-creation processes could benefit from greater documentation on Kosovo’s OGP website. For example, the MLGA could publish the co-creation timeline and overview of the opportunities for stakeholders to participate at least two weeks before the start of the action plan development process. The MLGA could also publish detailed feedback for the selection of commitments, including justifications for why commitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... proposals were or were not adopted.

The commitments are ambitious and relevant to Kosovo’s goal of joining the European Union (EU). The IRM identified two commitments as promising, which could greatly improve open government practices in Kosovo. Commitment 4.1 aims to open data at all stages of public procurement by passing amendments to the Law on Public Procurement. This commitment could enhance e-procurement in Kosovo and align Kosovo’s procurement policies with the EU’s 2014 Procurement Directive. Commitment 4.3 involves developing a platform for open data on the finances (revenue and expenditure) of registered political parties. Many of the commitments, while verifiable, would benefit from clearer descriptions of the expected changes to existing practices from their implementation.

As this is Kosovo’s first action plan, it will be important to maintain political momentum by regularly informing the NCC on commitment implementation. Moreover, the MLGA should ensure that Kosovo meets OGP’s Participation and Co-Creation StandardsCollaboration between government, civil society and other stakeholders is at the heart of the OGP process. The Participation and Co-Creation Standards are intended to support this collaboration throug... during implementation of the action plan. This involves:

• updating Kosovo’s OGP website at least twice a year with evidence for implementation of the commitments,
• holding at least two meetings each year with civil society (i.e., through the NCC) to present the results on action plan implementation and collect comments.

Promising Commitments in the Kosovo 2023-2025 Action Plan

The following review looks at the two commitments and one cluster that the IRM identified as having the potential to realize the most promising results. Given the high level of ambitionAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, OGP commitments should “stretch government practice beyond its current baseline with respect to key areas of open government.” Ambition captures the po..., promising commitments address a policy area that is important to stakeholders or the national context, are verifiable, have a relevant open government lens, and have substantial potential for results. This review also provides an analysis of challenges, opportunities, and recommendations to contribute to the learning and implementation process of this action plan.

Table 1. Promising commitments

[1] Republic of Kosovo, Open Government Partnership National Action Plan 2023-25, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Kosovo_Action-Plan_2023-2027_December_EN.pdf

[2] Kosovo adopted an OGP action plan for 2014-2016, before it became a non-voting member of OGP, but the implementation of this plan was limited. Fidan Kajala (Point of Contact, Government of Kosovo) and Blerta Thaçi (Executive Director, Open Data Kosovo), interviews by the IRM, 23 May 2024.

[3] Open Government Partnership, Proposal to amend the policy on who can become an OGP member, 2 March 2023, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/SC_Proposal-on-OGP-membership-requirements-For-SC-approval_20230307-.pdf

[4] Open Government Partnership, Kosovo – Letter of intent to join OGP, 29 August 2023, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/kosovo-letter-of-intent-to-join-ogp/

[5] Open Government Partnership, 31 July 2023, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Kosovo_Co-Chairs-Welcome-Letter_20230731.pdf

[6] Civil society co-chair of the NCC, interview by the IRM.

[7] Open Data Kosovo website, https://opendatakosovo.medium.com/kosovo-towards-a-new-national-action-plan-for-ogp-d44e2f3fb6a3

[8] Fidan Kajala (POC), correspondence with the IRM, June 2024.