Republika e Kosovës Republika Kosova-Republic of Kosovo Qeveria - Vlada - Government

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1 Republika e Kosovës Republika Kosova-Republic of Kosovo Qeveria - Vlada - Government Ministria e Administratës Publike Ministarstvo Javne Administracije Ministry of Public Administration COMPREHENSIVE REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REFORM STRATEGY June 2014

2 Table of Contents 1. Introduction Methodology Summary of findings and challenges Strategy and Action Plan of the Public Administration Reform Strategic Objectives Policy Management Legislation Drafting Ethics and Transparency Communication with Citizen Budget Planning Budget Execution Internal Audit and Control Public Procurement Organization of Public Administration Management and Development of Human Resources Rationalization of electronic administrative processes (e-government) Electronic Government (e-government) Management and Coordination of the Reform Conclusions

3 3 List of Abbreviations AAC APIFS BDMS BO CPA CSK CSK DCSA DeGAP DEIPC DMS DPARM EULEX FMC FMISK FRIDOM GAWP GDP GEPAR IA IAU IMCPAR IO IPA 2 IRK ISA IT KIPA LO LPFMA LPP MEI MF MIA MPA MTEF OAG OECD OGG OPC OPM OSP PAR Anti-Corruption Agency Action Plan on Implementation of the Feasibility Study Budget Development Management System Budgetary Oragnizations Central Procurement Agency Civil Service of Kosovo Coordination Secretariat of the Government Department of Civil Service Administration Department e-government and Administrative Processes Department for European Integration and Policy Coordination Document Management System Department for Public Administration Reform Management European Union Mission in Kosovo Financial Management and Control Financial Management Information System of Kosovo Functional Review and Institutional Design of Ministries Government Annual Work Plan Gross Domestic Product Group of Experts for Public Administration Reform Internal Audit Internal Audit Unit Inter-Ministerial Committee for Public Adminstration Reform Institution of Ombudsperson Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance Institutions of the Republic of Kosovo Information Society Agency Information Technology Kosovo Institute for Public Administration Legal Office Law on Public Financial Management and Accountability Law on Public Procurement Ministry of European Integration Ministry of Finances Ministry of Internal Affairs Ministry of Public Administration Mid-Term Expenditure Framework Office of the Auditor General Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Office for Good Governance Office for Public Communication Office of the Prime Minister Office for Strategic Planning Public Administration Reform 3

4 PARS PEFA PPI PPP PPP PPRC SAA SDP SGPAR SIGMA SWG UNDP VEMS WGPAR Public Administration Reform Strategy Public Expenditure and Finance Assessment Program for Public Investments Public Private Partnership Public Private Partnership Public Procurement Regulatory Commission Stabilisation and Association Agreement Strategic Development Plan Special Group for Public Administration Reform Support for Improvement in Governance and Management Sub-Working Groups United Nations Development Program Vehicle Expenditure Management System Working Group for Public Administration Reform 4

5 5 1. Introduction Public administration is the main segment in the functioning of a state. Continuous development and improvement of the public administration requires constant commitment not only by the Government and the public and political structures but also by the entire segments of the society. The necessity for review and attention by the Government in advancing and reforming the administration is continuously imposed by a number of factors, such as: the increased demands of the citizens for a more efficient administration and providing better services, the need to intensify the work in supporting the economic development of the country, the enhanced agenda of European integration process of Kosovo, and the necessity to adopt new standards and modern techniques and technologies for the needs of the public administration. Changing and reforming the public administration is a continuous and overall institutional process that has direct impact to the level of defining and achieving governmental objectives to provide better services to citizens and businesses. The development of the public administration commenced as of the end of war, whereas within a strategic and planned framework, the Public Administration Reform Strategy 2007 was launched. The Strategy and the Action Plan were only the beginning of a long-term and comprehensive process of their implementation, functional reviews of all ministries and of the majority of horizontal functions to the adoption of the reviewed Strategy By the reviewed Strategy it was aimed to conduct reforms in public administration and reforms were to be developed in line with the demands of the state after the declaration of independence in order to address the need for development and application of new policies and improvement of the existing ones with the purpose of more efficient and effective functioning, provision of better services to citizens and businesses as well as to manage and conclude the European Integration Agenda. In addition, public administration reform and provision of services in compliance with the best European practices is also a European standard that Kosovo aims to achieve in its path towards integration through the framework mechanisms of the Stabilisation and Association Process of Kosovo that is also subject to continuous assessment of annual progress reports. The progress achieved in implementation of the reform strategy was continuously reported in periodic and annual basis within the structures established for this aim. Whereas, this report is the first one that includes the entire period of implementation of the strategy , including all the achievements and challenges arising during the implementation. In the second meeting of the Special Group on PAR (SGPAR) for Kosovo that was held in Brussels (Belgium) on 6 December 2013 between the representatives of the Institutions of the Republic of Kosovo (the IRK) and those of the European Commission, as one of the joined conclusions that arose was the need to compile a comprehensive report on implementation of the Strategy on the PAR. The report shall include also an analysis of quality indicators. During 2014, the MPA and other institutions of the Republic of Kosovo are planning to draft a multy-year strategy on the public administration reform. Therefore, this report, 5

6 compiled in details by analysing the data taken on-site on the achievements and challenges arising during the included years and the recommendations, will be of special importance and it will serve in elaboration of the new document of strategic planning in the field of the PAR, which will define the objectives for the future planning period. It is important to mention that the updated strategic framework is a process that requires to be harmonized also with the programme and implementation of the IPA2. Therefore, this report will serve for a double purpose. First, it will provide the decisionmakers information on the overall progress achieved in implementation of the PAR Strategy adopted in 2010 and of the Action Plan adopted in And second, it will identify the current challenges in this field of policies that serves as the starting point for discussion in preparation of the new Strategy of PAR. 2. Methodology The report on implementation of the PAR Strategy has the aim of assessing the achievements and challenges during the entire period of its implementation in the point of view of the Public Administration in Kosovo. In order to achieve this, the DPARM within the MPA actively and in coordination with all other institutions included in the process managed the activities in drafting the report through their representatives in the Working Group on the PAR (WGPAR) and in the Sub-Working Groups (SWG). During the compilation of this report, the DPARM was supported by OECD/SIGMA, their international and local consultants, who advised the department in methodology aspects ans in analysing the collected data and the data used in the report. In the course of preparation of the report, the DPARM used the data taken from the coordinators, comparing and completing it also by other information available from reports of local and international institutions. The data presenting the progress have been compared to the measurement indicators compiled and used for the aim of measuring whether the set indicators have been achieved during the implementation of the Reform plan. While drafting the report, despite the data ensured by the coordinators of sub-working groups, strategic documents, laws, sub-legal acts, regular reports of the institutions implementing the PAR, reports of international institutions and the data taken from various project of technical assistance in the fields covered by 12 objectives of the PAR Strategy have been used and analysed. In the latest meetings (until now) of the Working Group on Public Administration Reform WGPAR (held on 04 April 2014) and of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Public Administration Reform IMCPAR (08 April 2014), the draft of this report was discussion and approved in principle in order to be finally approved by the Government. Moreover, all the Coordinators of the Sub-Working Groups (SWG) were enabled to provide their comments and/or proposals in their scope of responsibility. In the course of drafting the report, the difficulty encountered was the lack of detailed and statistical information about achievements, especially about the impact of implementation of the Strategy in certain fields. The lack of data in many cases came as a result of general wording of strategic objectives and the lack of clear indicators. 1 From the analysis of reports taken from the Coordinators of the majority of the SWGs, it 1 An assessment of the quality of the Public Administration Reform Strategy and the Action Plan is presented in the respective chapter of the assessment of the strategy. 6

7 7 comes out that the information provided is mainly focused in the last year and not much in the previous years, which would facilitate the progress measurement in annual basis. The DPARM has also used the data research method and its comparison, which enabled the analysis and progress measurement achieved in the PAR. 3. Summary of findings and challenges Based on the analysed data, it can be ascertained that the progress in implementation of the Public Administration Reform Strategy (PARS) was obviously significant in drafting and completing the legal and institutional framework in its entire fields. Whereas with regard to implementation, the progress has been asymmetric so far, depending on the fields. Since in some of the fields there was apparent progress in functioning of the public administration, there were delays in some others. The progress achieved and the challenges encountered for each objective are presented below in bullet points. Whereas, detailed information for each of the fields is provided in the following of the report. Objective 1 Policy Management This field has had evident progress during the four last years. The progress was emphasised in completing almost all main functions that an Office of the Prime Minister is supposed to have according to the best international practices. However, it is required more concentration of human resources in the basic functions, because only 10% of the staff of the Office of the Prime Minister is concentrated in these functions. The adoption of the new Regulation on the Rules of Procedure of the Government was followed by adoption of almost all other sub-legal acts and guidelines for its implementation and which did not exist before the adoption of the PAR Strategy. Nevertheless, their implementation is a continuous challenge. Moreover, the majority of strategic documents and policies are in place and the institutional framework for their implementation has been completed having established the Office for Strategic Planning at the level of the OPM and the Departments for European Integration and Policy Coordination at the ministry level. It is required better coordination among institutions at the central level 2 (OPM, MF, MEI) and among them and the level of line ministries. As further challenge, it remains: ensuring and increasing the policy quality especially through increasing the quality of concept documents and strategies, ensuring the consistency, quality and their relation to the legislation, budget and other financial resources. Moreover, due to major deficiencies, creation of implementation monitoring system presents the future step after the consolidation of planning system. Objective 2 Legislation Drafting Following the adoption of the Regulation on the Rules of Procedure of the Government in 2011, the system of legislation drafting has been changed from working groups to the system of written work coordination. The majority of instructions on procedures and criteria of legislation drafting and consultation with the stakeholders have been approved. In addition, institutional structures for legislation drafting at the level of the Government and ministries have been consolidated. With regard to instructions and sharing of responsibilities for harmonization of local legislation with the EU legislation, there was progress. According to the evaluation performed by a team 2 They are considered as institutions of the central level, because of their central role in main coordination processes of the Government. See below the table provided on page 11, indicating the main functions of of the central level of the Government. 7

8 financed by a European Union Project 3 to the legal departments, there are insufficient capacities at the sector level and at the central level for harmonization of legislation to the EU one and planning. The majority of secondary legislation prior to adoption of the PAR Strategy was approved by the ministries, while the new system requires the approval of regulations that interfere two or more ministries by the Government. This had an impact to the workload of the Government in approving secondary legislation by increasing it to over 100% from 2011 to This also impacted the creation of joint basis of all secondary legislation and its publication, whereas according to the draft law on normative acts, its publication also to the official gazette will be performed as of 01 January Objective 3 Ethics and Transparency The strategic and legal framework also in the field of ethics, transparency and anti-corruption has been improved satisfactorily in Kosovo, though they are frequently amended. The new anticorruption strategy was approved in 2013, whereas the law on prevention of conflict of interest and law on declaration of property and gifts are under the process of amendment. The level of access to public documents has been improved in comparison to the period before the approval of the PAR Strategy. As of 1999, the requests that were in 2013 to access to official documents, out of them 1833 or 91.69% requests were allowed. Whereas, in 2011 there were around 4 times (around 400%) fewer requests, meaning from 494 requests, access was given to 483 of them or 97.77%. Moreover, the level of property declaration of senior public officials and the activities in prevention of conflict of interest have been improved obviously after the legislation was completed, wherein the level of declaration in 2014 is 99.74% in comparison to 2011 that was 93.9%. This positive movement was also among others because of the increase of capacities of the Anti-Corruption Agency and the increase of cooperation between the ACA and the other institutions, especially the institutions of investigation and justice. Given the completion of the legal and institutional framework and the obvious progress on this, transparency and accountability and against corruption, the level of implementation remains one of the main challenges for other institutions and because of lack of capacities in the justice and investigation system. It is also necessary to provide the data in the cases related to civility and planning of activities on increase of awareness to fight against corruption. It is necessary to clarify and further enforce the mechanisms to ensure access to public documents. Objective 4 Communication and citizen participation It is considered that there is improvement of the legal and institutional framework in the field of communication in the governmental institutions as of the approval of the PAR Strategy. The role and the responsibility of institutions were clarified, especially of the communication units within line ministries. But, a continuous challenge remains the coordination of communication and its integration with the process of decision-making, planning in the field of communication through development of communication plans on priority policies, in particular coordination of communication of the government agenda and the European Integration Agenda, and the inadequate quality of information in the official webpages, this is as a consequence of the general lack of work coordination of the 3 Twinning project on assessment of the capacities of the Government of Kosovo in the process of legislation approximation. 8

9 9 institutions and handling the coomunication agenda as a separate process from other work processes of the Government. Such a relation led to the lack of statistical data on communication activities. Moreover, in general it is required commitment of institutions in developing various instruments of measuring the public opinion for the work of the institutions. It is also required an increase of capacities in a planned way and according to the needs of respective officials in the field of communication. On the other hand, though it was foreseen by the Action Plan of the PAR, the communication strategy of the PAR process has not been drafted and approved yet. Objective 5 Budged planning - The system of budget planning has maintained the level of stability to ensure addressing of the government budget requirements according to the government s needs and programme. Comparing to the period before the adoption of the PAR Strategy, the legal basis for assignment of role and responisibilities in the field of strategic planning, policy and budget at the level of ministries and level of central Government was clarified. Even the criterion for costing of policy and legisltation has been significantly strengthened. But the capacities on the level of sectors for costing of documents are still insufficient. The relation between the budget and the government priorities though has been one of the main objectives of budget planning and it still remains as a challenge especially in preventing to take unpredictable decisions that have budgetary implications. Some of the sub-objectives of the strategy, especially one related to macroeconomic policies and Public Private Partnership (PPP) seems not to be quite relevant for the purpose of PAR Strategy. Objective 6 Budget execution The system of execution of budget is considered to be at the appropriate level and among the areas in which the foreseen activities of the PAR Action Plan (PARAP) have been fulfilled. The treasury system as the main component of budget execution is well developed and operational. It supports processing of commitments, requests for purchase, payments, cash and debt management, financial control, and reporting with regard to management and finance. Budget execution monitoring unit has been established and is functional. However, the challenge remains the relation between the level of budget planning and level of expeditures. This distinction during the last three years is around 10% or with the tendency to decrease in the future. Objective 7 Control and internal audit There has been progress in terms of building the institutional and legal framework. The legal framework is considered to be completed, whereas the number of audit units has been increased as of 2011, when it was 64 to 71 audit units (11% increase) in There was obvious and progressive increase of the number of internal auditors recruited and certified from 123 in 2011 to 144 in 2013 or 11.7% more. The main challenge of the internal audit system comes to be the increase of audit quality, the increase of the level of recommendation implementation by budgetary organizations. Moreover, the increase of auditors professional capacities is reuired to be further continued. Objective 8 Public procurement is the most sensitive field of the public administration. There was also significant progress in ensuring transparency and 9

10 increase of the level of use of open procedures and reduction of the level of use of other procedures that provide less transparency. The degree of application of the open procurement procedure during 2013 was 87.86%. Whereas the degree of the use of negotiated procedure was reduced from 16.07% that was in 2008 to 5.60% in The increase of transparency in application of public procurement, especially through application of electronic procurement system and application of centralized procurement remain as unimplemented action of the APPAR, and they remain as steps to be implemented in the future. Objective 9 Reorganization of public administration According to the Law on the State Administration, the ministries compiled respective draft regulations on internal organization and job systematization, wherein regulations of all ministries have been approved so far by the Government of the Republic of Kosovo (despite the MKSF). Moreover, regulations on internal organization and job systematization have been approved for 6 independent agencies. Drafting of these regulations was preceded by the compilation and approval of strategic development plans for each ministry based on recommendations of functional reviews of ministries for the aim of internal organization and strengthening institutional and human capacities. As challenge encountered was the classification/ranking of independent and/or central agencies according to the law on the state administration and drafting and approving of their internal organization. After the approval of regulations on internal organization of ministries and independent agencies, the other phase remains monitoring of their implementation. Objective 10 Human Resources Management and Development Following the approval of the Law on the Civil Service and the Law on the Salaries of Civil Servants, the secondary legislation framework has been almost entirely completed. The main challenge for this objective remains their efficient implementation, increase of the respective capacities for implementation of the approved legislation in all of the institutions, especially the implementation of the new salary system, the implementation of job classification, the assessment of work performance, etc. The other challenge is also strengthening of the Department of Civil Service Administration (DSCA) (extending and developing of human capacities) with focus to strategic planning, policy-making and monitoring of policy implementation of the civil and conducting of proactive processes. Another challenge of this objective is the low budget for the Kosovo Institute for Public Administration the KIPA, then the limited space, capacity building by qualified trainers within it, as well as the training needs assessment and creation of a system for monitoring and assessment of training impact. Objective 11 Rationalization of electronic administrative processes (egovernance) The infrastructure of information technology is considered to be well-consolidated. The strategic framework and institutional and legal structure has almost been completed. We could mention the Law on Information Society, the Law on Digital Signature, the Law on Privacy, and the Law on the State Domain. With regard to general procedures, the Law on General Administrative Procure is now under amendment proceedings. The increase of capacities on implementation of electronic projects and programmes to offer fast electronic 10

11 11 services and functioning of the Agency of Information Society in rationalization of processes is the MPA s challenge in the future. The establishment of front offices and back offices has been considered as instruments that apparently impact in improving the services of the administration to citizens. Following their establishment at the local level, they should be also extended to all institutions at the central level, but there is no information about the current progress. Objective 12 Development of Electronic Government (e-government) Integration of electronic systems and their interoperability and provision of services to citizens through them is one of the tasks of the MPA. In this framework, the existing systems have been upgraded such as: the civil state, electronic archive, e-property, state portal, etc. there were developed systems of e-schools (a pilot project), the Document Management System DMS), the Vehicle Expenditure Management System (VEMS). Application of the standards of the Interoperability Framework should be the future guideline of the governmental institutions. Mechanisms for implementation and for ensuring the implementation of the public administration reform are considered to enter into a comprehensive structure and well-thought at the moment of their design, but they are too complex to manage properly. Therefore, their functioning during the course of implementation has oscillated. Though meetings were held regularly, they did not provide the desired results, either in respect to reporting on essential achievements or in achieving their role. Redesigning and reduction of circuits of these structures is necessary in the future process of the PAR. 4. The Strategy and the Action Plan of the Public Administration Reform Unlike the previous strategy that included six fields, the Strategy of the Pablic Administration Reform has a quite wide scope of the area including twelve fields. The scope and the focus of the strategy in the existing fields came as a result of the functional review process and implementation of their recommendations. The inclusion in the reform framework of the majority of the public administration fields, though it was initially well-though, it came out that to have a negative impact to some degree to the progress and the results of the reform itself. According to this assessment, as well as of the annual assessment by the DPARM on implementation of the PAR Strategy, the level of implantation of the reform varies from one field to another, but in general it is considered to be moderate, wherein in some fields there was more progress than in some other. During the course of drafting and later during its implementation there was no emphasy on more priority fields in which reforms would be advanced. The wide spread and the lack of prioritization of reforming policies for the public administration has influences the distribution of energy, human resources and other resources in many horizontal fields, which as such frequently are not related directly to the public administration reform, whereas, on the other hand, important fields of the reform remained untouched, wherein the action of the administration is important to the citizens and the country s economy. It is worth emphasizing the reform made by the Government in the field of simplifying procedures of doing business or in general in the administrative procedures that were not part of the PARS. 11

12 The Action Plan on the Public Administration Reform was to a high extent harmonized with the other horizontal strategic planning documents, such as: The Annual Work Plan of the Government (AWGP), the Plans on implementation of criteria of European Integration (the Action Plan on Implementation of Feasibility Study APIFS, the Action Plan on Stabilisation Association Agreement APSAA). The PARS included twelve strategic objectives, one objective for each scope of focus of the public administration reform SRAP and 40 sub-objectives. The analysis of the state of administration and the data related to policy options and the solutions for reforms that will be undertaken during the implementation of the PARS have not been included to the document of the strategy. This anyhow has the justification since the part of analysis for each field was made through the reports of functional reviews; it again creates a disconnection that produces gaps to the implementers with regard to finding solutions to reforming policies during its implementation. Such gap is extended if the very broad wording and difficult to measure objectives and sub-objectives are checked. The indicators that were set for each activity of the APPAR serve as support to address the issues to which no response is given by the objectives. This serves as one step towards improvement of planning documents. However, if checking the quality of indicators, they are in many cases quite generalized, which makes it difficult to measure the progress and meanwhile it impacts the quality of measurement and the result itself. In the majority of objectives, the implementation of actions and the progress achieved according to the formulated indicators only reaches half way of achieving the goals of the strategy. For example, in many cases, the indicators foresee the approval of planning documents and legislation, but not the level of their implementation. Generalized objectives, activities and indicators also make the financial assessment of activities difficult, which makes it almost impossible to define the real financial cost of the implementation of a document as this one or a reform. Therefore, another deficiency of the APPAR is the element of assessment of the implementation financial cost. This also impacted the quality of relation to the documents of budget planning and to the support of donors in the field of public administration reform, though efforts were made through the group for donor coordination in the field of public administration reform. 5. Strategic Objectives The fulfilment of commitments of the Public Administration Reform Strategy was made through 12 strategic objectives and a number of sub-objectives that supported the strategy. Summarized data are given below on development, progress and challenges during the implementation period of each strategic objective during the period Objective 1 Policy Management The main purpose of the first objective of the Public Administration Reform Strategy is reorganization, strengthening and focus of operation of the Prime Minister s Office in the key basic functions 4 on functioning of the centre of the Government according to the 4 Basic functions of the Governmental centre (according to SIGMA principles) are considered: Coordination of preparation of the Goverment s meetings 12

13 13 best international practices. This include mainly the coordination functions related to strategic and policy planning, planning and coordination of legislation drafting and ensuring of its compliance with the acquis, ensuring of communication of Governmental policies and activities (transparency and communication) and ensuring the progress of the Government s work. Before drafting the new Strategy on PAR ( ), it was found that despite the basic functions, the Office of the Prime Minister was assigned by numerous structures and functions, which could be performed by ministry departments. In the field of policies, there were missing: legal frameworks, rules and clear guidelines for drafting, assuring the quality of policies and their coordination. At the level of ministries, there was no respective structure for policy coordination at the level of sectors. Coordination between the central level of the Government and the ministerial level was not regular. There was lack of coordination of strategic planning, structures at the central and ministerial level, rules and standards for drafting of strategic documents, coordination and the criteria of stakeholders involvement caused drafting of a great number of uncoordinated and incoherent strategy by various institutions. Organization of the Office of the Prime Minister Following the functional review by the team of experts of FRDOM 5, the Strategic Development Plan of the Office of the Prime Minister (Decision No 04/ ) and the Regulation on Organization and Job Systematization, the Office of the Prime Minister has completed the main typical functions mentioned above. The function of coordination of strategic planning and policies is covered by the Office for Strategic Planning, respectively the Coordination Secretariat of the Government, the function of coordination and planning of legislation coordination is performed by the Legal Office, whereas, communication and ensuring of transparency and accountability is performed by the Office for Communication, respectively by the Office for Good Governance, and the function of coordination and organizing the meetings of the Government is covered by the Coordination Secretariat of the Government. According to the principles of Functions in 2009 Functions in 2014 SIGMA Coordination of preparation of CSG CSG meetings of the Government Ensuring harmonization of MEI LO/MEI legislation Coordination of preparation of There was no structure OSP the Government s priority Coordination od policy CSG CSG proposals Coordination of planning of MF MF/OSP Ensuring of legislation harmonization Coordination of preparation of the Government s priorities and the work programme Coordination of policy proposals Coordination of resource planning in the public sector Communication of Government s activities to the citizens Monitoring of implementation and performance of Government s Programme. Coordination with the other institutions (Government, Presidency, etc.) Coordination of European Integration. 5 FRIDOM (Functional Review and Institutional Design of Ministries) financed by the DFID for functional review of the Government. The Project was implemented during

14 Figure 1: Staff number in the OPM, Source - Budget Comprehensive REPORT on implementation of the Public Administration Reform Strategy resources in the public sector Citizen communication on the Government s activities Monitoring of implementation and performance of the Government in relation to the Government s Programme Coordination with other institutions (Government, President, etc.) Coordination of European Integration OPC CSG CSG MEI OPC CSG CSG MEI Given the achievements so far, as the challenge of the OPM is inclusion of a number of functions that could be performed by ministries or other institutions. The great number of structures and function 6 within the OPM impacts in distribution of human, financial and energy resources to the secondary functions. This way of distribution of human resources may impact the quality of the priority agenda of the Government and distribution of energy and human capacities and less priority issues. Distribution of human resources illustrates this in the best way. Out of 642 officials (according to the Budget 2014), 99 officials have been included within the Office of the Prime Figure 1 Minister to perform the basic functions mentioned above. This number includes also all other support functions (fig. 1). The reasons that assigned the centre of the Government by additional functions were various. Many functions that are considered that they did not function well at the level of ministries were decided to be increased to the level of the OPM (State Archives, SAK) or for political reasons (the office of communities) or a request of international 6 Other functions within the Office of the Prime Minister are performed by special offices or agencies such as: veterinary and food, state archives, water management, security issue, statistics, gender equality, issues of protection from radioactive radiation, community issues, supervision of enforcement of official languages, official gazette, property issues, etc. 14

15 15 stakeholders (Language Commissioner, Property Coordinator, etc.), or at the beginning the lack of ministry departments (coordination of regional cooperation). This resulted that approximately only 19% of the OPM staff was concentrated in performing basic functions of the OPM. This issue was not addressed either on the occasion of reorganization and definition of the Mandate of the OPM by the Regulation on Internal Organization of the OPM. Policy coordination and development Approval of the new Regulation on the Rules of Procedure of the Government in presents advancement and sets the legal basis for management of planning of the Government s processes. The regulation on the rules of procedures presents the main procedural framework for drafting and coordination of strategies, policies, legislation and their communication to the stakeholders and citizens. It also sets the coordination and managing institutional mechanisms for these processes. After this, a number of instructions, guidelines and manuals were approved and it is generally considered t hat this scope of tasks in the framework of the reform has been completed. 8 Coordination of policy drafting at the central level of the Government is performed by the Coordination Secretariat of the Government (CSG), which also coordinates drafting of the work plan, monitoring of its implementation, technical organization of the meetings of the Government by providing the government office with analytical summary for all proposed policies for approval at the meetings of the Government, and monitors the implementation of government decisions. The Regulation on the Rules of Procedure clearly determines the process of policy drafting and the responsibility of each institution. The concept document is an instrument of policy drafting in the Government, which replaced the Regulatory Impact Assessment. According to the Regulation on the Rules of Procedure (Article 29.2), concept documents usually precede the new draft laws, amending and supplementing the existing laws, important sub-legal acts and other proposals that have considerable social, economic and other impact. The Regulation on Rules of Procedure defines the process of drafting, structure and standards of concept documents and explanatory memorandums approved in the Government. These documents are main instruments through which policies are drafted and approved in the Government. Planning of development of policies/concept 7 First Regulation on Rules of Procedure of the Government was approved in Administrative Instruction 02/2012 on procedures, criteria and mthodology of preparation and approval of strategic documents and plans for their implementation - Instruction on drafting and monitpring the Work Plan of the Government, which was approved on 14 November 2011 and the reference number Instruction on drafting the Government s Annual Work Plan, approved on 14 November 2011 and the reference number Instruction on drafting and monitpring the decisions of the Government approved on 16 December 2011 and the reference number Instruction on drafting concept documents and explanatory memorandums. This instruction was approved on and it has the Ref. No 074/ The Council of Director of Legal Departments, in the meeting held on 09 February 2012, approved the Regulation No 01/2012 on the Concil of Directors of Legal Departments, while on 29 February 2012, the Chairperson of the Council of Directors of Legal Departments pursuant to Article 42 (paragraph 8) of the Regulation on Rules of Procedure of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo No 09/2011, signed the Regulation No 01/2012 on the Council of Directors of Legal Departments, which aims to determine the manner of work, organization and functioning of the Council of Directors of Legal Departments - Instruction on the process of public consultations was approved by the Secretary General on number 062/2011, whose main purpose is to be a facilitation mean from which concrete ideas may be drawn for all those that want to organize or be included in public consultation processes. - Manual on Drafting of Sectorial Strategies,

16 documents is carried out though the annual work plan of the Government. The policy quality control included in the concept documents is performed by the Coordination Secretariat of the Government. It is assessed that the process and the quality of policies has been obviously improved lately in the Government. Their improvement impact the quality of approved legislation as well as to their implementation and to the legislation. Introduction of the use of the principle of concept documents for analysis of policies in the early stage of the process of creating policies was a step towards the proper direction. 9 Until now, given the completion of guidelines for drafting policies, there is no internal assessment on the quality of each concept document and the level of their inclusion to the legislation. However, according to the assessment of SIGMA 2014, after the analyses of around 15 Concept Documents, according to them, the quality varies from one case to another. From the analysed examples, it is noted that ministries are making efforts to complete the criteria for concept documents foreseen by the Regulation on Rules of Procedure. But, according to the assessment, the level of included details, such as the analysis of the problem, results of consultations and the civil society varies. In general, the analysis of policies in concept documents is seen to be superficial and in majority of the cases, it does not make any financial assessment and there is no focus on their impact. 10 In compliance with the instruction on drafting concept documents and explanatory memorandums, during 2012, 47 concept documents were approved, during 2013 there were approved 8 concept documents, out of them 5 have been approved, while the other were returned for review. Whereas, the list of concept documents for 2014 was based on the GAWP 2014, which includes a total of 29 concept documents. According to the Regulation on Rules of Procedure, 14 concept documents have gone through examination phases, 2 of which have been approved. While 3 other concept documents are under drafting phase. At the level of ministries, the main structures for coordination of strategic and policy planning are the Departments for European Integration and Policy Coordination established in The establishment of these departments has completed the institutional structure with regard to improving the main planning processes at the level of ministries and their relation to the central level of the Government. In general, the importance of the role and responsibility of the DEIPC was not understood by the majority of ministries, whereas capacities and the number of staff employed in these departments and majority of them performing functions does not match with the level of responsibilities they have. Since the DEIPC are relatively new and their establishment is supported by the central level, it is not surprising that the actual profile of the departments and their capability to perform these tasks varies from one ministry to another. The current capacities of all ministries for implementation of their ambitious tasks are very limited 12. There are non-clarities in some ministries, 9 SIGMA Policy Making and Coordination Review 2014, page SIGMA review 2014, page Regulation 01/2011 on Departments for European Integration and Policy Coordination. 12 SIGMA Policy making and Coordination Review 2014, page

17 17 because the same functions are covered by other departments, therefore, it is required to provide a clear definition of their role. The assessment of the Departments for Policy Coordination and European Integration by the European Integration 13 states that a great transfer of the staff of these departments remain the greatest problem, but each ministry has its own specifications 14. According to this assessment (figure 2) concerning the qualifying structures of the DEIPC, 2/3 of them have completed the master level of education. The majority of them graduated in economy (30%), then in justice (25%) and administration (25%). According to the assessment (see figure 3), 2% respondents are assessed to have knowledge at the level of experts, 26% advanced level and 72 % are at the beginner s level concerning knowledge on European issues. The EC Project recommends that the increase of their capacity should be further coordinated with the Ministry of Public Administration and possible trainings may be performed after the general assessment of the work of Departments and the assessment of training needs. Strategic Planning The strategic planning system is composed of a number of institutional, coordination mechanisms and strategic documents. The office for Strategic Planning comprises the main managing and coordinating structure for functioning of the strategic planning system. Meanwhile, process coordination is performed through institutional structures (Steering Group for Strategic Planning, the Board of general Secretaries, working groups on drafting and monitoring of strategies), which serve for liaison of planning processes and quality assurance and coherence of strategic documents and liaison other planning processes (budgetary process, legislative process policy-making, the process of implementation of European Integration, etc.). Planning of the work of the Government is made through a number of documents. The main priorities of the Government derive from the Government s programme (and other strategic documents) and are reviewed each year through the Mid-Term Priority Policy Statement. In 2012, the Priority Statement was drafted and approved by the Government in April 2012, and lately in April 2013, the Government approved the Mid-Term Priority Policy Statement , which for the first time deals also with definition of priorities within sectors. This presents a step forward, but this year, the Office for Strategic Planning did not follow the practice of the year before but that of 13 Assessment of the capacities and strengthening of the key Kosovo structures for the EU acquis transposition and policy coordination, European Commission Project implemented during Assessment of the capacities and strengthening of the key Kosovo structures for the EU acquis transposition and policy coordination, European Commission Project, page

18 the previous years, wherein the present Priority Statement similarly as in the one before some years does not focus on priority at sectorial level. The Mid-term Expenditures Framework (MTEF) presents the document that determines microeconomic prediction and budgetary projections for a period of three years, which according to the review of the Priority Statement are reviewed each year. The Budget Law, the Plan for implementation of European Integration criteria and the Work Plan of the Government present the short-term planning documents of the Government. This in theory presents an almost structure of the main strategic and planning documents in the Government. The Agenda of strategy drafting is performed through the Annual Plan of strategic documents. This strategic document plan is approved as part of the Work Plan of the Government. By determining the criteria and procedures through the Administrative Direction 02/2012, better coordination was achieved with regard to strategic and policy planning, wherein in particular during 2013, application of sectorial approach while compiling strategic documents (at the beginning of the establishment of the OSP, there were over 90 drafted strategy) resulted into their reduction and brought it to 40, with the aim of further reducing this number. Given the existence of main planning documents in the Government, quality assurance, consistency and their interaction is not at the required level, among other, also because of the lack of cooperation among institutions in charge for their drafting and insufficient capacities at the central level for their coordination (figure 5). Moreover, such a situation is also caused by the lack of general mid-term/long-term strategies, a challenge that was foreseen to be drafted during 2014 by the support of the European Commission. Coherence of the planning documents: MTEF GAWP MTEF GAWP General Structure Document coherence Priorities Consistent Consistent Sectors Partly Consistent Partly Consistent Priority Objectives Generally Consistent Generally Consistent Measures/Activities Little Consistent Partly Consistent Priority Objectives Partly Little Generally Generall y Priority Measures Partly Little Partly Partly Domination of EI Priorities No No Partly Generall y Measures/Activities Partly Little Partly Partly Coherence of EPAP and SAAAP Source: Main documents of the Government and the expert analysis of SIGMA. It should be also emphasized that there is still a lack of coordination of ministries with the Office of Strategic Planning, respectively in relation to implementation of the Administrative Instruction 02/2012 and the Regulation on Rules of Procedure of the 18

19 19 Government during drafting strategic documents. Given the increase of coordination level in the last years, an issue that is worth to mention as a factor is the transfer of staff. There are cases when ministries do not comply with the instructions of the central level, (though this was reduced obviously in the last year) related to drafting of strategic documents, as the documents are drafted without including them in the annual plan of strategic documents, while are forwarded to the Government regardless of the procedures determined by the Regulation on Rules of Procedure of the Government and the Administrative Instruction. Even though, the OSP notes that this is eliminated for 90%. Another quite challenging aspect is strengthening of monitoring and reporting system on implementation of strategic documents and capacities in general. Currently, there is no structure at the central level to ensure this, whereas the capacities and the interest of the OSP to ensure it are not appropriate. The field of policy management has had evident progress during the four last years. The progress was emphasised in completing almost all main functions that an Office of the Prime Minister is supposed to have according to the best international practices. However, it is required more concentration of human resources in the basic functions, because only 10% of the staff of the Office of the Prime Minister is concentrated in these functions. The adoption of the new Regulation on the Rules of Procedure of the Government was followed by adoption of almost all other sub-legal acts and guidelines for its implementation and which did not exist before the adoption of the PAR Strategy. Nevertheless, their implementation is a continuous challenge. Moreover, the majority of strategic documents and policies are in place and the institutional framework for their implementation has been completed having established the Office for Strategic Planning at the level of the OPM and the Departments for European Integration and Policy Coordination at the ministry level. It is required better coordination among institutions at the central level 1 (OPM, MF, MEI) and among them and the level of line ministries. As further challenge, it remains: ensuring and increasing the policy quality especially through increasing the quality of concept documents and strategies, ensuring the consistency, quality and their relation to the legislation, budget and other financial resorces. Moreover, due to major difficiencies, creation of implementation monitoring system presents the future step after the consolidation of planning system Objective 2 Legislation Drafting The main objective of the PAR Strategy in the field of legislation drafting is reorganization of legislation drafting system and capacity strengthening in the institutions for planning, drafting and supervision of legislation according to the need to ensure the binding power of governmental policies, including also approximation to the EU legislation. The legislation drating system through working groups according to the Regulation on Rules of Procedure of the Government 2007 was considered not to be effective. Moreover, there were no ssufiecient and clear instructions on procedurs, standard and role of institutions in legislation drafting and its validity on clear policies. A continuous identified problem was strengthening of capacities in legislation drafting, especially its harmonization to the EU Legislation, definition of the role of institutions and establishing the structures for this process. 19

20 The majority of secondary legislation was approved by ministries, creating confusion in relation to the discretion of ministries in approving the secondary legislation. There was also no respective central structure to create a registry and publication of this legislation at the central level. In the majority of cases, but not alway, the legislation was published by ministries in their official webpage. Structures and legislation drafting process The process of legislation drafting has been regulated by the Regulation on Rules of Procedure of the Government 9/2011. The regulation defines in details the responsibility of each institution during the legislation drafting process. In addition to the Regulation on Rules of Procedure of the Government, the Government was mainly focused during the three past years in completing the legal infrastructure, which enables to increase the quality of drafting and supervision of legislation 15. The process of establishment of Kosovo institutions, as of the beginning, was accompanied by the establishment of structures for legislation drafting either at the central level (the Office of the Prime Minister) and at the ministry level. The Legal Office of the Prime Minister s Office 16 generally contains all the masic tasks and responsibilities for coordination of legislation drafting and ensuring its quality. In addition to that, the Office facilitates also the coordination with the Ministry of European Integration to the process of legislation compliance with the European Union Legislation (The EU Acqius). The Office has already employed 11 (eleven) civil servants including the Office Director and Coordinator. Coordination of activities in legislation drafting in the Government is carried out through regular meetings of the Council of Directors of Legal Departments, led by the Legal Office of the OPM 17. The Legal Office of the OPM continuously informs the Legal Departments of Ministries closely cooperating in preparation of the Legislative Programme of the Government. As of 2013, the Legal Office in cooperation with the Ministries prepares the programme of sub-legal atcs approved by the Government and the respective Ministries. From the previous years, progress was marked in the process of drafting legal and sub-legal acts, by adjusting to the demands and priorities of the Government. According to the Regulation, legislation of drafting is always preceded by the approval of concept documents by the Government, which sets the policies by which respective drafts are to be drafted. However, there are no analysis and information whether rthis process impacted the improvement of legislation quality. With regard to the process of drafting draft legal acts after the entry into force of the Regulation on Rules of Procedure of the Government, the procedure changed, eliminating the obligation to establish working groups. But, if the ministry decides to establish a team, it can do that at the level of the ministry. After the draft law is drafted and approved by the Ministry, it is obliged to send it to the Legal Office for comments and afterwards to the other institutions and stakeholders who have to respond in writing to the sponsor of the draft law. 15 Administrative Instruction No 03/2013 on the Standards of drafting normative acts The draft law on normative acts was adopted by the Government and it is now being reviewed by the Assembly 16 The mandate of the Legal Office was defined by the Regulation 16/2013 on the organizational structure of the Office of the Prime Minister and the Regulation on Rules of Procedure of the 09/ The responsibility for coordination of work in legislation drafting and the work of the Board of Directors of the Legal Departments is regulated by the Regulation No 09/2011 on Rules of Procedure of the Government and the Regulation of the Council of Directors of Legal Departments. 20

21 21 In this case, it is considered that the process of organization of discussions about the draft normative acts has been apparently advanced in comparison to the situation that was prior to the entry into force of the Regulation on Rules of Procedure. Following the entry into of the regulation, each proposing body (line ministries) during drafting of draft laws and sub-legal acts always acrry out pior consulations with the public with the aim of obtaining inputs, comments and suggestions. Nevertheless, organization of preliminary and public consultations is implemented electronically ( ), which is considered to be one of the ways of preliminary and public consultation. Moreover, almost the elimination of inter-ministerial working groups during legislation drafting (a previous practice) resulted as positive in terms of timeframe and simplification of procedures, but it had a negative impact to networking and inter-institutional coordination of officials of respective fields, in particular the legal one. Meanwhile, this also impacted the quality of proposals lacking direct opinions/comments of the officials included in the process. Compared to the situation that was three years ago, it could be said that there is significant progress in increasing the transparency. However, the quality of proposals leaves much to be desired, taking into account the lack of institutional culture providing written comments. Another uncertainty in this process remains the lack of information related to inclusion of recommendation to the draft laws. Despite this, the responsibility of the LO in legislation approximation to the acquis does not coincide with its existing capacities, especially if the lack of capacities in this field is taken into account. Therefore, capacity strengthening of the staff of the Legal Office and Legal Departments is a constant need. In general, capacity strengthening was not made according to the strategic framework drafed by a training needs assessment. Harmonization of legislation to the acquis The Legal Office of the OPM facilitates and coordinates with the Ministry of European I Ntegration the process of compliance of the Republic of Kosovo legislation to the European Union legislation (The EU Acqius). 18 In order to prepare the fulfilment of this task during 2013, the Legal Office in cooperation with the MEI and Legal Departments in some other ministries commenced concrete pilot projects on the charts of harmonization to the acquis communitaire and the draft laws package that is related to the process of Visa Liberalization. These pilot projects started with two types of charts, Kosovo EU and EU Kosovo. During the process of drafting normative acts, the proposing body prepares a statement on approximation and harmonization with the EU legislation and the compliance charts. As of 1 January 2014, the Compliance Chart shall be attached to each normative act. The Compliance Chart that is prepared by the Line Ministries initiating the draft law. Whereas, the MEI shall issue a Compliance Statement of the national legislation to the EU one. Taking into account the additional obligation in relation to the European integration process, particularly as it is anticipated to finalise the SAA soon, the requirements for approximation of national legislation with the Acquis are being increased. As a challenge of the institutions remains the capacity on planning and know-how about the EU legislation to respective sectors with the aim of approximation. According to the 18 Article 38, paragraph 3.5 of the Regulation on Internal Organization of the OPM. 21

22 assessment of Legal Departments, they require deep knowledge on EU legislation to the respective sector, including also the ability to draft legislation and and techniques of implementation and preparation of compliance charts 19. This assessment emphasises that the function of trainings has been developed at a low level. The part of staff members among the LO who received more than one training on EU is less than one fourth (1/4). Training topics vary continuously, therefore, this indicates the need of a comprehensive training strategy related to EU approximation, depending on specific needs of each Department and Ministry. 20 As challenge in regard to legislation harmonization to the aquis is also the translation of the EU legislation into Albanian language. One step towards improvement in this feild is the close cooperation with the Republic of Albania. The Republic of Albania expressed its willingness to provide the Republic of Kosovo with the entire EU legislation translated into Albanian language 21. According to the assessment of the EU Project (see figure 5) around 60% of the staff of legal departments deal with law drafting, 30% have been engaged in the work of legislation drafting to the acquis, while 10% have been engaged in coordination work. According to the Assessment supported (figure 4) by the European Commission, the education level of the LDs is: 49% with master level and 48% with bachelor education level. This means that the staff qualification structure in these departments is satisfactory. The assessment of the experts of the European Commision Project was generally focused on the capacities of legal departments on legislation approximation to the acquis. On the other hand, there has not been any assessment on the LD capacities in drafting of legislation until now. Secondary Legislation Until the approval of the new Governmental Regulation on Labour the responsibility of structures of the Government in the domain of the approval of sub-legal acts was unclear. Over the past three years the majority of secondary legislation is adopted at the level of the Government which means that the responsibility of adopting sub-legal acts is centralized at the government. This has 19 Assessment of the capacities and strengthening of the key Kosovo structures for the EU acquis transposition and policy coordination, European Commission Project implemented during 2013, page Assessment of the capacities and strengthening of the key Kosovo structures for the EU acquis transposition and policy coordination, European Commission Project, page On 26 March, the Albanian Ministry of European Integration submitted to the Kosovo Ministry of European Integration around 4000 pages of the EU legislation. 22

23 23 affected the volume of work of the Government in the adoption of secondary legislation by increasing the volume of work over 100% from 2011 to 2013 (see below for details). During first years before the approval of the new regulation there was a lack of information about the legal acts approved by ministries and at other levels as well. In order to screen the situation in this aspect over the past three years the Legal office in collaboration with Legal Departments has collected Sub-legal acts issued by the Government and Ministers until the year 2011 and has created the register of Sub-legal acts. Ministries are obliged that sub-legal acts approved by Ministers to bring them to the Legal office in electronic and hard copies latest three (3) days after they are signed by the respective Minister. Only those acts that are in register are considered to be in force. Nevertheless, the quality of Sub-legal acts approved before the year 2011 is not being controlled. In 2013 the Government has approved sixty six (66) sub-legal acts, in 2012 has approved fifty six (56) sub-legal acts and if compared with the year (23 sub-legal acts being approved) there is an increase over 100 % (fig. 6). Since 2014 according to the Draft law for normative acts and sub-legal acts, sub-legal acts will be published in official gazette as well. For the management of publication of sub-legal acts in the official gazette the responsibility will pass over to the Office for publication of Official gazette which will also keep on maintaining the data base of the normative acts that are in force. After the approval of the regulation of the work of Government in 2011 the system of drafting the legislation has changed from the one of working groups in the system of coordination of written work. Most of the manuals on procedures and criteria of drafting the legislation and consultation with stakeholders are approved. Institutional structures drafting the legislation at the Governmental level are consolidated as well. There is a progress also in the aspect of producing manuals and dividing responsibilities for the harmonization of national legislation with the legislation of EU. But based on the evaluation done by a team financed by the project of European Commission for legal departments, the capacities for the harmonisation of legislation with EU legislation and planning at the level of sectors and at the central level are not sufficient. Most of secondary legislation before the PAR strategy was approved by Ministers whereas the new system requires that the majority of it is to be done by Government. This has affected in the increase of volume of work of the Government in drafting the secondary legislation up to over 100% from 2011 till This has also affected in the creation of a common base of all secondary legislation and its publication, whereas according to the draft law on normative acts their publication in official gazette will be done starting form 1st January Objective 3 Ethics and Transparency 23

24 The third objective of the SPAR is aiming to create an ethical, transparent and accountable public administration that is not corrupted, non-discriminatory and that offers equal opportunities. Mechanisms for the assurance of ethics at the public administration before the strategy of PAR were not at the required level. The promotion of instruments against corruption is done more in the form of Ad hoc than in a planned way. There was also a lack of mechanisms for the assurance of transparency especially in granting access to public documents. The framework of policies and legislation against the corruption needed improvements, but their implementation in order to prevent and stop the corruptive acts in the administration has not been sufficient. Ethics in public administration The law on civil servants, respectively the chapter VII determines principles of good behaviour in civil service. Also the Code of ethics of Civil service and a number of codes for certain segments of public administration, such as ethics code for Customs, KTA etc. serve as sufficient legal mechanisms to ensure a sufficient level of ethics and accountability in Public Administration. As an additional instrument we have the Manual for Ethics and Transparency published and distributed in September Now remains the challenge of drafting of the second edition of the Manual for the Ethics and Transparency in public administration. The final draft of the new code of ethics, drafted by the working group since some time is waiting for the approval at the Government. Even though it was planned by the APPAR the approval of an ethical Code for those members who are politically nominated, for the moment remains as a future challenge in the direction of increasing integrity in public administration. Ethics and Integrity within the civil service is a responsibility of some institutions and structures established either by laws or sub-legal acts. The responsibility for monitoring the implementation of principles and rules for ethics within the civil service belongs to the Ministry of Public Administration, respectively the Department of Administration of Civil Service (DACS). The Kosovo Law on Civil Service (KLCS) defines the establishment of Disciplinary commissions and Complaint Commissions 23 in each institution. For the violation of the Code of good behaviour and respective legislation except the Complaint Commission and the Disciplinary Commission it is decided also by Kosovo Independent Supervisory Council of Civil Service (KISCCS) as second administrative degree and after that if needed also judicial system. According to the regulation for Disciplinary procedures in the Civil Service, DACS keeps the information on disciplinary measures for institutions of Central level. As it can be seen in the below table the number of disciplinary measures during the year 2013 has decreased at 43.3% compared with the year Year Number of disciplinary measures The aim of publishing this manual is to offer a short overview on what is ethics and transparency at public administration and of international and national documents in which are included or determined rights and obligations of public administration respectively the rights and obligations of civil servants. 23 Regulation No.05/2011 on procedures for the solution of disputes and complaints Regulation No.04/2011 on Disciplinary procedures in the Civil Service 24

25 25 Source: Annual reports of DACS for 2011, 2012, Whereas at some institutions that have a more specific mandate that are more exposed to the cases that violate the ethics, there are special structures for this problem. Within these institutions such as Kosovo Tax Administration, Kosovo Customs, Kosovo Police etc. there are units for professional standards that are responsible for the investigation of cases that are related with the corruption and violation of ethics. Units of personnel in these institutions are responsible for maintaining the information for measures taken regarding the dispositions related with ethics. Regarding the increase of capacities, until now there is not done any assessment of training needs and any plan for the training of public officials and civil servants in the field of ethics. During all this time, only during 2012 was organized a training that lasted three days on the topic Ethics and anticorruption in public administration. In this training were trained forty six participants. Whereas in 2013 was held a two-day training at the same topic and thirty six (36) participants were trained. This is not sufficient. Other information on trainings of public officials in these topics is not provided by respective institutions. Anticorruption Except the strategic framework foreseen in the PAR strategy for this theme and in general the prevention of corruption is included in more details through policies and activities planned in the strategy for the prevention of corruption reviewed in 2013 which serves as strategic framework for the work of the Anticorruption Agency (ACA). The strategy has the Action Plan Anti-Corruption The legal framework for the fight against the corruption is very much advanced in Kosovo. Apart of the Law for the fight against the Corruption there are also a number of specific laws such as: The law for prevention of the Conflict of Interest, the Law on declaration and the origin of property, Penal Code, The law on Access on public documents, Kosovo Law of Civil Service and its sub-legal acts for its implementation 24. Also in order to advance further the legal framework there is already in the procedure of change the Law on Declaration, Origin and control of property of Senior public officials and the Law on prevention of the Conflict of Interest in performing public functions. The responsibility for the provision of principles included in this objective in the side of Government belongs to the Office of Good Governance in the PMO. The Anti- Corruption Agency is a specialized institution responsible for planning, prevention and combating the corruption. Below we give the report of the ACA on the strategy implementation and the action plan against the corruption for the reporting period June-December The Action Plan against the corruption has undertaken in total 155 actions. Responsible institutions during this reporting period did not report at all for 46 actions or for 30 % of cases. For 109 actions reported by institutions and based on the reports received the ACA 24 For the list of Sub-legal acts on the implementation of Civil Service see the chapter management of human resources. 25

26 has drawn a conclusion that 66 actions are realized or are at the process of being realized, or shown in percentage, that is 42%, 18 actions are partly realized or 12% and 25 actions are not realized or 16%, as they are shown in the figure The level of qualitative implementation is very difficult to know, having in consideration that in reports are presented only quantitative data regarding the implementation of the action plan. However, the level of declaration of property of senior public officials is nearly complete. Here are included the selected and politically nominated officials and senior civil servants. The extension of the scope of the Law on Declaration of property and the extension of competencies of ACA also in issuing fines for its violation presents a progress in the prevention of actions against the integrity of public officials. According to ACA only two high public officials have not declared their property and haven t given any reason during the regular annual process of declaration of property based on the legal timeframe for the year The regular annual declaration of property were obliged to do 3038 officials and 3030 officials so far have done the declaration, or shown in percentage 99.74% of them declared their property. This marks the highest percentage of declaration of property since This process has been obligatory for officials who took over the functions or were removed from functions as a result of local elections that took place at the end of last year. Even in this process the declaration of property did 95% of high senior officials of the local government 26. Regarding the investigations undertaken for the cases of violation during the year 2013, ACA has developed the investigation procedure for a total of 319 cases, whereas in 2012 the agency treated 306 cases. Regarding the prevention of the conflict of interest, ACA has sent for interpretation, treatment or solution 238 cases in total of alleged conflicts of interest in the public administration. In 2012 there were 131 cases of alleged conflict of interest; in 2011 there were 54 cases and during the year 2010 there were only 65 cases of alleged conflict of interest (fig.8). The reports indicate that the number of cases in the category of those proceeded to the prosecutor have marked an increase in 2013, whereas cases of the conflict of interest have marked an increase of nearly 100%. But, it is not clear what has caused the increase of the number of cases of corruptive acts, the increase of confidence in ACA, as there more cases reported in last years, or it is increased the effectiveness of ACA in last years. ACA reports and other evaluations identify two main issues. First, the false declaration of property and the conflict of interest are still treated as administrative violation even though they are penal acts according to the new penal code. Second, there is a lack of 25 Annual Report of ACA for the year See: 26

27 27 inter-institutional collaboration, especially between ACA and the Attorney General, even though the situation lately has improved. Despite the positive developments marked lately, it remains a challenge the interinstitutional collaboration in the field of ethics protection and combating corruption. In the government the main institutions (OGG, MPA) besides the work in development of legal framework are so little or not at all engaged in this aspect. The collaboration between ACA, Attorney General and judiciary system also remains a challenge in the future. Promotion of instruments for prevention of corruption Regarding the promotion of instruments against the corruption, accountability and ethics several measures have been taken with the help of external assistance. With the support and collaboration with UNDP with the aim of assessment of implementation of legislation for integrity and anti-corruption, the PMO has organized a seminar with the topic: Planning and management of general risk in June Also in collaboration between the Government, ACA and EULEX is prepared and published a TV spot that is shown for one month in national TV channels of the country. Regarding the research of public opinion on ethics, integrity and the corruption in the public administration, several surveys are done, mainly by international organizations that work in Kosovo or by NGO-s. Among them it is worth to mention the Public Pulse Report number 6 published in 2013 by UNDP or Business Corruption and Crime in Kosovo, 2013 by the United Nation Unit. The report of UNDP published in August 2013 indicates that based on surveys made with citizens the degree of corruption is increased if compared with period of time April-October Nov-10 June-11 Nov-11 Apr-12 Oct-12 Apr-13 Customs 45.1% 42.3% 53.7% 43.2% 49.9% 58.9% Courts 49.7% 41.6% 55.6% 44.5% 47.5% 56.4% Health Care 47.9% 40.7% 49.8% 43.3% 51.6% 50.4% KEK 52.4% 47.9% 61.2% 47.8% 53.8% 48.8% KPA (Kosovo Privatization Agency) 52.0% 40.5% 51.9% 49.4% 46.4% 48.7% Central Administration/Government 47.5% 41.4% 43.3% 39.5% 35.7% 46.1% KTA (Kosovo Tax Administration) 24.9% 36.5% 38.1% 33.6% 42.5% PTK 34.0% 32.4% 46.6% 41.8% 45.1% 41.4% Municipalities (Local government) 32.9% 30.4% 31.9% 30.1% 32.2% 38.9% EULEX police (CIVPOL) 22.9% 26.2% 27.1% 28.3% 28.7% 38.3% Banks 14.4% 14.9% 22.0% 20.5% 22.8% 37.5% Education (schools, university) 14.4% 13.1% 17.3% 26.2% 23.5% 31.6% Local Police 15.2% 15.5% 19.5% 19.4% 28.0% 30.3% International organizations 14.7% 12.3% 20.3% 19.3% 20.8% 24.8% Source: Public Pulse Report VI August 2013, UNDP But the plan for awareness raising of public opinion and promotion of combating the corruption is not being done even though it was planned in the Action Plan of PAR. Also it is not done any survey of public opinion or any report on the perception of citizens about the level of corruption. 27 Public Pulse Report 6 Report published by UNDP 27

28 Transparency and access to public official documents Transparency is one of principles of good governance and as instrument to provide integrity, accountability and participation etc. The transparency is related with all segments of administration and that s why it is treated in other chapters of this report. The principle of transparency is treated within the strategic framework and is included in a number of legal and sub-legal acts that are related with functioning of public administration. The provision of Transparency and inclusion during the decisionmaking process, policymaking and drafting of legislation is regulated with the work regulation of Government. But in order to ensure a more structured collaboration with stakeholders, the Government in 2013 approved the strategy and the action plan for collaboration with civil society The strategy is drafted in full collaboration between the Government and organizations of civil society represented by the platform CIVIKOS. The Strategy and the Action Plan for its implementation foresee activities and policies through which the civil society and stakeholders will be included in the governmental policymaking process. In order to ensure the implementation of this Strategy, the Government has established the Council for implementation of the Governmental Strategy for collaboration with Civil Society The Council is the main structure responsible to ensure the implementation of the strategy for collaboration with civil society 28. Also it is worth to mention the agreement between the Government of the Republic of Kosovo and the platform CIVIKOS which has affected positively as a mechanism for the promotion of collaboration with the civil society regarding the drafting of different public documents 29. However the success of the implementation of these mechanisms remains to be seen in the future. One among instruments for the provision of Transparency and increase of Accountability is the right of access to public documents. This right is granted with the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo 30. While as a main law that regulates the realization of this right is the Law on Access to public documents, but also the Law on Administration of Office Work. But, main institutions who ensure the implementation of the Law on Access to public documents are the Ombudsperson and Prime Minister s Office Communication Office. The office for public communication in Prime Minister s office according to the Law for Access to Public Documents is responsible for the preparation of a full report on the implementation of the law and the same report publish and deliver to the Assembly, give recommendations on the implementation of the law by including here proposals for the review of the law and to prepare an action program with measures to be taken by institutions in the implementation of the law. While according to the Law for Access on Public Documents, the institution of Ombudsperson has the general responsibility in the supervision of implementation of the law for Access to Public Documents. However, the Ombudsperson has no authority 28 Governmental decision No.. 04/181 on date 2 nd April Study done by Kosovar index of civil society by the Kosovar Foundation for Civil Society (KCSF) states that most of the organizations who participated in the survey (63.64%) declare that during last three years the civil society is involved in drafting public documents as well. 30 Article 41 of the Constitution states that: 1. Each citizen enjoys the right of access to public documents, whereas the paragraph 2 states that: Documents maintained by public institutions and bodies state government are public, with the exception of information that are limited by law because of the privacy of business secrets or of classified security information.. 28

29 29 to impose penalties for those who do not respect the law. According to the Article 17 of the law for Access to Public Documents, the task of the institution of Ombudsperson will be to ensure the realization of unobstructed right on the Access to public documents, especially: 2.1. to take necessary measures in order to promote and support basic rights for access to documents and 2.2. to prepare regular reports for the Assembly on the implementation of the right for access to official documents from public institutions.'' Article 10 states that: Refusal of the request and failure to respond to the request within the timeframe defined will be considered as a negative response which gives the right to the one who made the request to initiate the procedure to the Ombudsperson, to other public institutions, respective courts in accordance with law in force. Even though the standards for communication with the public are determined also with the Constitution of Republic of Kosovo and by the law for Access to public documents, in the annual report of Ombudsperson for the year 2013 it is stated as following: the implementation of the law for Access to public documents in practice is followed by difficulties of different nature. The number of reported cases in the institution of ombudsperson regarding the denial of the right for access to public documents in 2012 is 17. If compared with the previous year 2011 there is a light increase of reported cases. This increase might be attributed to a number of activities of the ombudsperson institution in meetings with citizens or by organizing round tables. The aim of these meetings was to raise the awareness of citizens on their rights to be informed with the content of documents drafted and kept by public institutions 31. Regarding the profile of applicants the greatest number of requests for access to public documents in central institutions constitute the requests made by citizens (48%). The highest percentage of citizens that request access to public documents stands well ahead before the requests from journalists who made requests at the percentage of 37% or economic operators and civil society have made request at the amount of 6.9% each 32 (See figure 9). While drafting the third comprehensive report in the realization of the right for access to public documents from the PCO (Public Communication Office) it is noticed that in the implementation of the law for access to public documents is functionalized the system of treatment of requests of citizens for access to public documents in respective institutions. Mainly communication offices within ministries deal with the initial treatment and address the requests for 31 Annual report of Ombudsperson for the year Comprehensive report of public institutions for the realization of the right of access to public documents, March 2014, page

30 access to public documents. During the year 2013 are evidenced 1999 requests for access to public documents of these requests are allowed, 37 of them are denied, 50 of these requests got limited access, and 64 of them did not get any reply and 5 33 considered as others. (fig. 10). But despite the responsibilities of the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ombudsperson, one of the main problems is the lack of a central institution responsible to impose sanctions in cases of failure to release the information and not allowing access to public documents without giving legal reason. Sending cases to the court might be not an effective mechanism due to procedures and inefficiency of the justice system to resolve cases. Also the lack of legal provisions defining the need that public institutions must be proactive in publishing the information, while not all public documents are required to be published in the register of documents or to be published in the online register. The strategic and legal framework for the domain of ethics, transparency and anticorruption in Kosovo is advanced at the satisfactory level, even though very often amendments are made. The new Anticorruption Strategy is approved in 2013, whereas the law on prevention of the conflict of interest and the law for declaring the property and gifts are in the process of amendment. The level of access to public documents is advanced in comparison with period before the approval of PAR strategy. From 1999 requests for access to public documents made in 2013 are given permission to 1833 of them whereas in 2011 there were 4 times less requests with 494 requests made and the access was given to 483 of them. Also the level of declaration of property of senior public officials and work in prevention of the conflict of interest is advanced significantly after the completion of legislation. The level of declaration in 2014 was 99.74% and if compared with the year 2011 when it was 93.9% it looks better. This positive movement is done among others also because of the increase of capacities of the anticorruption agency and as a result of the increase of collaboration between ACA and other institutions, especially with judicial institutions. But despite the completion of legal and institutional framework and significant advancement on ethics, transparency, accountability and anticorruption the level of implementation remains one of the main challenges for institutions, as a consequence of the lack of capacities of judicial and prosecution system. It is necessary also the provision of the data for cases that are related with good behaviour and planning of activities for the awareness rising on the fight against the corruption. It is needed to clarify and to be empowered further mechanisms to ensure access to public documents Objective 4 Communication and participation of citizens The Strategy component of PAR for communication aims to achieve the reorganized communication system and increasing the participation of citizens in the process of drafting policies, legislation and decision making. The role of communication units in relation with ministry spokespersons has been unclear. It was concluded that the communication system with the public was not connected with the policy development and coordination. Also in the system of 33 Source: 30

31 31 governmental network was a lack of needed information for policies and decisions taken by policymakers and decision makers. As a strategic framework for the communication domain has served the Strategy for Public Administration Reform and Strategic Development Plan of Prime Minister s office. Both of these documents foresee the advancement of the communication system within the Government and the communication with citizens. It is considered that the legal framework regarding the communication with the public 34 is completed. The establishment and functioning of the system and the way of communication with the public by the institutions of public administration is done based on the regulation 03/2011. This regulation defines roles, duties and functions of offices and communication officials and spokespersons in public institutions. Regarding the communication structures already all ministries have communication offices and their spokespersons. The communication office in the Prime Minister s office serves as coordination of the coordination process and for supervision of the implementation of the access to public documents in the Government. The office of communication with the public at the PMO has already seven officials. Also communication offices in Ministries are functionalized and completed with the necessary staff. The regulation of work of Government 09/2011 stipulates that every policy approved in the government must have the information about the involvement of stakeholders and citizens and must show how the policy communicates with the public. Chapter 10 of the work regulation stipulates detailed provisions of the Government communication with the public. For effective communication of policies and activities of the Government with citizens, will be used different methods of communication, including media, official websites, announcements, local presentations, literature and other appropriate methods for communication with communities. Also, the Government meetings are public. Planning and coordination of governmental communications for every ministry is scheduled through coordination of communications plans with the annual work plan of the respective ministry, as well as preparing the calendar of upcoming activities, to facilitate the design of the communication plan for key policy documents. But despite the effort of the PMO /PCO to push institutions to make communication plans, so far it has not proven successful. Policy documents are not associated with communication plans. This is due to the general lack of coordination of work of institutions, especially those who develop policies and communication structures and treatment of communication agenda as separate process from other processes of Governmental work. Office of Public Communications at PMO, on daily basis prepares overviews on governmental events presented in the press and media in Kosovo, which are 34 - Governmental Work Regulation (obliges all respective institutions policies, documents and decisions approved to be accompanied with communication plans). - Law on access to public documents (grants the right of each person or juridical entity without discrimination on any base to have Access after the request in maintained and drafted documents or received documents from public institutions). - Regulation No. 03/2011 for the service of governmental communication with the public. - Regulation No. 04/2012 for official evidence of requests for Access to public documents - Administrative instruction No. 03/2011 for web pages of Public Institutions and - Regulation No. 02/2012 (MF) for the fee on Access to Public Documents. 31

32 distributed through to all communication offices in line ministries. But the challenge remains to increase the level of internal institutional communication. Ministry communications offices regularly send notices for media events, and the same ones are coordinated at the Governmental level. But statistics are not provided by the PCO in connection with the presentation of events in the media or dissemination of information statistics probably due to the fact that the indicators of success within APPAR for this have not been determined. Regarding official websites all public institutions are obliged that these websites contain contact information, information on services offered, legal acts, sub-legal acts and other documents. With such a work is charged the communication officer. Even though it is done the standardization of websites there is no information on the control of accuracy of this information, is this information updated etc. Also the Government has its integrated portal with basic information and links of websites of main institutions 35. Regarding the content and update of institutional websites it has mainly to do with Minister s activities (for example: speeches, meetings, visits) and very rarely with continuous initiatives in relation with policy development or new measures that wide public would like to have impact on them. It is considered that there is an advancement of the legal and institutional framework in the field of communication in governmental institutions since the adoption of PAR strategy. It is clarified the role and responsibility of institutions, particularly the role and responsibilities of communication units. But as a constant challenge remains the coordination of communication and its integration with the process of policy making in the field of communication through the development of communications plans for policy priorities, especially the coordination of communication of the Governmental agenda with the agenda of European integration. There is also inadequate quality of information in websites. This is due to the general lack of coordination of work of institutions and treatment of communication agenda as a separate process from other processes of governmental work. This correlation has leaded also to the lack of statistical data on communication activities. Also, generally the low commitment of institutions in the development of various instruments for measuring public opinion for the work of institutions. It is needed capacity building in a planned way and according to the needs of the relevant officials in communication field. Conversely although it was planned with the action plan of PAR, the strategy for communication of PAR is not drafted and approved Objective 5 Budget planning The aim of PAR strategy is to have a planned budget in full accordance with priorities defined by the Government that aim the support of development policies and address citizens needs of republic of Kosovo. Despite the general formulation and no measurement of this goal, this means that in the drafting of the strategy of PAR one of the problems identified was the lack of interconnection of the budget with priorities and governmental policies, and the lack of coordination between institutions to improve this process. Also, there was a lack of 35 According to the administrative Instruction No. 02/2011 for the portal of Government of Republic of Kosovo. 32

33 33 capacity of budgetary institutions to justify their budget requests for funding their projects, especially capital projects. Budget Planning The system of budget planning is regulated by the law for the management of finances and responsibilities (LMFR). This law defines in details the process of budget planning, institutional responsibilities, procedures, planning calendar, structure etc. The main document of midterm budget planning according to this law is the Midterm Expenditure Framework (MEF) 36. According to the law MEF defines the budget according to the three year forecast of revenues and expenditures of budget organizations. MEF planning is done according to Macro fiscal framework and the declaration of Governmental priorities, a document that is drafted by the Prime Minister s office in collaboration with MF and MEI and line Ministries. However LPFM does not define responsibilities on defining development priorities in which the MEF should be based. This planning segment is adjusted later by sub-legal acts (the decision on the establishment of the Office of Strategic Planning, The regulation for internal organization and systematization of work places of PMO). The MEF structure is divided into economical categories and budgetary organizations. The declaration of midterm priority policies does the structure of priorities according to sectors as preliminary step for restructuring of budget planning based on programs. But despite this initiative of last year, the process this year has gone backward by neglecting the approach of defining priorities of sectors through the statement of priorities. This means that such reform of budget structure although there are years that is being discussed, has not been implemented yet. The MEF document is more focused on the annual budget plan and two years planned are in fact almost the same as total amount, and they are repeated from year to year. Budget planning is managed through two electronic systems: The Budget Development Management System (BDMS) and the Public Investment Program (PIP). Through the system of BDMS is made the planning of budgetary lines of salaries and allowances and goods and services and through the PIP system are planned capital projects. These systems are distributed and used by all budget organizations A challenge to the advancement of the PIP system remains the quality of data or medium-term planning by the BO as documentation for projects is often not complete. PEFA report notes that "the medium-term planning by the BO through the PIP system has made progress by BO, but documentation for projects is often not completed, by not taking into account the recurrent cost implications in subsequent budgets and lack of coherent sector strategy that implies the development of projects in terms of isolation. This applies to both levels of government (local and central), mostly at the municipal level 37. "Budget ceilings for each budget organization are determined every year for the next three years through the MEF and are approved by the Government at the end of April every year. The process of determining these limits and discretion and ways of defining them by the ministry of finance remains unclear. Although it is claimed that the quality of budgetary limits set by the MEF largely depends on the quality of strategic documents and the cost of implementing them, in reality in most cases strategic documents have no influence on this process. Therefore, if the budget projections are considered according to the MEF, and compared 36 Law for management of finances and responsibilities (article 19). 37 Report Public Expenditure and Finance Assessment 2013 page 21 33

34 with an annual budget plans, they have significant moves and changes. Furthermore the change we have with budget projections and with expenditures by budget organizations. According to the PEFA assessment, the discrepancy in the composition of expenditures in 2010 was 14.6%, while in 2011 it dropped to 7.1% until 2012 continued to decline to 6.6% (Figure 11). In changes in budgetary limits except strategic approach in planning at the central level, a remarkable effect has also the change of budget requests, lack of justifications by budget organizations, lack of presenting of performance indicators, but also poor costing of policy and legislation. A challenge comes up in the reflection of donation sources of finances either in macro fiscal forecasts as budgetary revenues or in MEF. MEF tends to reflect projects that are co-financed with IPA. For IPA programming with the budgets for the period are approved co-finances at the value of 26.9 million euros, as following: Year 2010 = 7.5 million euro; 2011 = 5.6 million euro; 2012 = 6.7 million euro; and 2013 = 7.1 million euro. These are sums of co-financing. As an example IPA during the year 2011 has financed 68.8 million Euro, during the year 2012 it financed 70 million euro, and for the year 2013, million euro. Stable macroeconomic and fiscal policies as sub-objective of PAR Strategy is also to develop stable macroeconomic policies, in particular fiscal policies, and advancement of the preconditions for the introduction of private sector in providing public services (development of systems for monitoring and evaluation). One of the principles and objectives of the Government expressed in most of strategic and planning documents during the past years has been the implementation of policies that ensure the preservation of budget sustainability. This principle is explicitly defined in the Plan for implementation of Economic Vision, Declaration of Midterm Priority Policies and MEF continuously. This has also been one of the main requirements of the International Monetary Fund through agreements "Stand By agreements. Kosovo since the beginning of last year, but also in last years, has stayed very well in the preservation of macro-fiscal sustainability. Treasury system ensures the detailed control and the Ministry of Finance has been able to limit public spending given the shortfalls in projected revenues. Annual fiscal management system has been operational in recent years. Macroeconomic projections and midterm fiscal frameworks are prepared by the Department of Economic and Public Policies at the Ministry of Finance. Despite the improvement, macro fiscal framework within MEF document appears not to be comprehensive since it still lacks other sources of funding such as donor commitments (those that are known) and borrowings, based on the borrowing plan in various financial institutions that the Government approves each year. This among other happens due to the lack of a strategic and comprehensive approach to budget planning and due to the lack of real coordination for including within one framework of 34

35 35 all funding sources. Although this issue has improved, during the MEF budget , where the government in the declaration of priorities included all sources of funding (PEFA rating), still the statement of priorities for the years as part of the MEF seems to represent a step backwards in terms of inclusion and clearer specification of sectorial priorities in a policy document priority policies. Also, as a challenge in forecasts and Macroeconomic projections are seen policies and unplanned decisions either at the level of expenditures or regarding policies on budgetary revenues undertaken by the government in many cases. In terms of indicators of economic development according to the MF it is estimated that local economy during 2013 grew at a rate of about 3.2%, an increase which is higher of about 0.8% from growth that happened during Regular government expenditures in Kosovo for years are estimated to approximately 1.6-billion euros. The new fiscal rules determine the maximum of 2% primary deficit and also it requires that the bank balance at the end of each year should be at least 4.5% of GDP in order to maintain fiscal stability and budget stability. Public Private Partnership - Taking into account the gap between the needs for capital projects and budget limited opportunities, the Government has accepted the PPP as one of the possibilities and forms of financing of these projects. Implementation of PPPs is also one of the priorities of the Vision Plan for Economic Development and the Government's program. On the other hand, the Ministry of Finance is finalizing the Public Private Partnership Strategy. Regarding the implementation, Kosovo is still at an early stage of development and implementation of PPP transactions. However, steps have been taken toward building this capacity, by drafting and amending the special legislation that regulates PPP adopted in 2009 and revised in 2011 and also by creating central bodies intended for PPP policies and guidelines for transactions - PPP and central Department for PPP 38. These developments have served as important steps in building the capacity of PPP in Kosovo. As a result, since the approval of the first law for PPPs in 2009, Kosovo has been able to develop and finalize two transactions of PPP, one complex transaction for the design, construction, financing, operation and transfer of International Airport of Pristina and one for providing services for urban transport in the municipality of Peja. One PPP for providing services for the collection and classification of waste in SuhaReka Municipality is given and is awaiting the signature of contract. There are also a number of projects that are at the initial stage or at the phase of the feasibility study to be implemented through PPP form For more information for PPP see at: 39 Project Urban bus in Peja, Suhareka: management of waste, Prishtina: underground parking, Gjilan: supporting school infrastructure, Prishtinë: Urban Transport, Viti: Green market, Lipjan: the city square. 35

36 The Planning Budget system has maintained the level of stability to ensure the addressing of government requirements based on the needs and based on Government s program. In comparison with the period before the adoption of PAR strategy it is clarified the legal basis for the division of roles and responsibilities in the field of strategic planning, policy and budget at the ministry level and at central level of government. Even the cost criterion for policy and legislation is significantly strengthened. But the sector level capacity for costing the documents is still incomplete. The interaction between the government budget and priorities, even though it has been one of the main objectives of budget planning, it still remains one of main challenges, especially in preventing unplanned decision that have budgetary implications. Some of sub-objectives of the strategy, especially the one that is related to macroeconomic policies and public private partnership (PPP) seem not to be quite relevant for the purpose of PAR Strategy Objective 6 Budget execution Main aim of the objective 6 of the Strategy of Public Administration Reform has been the increase of effectiveness (performance) in budget execution, compiling requests by budgetary organizations in accordance with criteria defined, especially by controlling the limits of appropriations and allocations (including here the appropriate audit). Main needs that were expected to be addressed during the implementation of PAR strategy for the segment of budget execution have been as following: completion of legal framework, mainly the finance regulation, especially in the aspect of decentralization of public expenditures by this regulation. Also it is showed the need for the completion of legal framework for financial reporting and establishment of monitoring unit of budget execution. Budget Execution Now after the process of PAR implementation it is considered that the legal and institutional framework in the area of budget execution and prior control are complete and in compliance with EU legislation, but there is room for further harmonization by experts of the respective fields. Law on Public Financial Management sets the general legal framework, among other things also for the execution of the budget. Besides this law there are a number of sub-legal acts that regulate the field of the expenditure of public money 40. The institutional competencies responsible for the budget execution fall to the Treasury Department. As already being assessed by various international assessments (such as PEFA, sigma) the treasury system is well developed and operational. It supports the processing of commitments, requests for purchases, payments, cash management and debt, financial control, and reporting on management and finance. More attention is focused on payment systems, for which the Treasury operates from regional offices that serve as the control point for all payments made by the Kosovo Consolidated Budget. Currently, the Treasury Department has a division that deals with the Cash Management and Debt. The main role of the department is to ensure the liquidity of Government, as well as to track cash flow, and make decisions on short-term investments together with the Central Bank of Kosovo. 40 Financial regulation 01/2013/MF Spending of public money that has replaced the financial regulation 02/2009. Financial regulation 02/2013/MF for reporting the unpaid debts by budget organizations. Financial regulation for the closing of the fiscal year No. 10/2012, Financial regulation for opening the fiscal year No. 11/

37 37 As for the budget organizations, cash planning is organized in preparing detailed plans for the cash according to the budget categories. At the beginning of each budget year the Treasury issues a regulation that requires from BO cash flow projections and then from them is drafted a plan for cash flow on monthly basis. This plan is then reviewed by the Division of Cash Management and is used to inform the process of allocating funds in SIMFK. Department of the Treasury, from 2010 is complemented also with the Monitoring Unit of budget execution. Its task is to monitor the registration of transactions in SIMFK by budgetary organizations, the implementation, i.e. the implementation of financial regulation for spending public money, namely respecting deadlines during the registration of transactions in SIMFK, monitors delays in payments through SIMFK and individual reports of budget organizations received on a monthly basis according to financial regulation 02/2013 of MF. The Treasury Single Account and SIMFK enable access and budget data up to date in every moment. Budgetary organizations are connected to SIMFK, which enables the generation of accurate budget reports throughout the year, for purposes of management and reporting of public finances. The system enables comparison of original budget estimations with the latest information about allocations, commitments, actual spending, balance of the budget and employment in accordance with the requirements of LMPFR 41. (Law on the Management of Public Finances and Responsibilities). Treasury produces regular quarterly reports on budget execution of the Kosovo Consolidated Budget. These reports are issued within 30 days of the end of each quarter and submitted to the Government and the Assembly of Kosovo. Reports are published in the official website of the Ministry of Finance 42. During 2013 all quarterly budget reports are approved and published, while the Annual Report for the Budget of Republic of Kosovo for 2013 the Government of the Republic of Kosovo was adopted in March The data according to the budget execution reports indicate almost linear level of budget implementation during 2011 until Whilst the budget in years 2011 and in 2012 it was implemented to the level of 92%, level of implementation during 2013 was 90%, meaning that it has a decrease of 2% (fig 12 & 13). 41 PEFA report page Published reports can be found in this link ( 37

38 Strengthening the system of control - internal control procedures are comprehensive, relevant and well understood, with the harmonization done between primary legislation, secondary legislation (Treasury Financial Regulations), and the application Fig. 12 Fig. 23 of SIMFK. Treasury has also successfully implemented the decentralization of final controls of expenditures of budgetary organizations 44. The Unit of monitoring of budget execution every day is in contact with the budget organizations, specifically with financial officials regarding the possible mistakes that can be made during the implementation and in obeying the financial regulation 01/2013/MF for spending public money and implementation of the accounting plan during the recording of financial transactions in SIMFK. Treasury sends daily to Budget Organizations (central and local) that collect revenues reports of all sub-accounts electronically. These reports about the state of bank accounts enable to BO to put in SIMFK revenues collected by classifying the type of revenue, economic code and according to the departments. The Division of Revenues in Treasury monitors the recording of revenues and participates in the monthly reconciliation. Besides daily and monthly reconciliation of bank accounts, The Accounting and Reporting Division requests from BO three-month reconciliations of Treasury records (SIMFK) and of BO for revenues and expenses and advances as well. The process of reconciliation is not signed between the Treasury and BO and if there are discrepancies, even if it is in the smallest amount. Consequently, the reconciliation process is made in a very transparent way and timely, as required by LMPFR in order not to remain unexplained any financial difference 45. Budget execution system is considered to be at the right level and among areas in which the activities planned under the PAR Action Plan (APPAR) are completed. Treasury system as the main component of budget execution is well developed and operational. It supports the processing of commitments, requests for purchases, payments, cash management and debt, financial control, and reporting on management and finances. The Unit of monitoring the budget execution is established and is operational. However, the challenge remains the difference between the planned level of the budget and the level of expenditures. This difference during the last three years is around 10% or with a tendency to decrease in the future. 44 Report PEFA page Report PEFA page

39 Objective 7 - Control and Internal Audit Improvement of internal audit system is part of the complete system of internal control in the public sector and one of the objectives of the PAR. It is also aimed to make the internal control functional and improve quality control by audit units in public sector entities. Among the problems that have arisen at the time of formulating the strategic framework in the field of internal audit has been the increase of the number of internal audits and increase of the level of implementation of recommendations of the internal auditor and the findings of the external auditor. Also a problem was identified in the capacity building of internal auditors and their certification according to international standards. Legal and institutional framework - There is a comprehensive legislative framework that regulates the field of internal audit and control, including here the primary legislation, guidelines, and other standards 46. During the year 2014 it is planned to review some administrative guidelines and regulations, such as: Administrative Instruction No. 23/2009 on the establishment and functioning of the Internal Audit Units in the Public Sector, Administrative Instruction No. 05/2012 for the Procedure of getting the Professional Licence of Internal Auditors of Public Sector, the Regulation of Treasury 01/10 MFK. The government has established an institutional framework consisting of public sector organizations by working with the guidance of the Central Harmonisation Units, respectively for Financial Management and Control and Internal Audit and under the supervision of the External Auditor to establish a chain of accountability. In February of 2014 is made the reorganization of the unit for financial management and control based on the legal requirement. 46 Apart of these, there are also other laws that are related with KBFP, by including - Law on public enterprise (Law No. 03/L-087, changed and amended with the Law No.. 04/L- 111) - Law for change and amendment of the law No. 03/L-087 for public enterprises (No. 04/L- 111), - Law on finances of local government (Law No. 03/L- 049), - Annual Laws on the Kosovo Budget Approval, - Law on public procurement (Law. No. 04-L-042), - Law on stated administration (Law No. 03/L-189), - Law on the establishment of the Office of General Audit (Law No. 03/L-075), - Law of anti-corruption (Law No /34). - Law on Civil Service (Law No. 2010/03-L-149), - Law on salaries of civil servants (Law No. 03-L-147) and - Law for access in Public Documents (Law No. 03/L-215): - Law for the management of public finances and responsibilities No. 03/L 048, and the amendments of this law - Documents on policies of internal control of public finances and action plan reviewed in Treasury Manual - The procedure for financial management and control Treasury regulation for 01/10 Financial Management and control - Treasury regulation for spending the public money - Law on Internal Audit No. 3/L 128 on 17 th September The Manual for Internal Audit 2008 reviewed in September Administrative Instruction No. 22/2009 for defining of the criteria and the procedure of issuance of temporary licence of internal audits of public sector - Administrative Instruction No. 23/2009 for establishing and functioning of Units of Internal Audit of Public Sector - Administrative Instruction No. 11/2010 for the functioning of audit committee in public sector - Administrative Instruction No. 05/2012 for the procedure of issuance of professional licences of internal audits in the public sector. 39

40 The central budget consists of 50 organizations, of which 32 are obliged to create UIA (Units of Internal Audits). Currently, 31 of them have established internal audit units, with the exception of a newly created ministry. Some of the ministries due to their specifics have created independent internal audit units for their Sub-Units. As for example, MF has established independent IAU for the Tax Administration and Customs Service, Ministry of Health has established IAU for the University Clinical Centre of Kosovo, Ministry of Internal Affairs has created IAU for Kosovo Police and Kosovo Academy for Public Safety 47. Internal Audit in Kosovo is considered to be functional and it meets professional standards 48. In the Improvement of internal control and transparency of public expenditures has contributed the reporting to the Assembly, the organization of conferences, seminars and various public meetings. Audit reports are submitted to the audited entity and to the Audit Committee and Senior Management. IAU drafts quarterly and annual reports for internal audit activities of BO that are disseminated to the CHU (Central Harmonization Unit). CHU drafts annual reports on the activities and operation of BO and submits it for review to the Minister of MF. The report along with relevant comments is submitted to the Government, Parliament and OAG. Below, in Figure 13. Is given the data for audits and the degree of implementation of the recommendations in Fig. 14. Source: data provided by the internal audit department Statistics show that the number of audits does not differ much through the years despite the increased number of audit officials. Also the number of recommendations and their implementation level varies very little over the years: 2011 = 52.59%; 2012 = 52.88%; 2013 = 52.1%. Capacity building for audit and internal control - Although there has been not any overall strategic plan of training officials of audit and internal control, during the last years continuous training have been organized, especially those supported by donors. 47 PEFA evaluation page PEFA evaluation 40

41 41 In the area of internal audit in the past three years we have an increase of number of internal audit units as following: 64 IAU in 2011; 67 IAU in 2012; and 71 IAU in 2013 Also during these three years we have an increased number of internal auditors as following: 123 IA in 2011; 133 IA in 2012; and 144 IA in Number of Audit Units Number of auditors Source: department of internal audit, Ministry of finances During the year 2013, 98 financial officials have been trained. Besides financial officers 14 local trainers are trained as well and they will continue to train other financial officers in the future. Besides training, pilot projects trainings for the financial management control have been organized in three budget organization by involving 18 internal auditors. 41

42 During the year 2013 started the second phase of training of internal auditors in the training program for international certification. The program included 76 internal auditors and 30 other internal auditors who were in the process of certification in the first phase of training. The training was organized in two groups and lasted 70 working days for both groups. Training was conducted by local trainers who were certified by CIPFA during the first phase of training in order to continue with this program in the future. Currently 32 internal auditors got their certificates from CIPFA. In 2014, it will start the second phase of certification of internal auditors by CIPFA. Besides the training in the program for international certification, other trainings are organized as well, such as: training for new auditors was organized in the topic "Basics of Internal Audit" and were included 9 new auditors. The other training was organized in the topic "Strategic and annual planning" and were included 85 internal auditors. There has been progress in terms of building institutional and legal framework in the field of internal audit and control. The legal framework is considered to be completed and the number of audit units has increased since 2011 as it was 64 to 71 units in Also there has been a significant and progressive increase of the number of internal auditors recruited and certified. There were 123 internal auditors in 2011 and their number increased to 144 in The primary challenge for internal audit system turn out to be increase of the level of quality of audits and increasing the level of implementation of recommendations by budget organizations. Also it is required to continue further to do capacity building of auditors Objective 8 Public Procurement The objective of the PAR Strategy for public procurement is the modernization of public procurement procedures and practices in line with the best European and International standards. Among the main problems identified in the area of public procurement system are shown to be the advancement of procurement procedures, ensuring greater transparency, modernization of procurement through e-procurement and establishment of procurement efficiency through centralized procurement system. During this year is foreseen to be drafted the strategy of public procurement which aims to strengthen the system of implementation of public procurement in Kosovo, which aims to be achieved at high levels of rationality, accountability and justification of public funds and to increase the transparency and integrity in public contracts in Kosovo. The legal framework for public procurement in Kosovo is approved in time and it is considered to be in accordance with EU legislation. Also, the institutional framework required to ensure the implementation of the legislation is established and is functioning. The main bodies that have a major role for public procurement in Kosovo are: Public Procurement Regulatory Commission (regulatory body), Procurement Review Body (review of complaints) and the Central Procurement Agency (joint procurements). 42

43 43 Public Procurement Regulatory Commission has approved all necessary secondary legal acts for the implementation of the Law on Public Procurement in Kosovo. Initially, 70 parts of secondary legal acts have been approved entering into force in The main achievement are: inclusion of seven (7) procedures 49 for the development of procurement activities, where contracting authorities have the possibility to choose depending on the nature of the procurement activity. Based on the report of the PPRC for 2013, the analysis of the structure or participation of the procedures implemented during 2013, in fig. no. 14, shows that the participation of the open procedure in the total value of the signed contracts is 87.86%, which represents the procedure which is most commonly used and recognized as the most transparent procedures. Likewise, the participation of the negotiated procedure after the publication of a contract notice is 0.02%. The participation of the negotiated procedure after publication of a contract notice during 2013 has marked a decrease. While this participation in 2008 was 16.07%, during 2009 it dropped to 10.83%, and in 2010 this participation has fallen to 7.02%, whereas in 2011 it was 6.21%, and in 2013, the application of this procedure was only 5.6% (fig 15). Figure 15 Raporti vjetor i KRPP-së Fig. 16, PPRC report 2013 Participation of procedure based on price quotation is 5.78% and as per minimal value, it participates with 0.57%, while the design contests participate with only 0.17% in the overall value of contracts signed during 2013 (Figure 16). Therefore, we can conclude that the application of the open procedure has an increasing trend, whereas the application of the negotiated procedure without publication of a contract notice has a decreasing trend, and these are positive and promising indicators for the public procurement system 50. In general, the procurement system has continued to be strengthened as far as legal framework is concerned and the roles among key actors have become clearer Open procedure, restricted procedure, and design contest procedure, negotiated procedure without the publication of a contract notice, negotiated procedure after the publication of a contract notice, price quotation and minimal price procedure. 50 PPRC report 2013 p General Auditor Annual Report for 2012 p

44 However, completion of legal and institutional structure for public procurement shows that the procurement system remains the most sensitive and most criticized segment of administration as far as the possibility of exposure to corruption cases is concerned. One problem which has been noted in the past years in terms of the system of handling complaints for public procurement is the fact that the Procurement Review Body has not been completed with new members yet. PRB, after the expiry of the mandate of the chairman of PRB and one other member of PRB, from to it has received 214 complaints, which were examined by the review experts and recommendations on these complaints were provided, however, no decision has been taken in the absence of the Board of PRB 52. Complaints, in general, are those which have opposed decisions of Contracting Authorities regarding contract awards, decisions regarding the termination of procurement activities or those against favoring or discriminating technical specifications foreseen in tender dossier. Centralized procurement As for the assurance of efficiency in implementation of procurement, one of the challenges remains that the functioning of centralized procurement has not started well yet, which is an obligation of the Central Procurement Agency. Non-functioning of CPA regarding centralized purchases is not helping the process of reducing the cost of administrative procedures for multiple purchases of the same goods or services. This lack of functionality can also affect more expensive supplies. Therefore, it is important to undertake immediate actions to start centralized procurements through CPA, whenever possible for goods or services where economizing can be applied. On this occasion, as an effort to address this issue, a list of items for common use has been made for centralized procedure in 2013 and 2014, nevertheless it still remains as one of the greatest challenges in public procurement. Based on Article 95, point 2 of the LPP No. 04/L-042, CPA has submitted the list of items for common use for centralized procedure for 7 (seven) categories on The list remains to be approved by the Government of the Republic of Kosovo based on the proposal of the Ministry of Finance 53. Based on the analysis of the report on public procurement activities in Kosovo for 2013, and based on the monitoring and observations conducted, as well as comments received by PPRC from the contracting authorities in Kosovo regarding the manner of the implementation of the Law on Public Procurement in practice, PPRC recommends the following measures for improvement and advancement of public procurement system in Kosovo: - Continuous reforms in the public procurement system in Kosovo, continuous trainings of public procurement officers. - Reduce as much as possible the application of low value or minimal contracts by using public framework agreements, as well as centralized procurements. - Further improvement of the official electronic webpage of public procurement, enabling increase of transparency in public procurement and in promoting 52 Procurement Review Body Annual Report for 2013 p

45 45 efficient procurement, by relying on contemporary procurement practices and new technology, such as electronic procurement and electronic auction. 54 Public procurement As for e-procurement, until now, there has been no legal or sublegal act to regulate this method of procurement. Therefore, one of the first tasks to start with the e-procurement system is to initially approve a normative act on e- procurement. Within the frame of the program on modernizing public sector (co-financed by the Government and the World Bank), a specific component is dedicated to electronic procurement. The tender for e-procurement is currently in process, whereas the launch of implementation is expected to be during June of this year. Application of electronic procurement is expected to start as a pilot project in 5 contracting authorities in October After testing this project in these 5 contracting authorities, its full application throughout the territory of Kosovo is expected to start in July Public procurement is the most sensitive area of public administration. Progress had been made in completing secondary legislation on public procurement. Likewise, progress has been noted in ensuring transparency and in increasing the level of using open procedures and reducing the level of applying other procedures which provide less transparency. The level of application of open procurement procedure during 2013 has been 87.86%, whereas the level of application of negotiated procedure has been reduced from 16.07% as it was in 2008 to 5.60% in Increasing transparency in the application of public procurement, particularly through the application of electronic procurement system, as well as the application of centralized procurement remain as uncompleted actions of PARAP which are to be implemented in the future Organization of Public administration The objective of the Government through the PAR Strategy is reorganization of the executive and bodies within the executive in compliance with the approved recommendations of the functional review of respective normative acts. Legal and strategic framework has been lacking for institutional organization. A coherent strategic framework has been lacking both in the aspect of organizational structures and in the allocation of staff according to the reorganization of institutions. Initially it can be stated that organization of state administration in Kosovo has a particular history since the establishment of local strictures within UNMIK, establishment of the Government of Kosovo and gradual transfer of powers to local institutions, a process which has lasted for a decade. The character of the UN Mission in Kosovo, its composition and the influence from many international organizations 55 and experts with different experiences and models have influenced on the establishment of a fragmented administration based on different international practices and experiences. 54 PPRC report 2013 p UNMIK Administration was structured in IV pillars. First pillar police and justice, Second pillar civil administration were led by United Nations, Third pillar Democratization and institutional development was led by OSCE, Fourth pillar Reconstruction and economic development led by EU. 45

46 After the analysis of the functional review of the Government, institutional reorganization and defragmentation of administration has become one of strategic objectives of the Government through the PAR Strategy, the Action Plan and the Strategic Development Plans (SDP) for each ministry. Legal basis for the organization of public administration is the Law on State Administration, the Regulation on the areas of administrative responsibilities of the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministries, and the Regulation on internal organization and internal systematization and systematization of job positions in each ministry. Ministry of Public Administration is responsible for coordination and monitoring of internal organization of public administration. 56 Within MPA, the overall responsibility for coordination and monitoring of internal organization of institutional structures, according to the law on state administration, falls on the Department for the Management of Public Administration Reform. Apart from DMPAR/MPA, there are also inter-ministerial structures responsible to ensure that public administration is organized according to strategic objectives of PAR Strategy and regulations of the Law on State Administration. The working group on PAR with its sub-working groups according to strategic objectives of PAR strategy both at the inter-ministerial administrative level and the PAR Commission as a political level and a filter before the decisions on organization structures is approved in the Government. Taking into consideration that the administration is the main bearer for the implementation of government policies and provision of services to citizens, the Ministry of Public Administration has been focused in the internal reorganization of public administration. According to the law on state administration, ministries have drafted respective draftregulations on the internal organization and systematization of job positions, and until now all the ministries have gotten the consent from the Ministry of Public Administration (MPA) and have been approved by the Government of the Republic of Kosovo (apart from MKSF). Drafting of these Regulations 57 has preceded drafting and approval of strategic development plans for each ministry. 56 Legal basis for powers of the Ministry of Public Administration as a responsible institution for the process of internal organization of public administration and ensuring implementation of the Law on State Administration No. 03/L-189 derives from the Regulation No. 09/2012 on the Standards of Internal Organization and Sytematization of job positions in the State Administration approved on 25 April 2012 by the Government of the Republic of Kosovo. 57 Up to the reporting period by IMCPAR and the Government Strategic Development Plan shave been approved for the following institutions: - Ministry of Public Administration approved on 16 December 2009 by IMCPAR and on 9 January2010 by the Government - Ministry of Internal Affairs approved on 16 December 2009 by IMCPAR and on 22 January 2010, by the Government - Ministry of Transport and Post-Telecommunication (read: now the Ministry of Infrastructure) approved on 1 July 2010 by ICMPAR and on 15 September 2010, by the Government - Ministry of Local Government Administration approved on 23 September 2010 by IMCPAR and on 29 Septemebr 2010, by the Government - Kosovo Institute for Public Administration approved on 23 September 2010 by IMCPAR and on 29 September 2010, by the Government - Ministry for Communities and Returns approved on 12 July 2011 by IMCPAR and on 10 August 2011, by the Governemnt - Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning approved on 12 July 2011 by IMCPAR and on 27 July 2011 by the Governemnt - Ministry of Finance approved on 12 July 2011 by IMCPAR and on 21 December 2011 by the Government - Office of the Prime Minister approved on 23 November 2011 by IMCPAR and on 14 December 2011, by the Government - Ministry of Economic Development approved on 23 November 2011 by IMCPAR and on 14 December 2011, by the Government 46

47 47 The process of drafting Regulations for Internal Organization and Systematization of job positions will continue with independent institutions (agencies) within the Government. DMPAR is in the process of drafting a list of other institutions which will be responsible for drafting and processing of regulations for internal organization and systematization according to the Law on State Administration. Taking into consideration that the approval of regulations for ministries has ended recently, and already a challenge has come up and that is the evaluation of the level of their implementation. Drafting of evaluation reports is one of the next steps and tasks of DMPAR/MPA. During the establishment of administrative structures in Kosovo, there were no criteria for their organization and categorization. Therefore, different practices have been applied during their establishment. Each ministry has had a discretion for internal organization through an administrative act signed by a respective minister. In addition, at the central level there were no responsible institutions to set rules, criteria and standards of organization. This has resulted in the establishment of different kinds of administrative bodies with different status and different names. Although the law has entered into force as of 2010, their systematization according to determined criteria still represents a challenge for the Government. The Law on state administration, Article 2 identifies 5 categories of state administration bodies in Kosovo: 1. High state administration authorities the Government as a whole, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers and Ministers. 2. High state administration bodies Office of the Prime Minister and Ministries are high state administration bodies through which High State Administration Authorities exercise their government and administrative powers. 3. Central state administration bodies subordinate bodies of state administration which carry out non-ministerial functions or other administrative functions. 4. Local state administration bodies municipal bodies of state administration. 5. Independent state administration bodies legal entities which exercise their state administration activities requiring high level of independence for the public interest. On the other hand, the obligation to draft personnel plans has not been implemented by the ministries. This process has lagged behind and has not been developed due to the fact that appraisal performance of civil servants and the process of internal reorganization has not been finalized yet, what is more, it is in the initial phase as far as personnel plans are concerned. - Ministry of Justice approved on 23 November 2011 by IMCPAR and on 5 January 2012, by the Government - Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports approved on 23 November 2011 by IMCPAR and on 14 December 2011, by the Government. - Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare approved on 9 March 2012 by IMCPAR and on 18 April 2012, by the Government - Ministry of Diaspora approved on 11 July 2012 by IMCPAR and on 17 July 2012, by the Government, and - Ministry of Trade and Industry approved on 11 July 2012 by IMCPAR and on 17 August 2012, by the Government 47

48 According to the Law on state administration, the ministries have drafted respective draftregulations on Internal organization and systematization of job positions, and up to now, the regulations of all the ministries have been approved by the Government of the Republic of Kosovo (except MKSF). Likewise, regulations on the internal organization and systematization of job positions for 6 independent agencies have been approved. The drafting of these regulations has preceded the drafting and approval of strategic development plans for each ministry. These plan have been based on the recommendations of functional review of ministries drafted for the purpose of internal organization and institutional and human capacity building. Classification/ranking of independent and/or central agencies represents a challenge based on the law on state administration, as well as drafting and approval of regulations for their internal organization. Following the approval of regulations on internal organization of ministries and independent agencies, the next step remains their monitoring and implementation Objective 10 Management and development of human resources Human resources and civil service constitute the core of functioning of an administration and are a precondition for its efficient functioning in particular and the state in general. Capacities of civil service are also precondition and tools to help or hinder achievement of European integration criteria as the main goal of Kosovo. Historically, the civil service in Kosovo is new, and it started to be built up immediately after the establishment of UNMIK administration, while the main principles and rules of civil service have been determined through the regulation 2001/36 and a number of sub-legal acts. The complexity of the establishment and functioning of institutions has been accompanied with the establishment and functioning of civil service and public administration in general. This complex process has brought up not only the challenge of financial cost but also the challenge of strategic management of human resources in civil service of Kosovo and its reform. Strategic objective 10 of SPAR deals with establishing professional, impartial, independent civil service, and based on merits, including the reform of payroll system directed towards citizens and businesses. At this point, MPA has marked progress in issuing and approving the necessary legislation enabling the management and development of human resources. Legal framework Approval of the Law No. 03/L-149 on Civil Service of the republic of Kosovo and the Law No. 03/L-147 on Salaries of Civil Servants constitutes the fundamental framework and the starting point of civil service reform. New legislation represents the cornerstone of the new payroll system and promotion with clear career structure, which is based on merits and motivates civil servants to keep their working places based on the achievements of predetermined results. MPA has successfully achieved the PARAP sub-objective regarding the approval of all sub-legal acts deriving from the Law No. 03/L-149 on Civil Service of the Republic of Kosovo and the Law No. 03/L-147 on Salaries of Civil Servants ) Regulation No. 02/2010 on Recruitment procedures in Civil Service 2) Regulation No. 03/2010 on Job description 48

49 49 The whole set of sub-legal acts for the implementation of the Law on Civil Service is complemented by MPA Regulation Nr. 02/2014 on Personnel planning which was approved in the first half of 2014, while the draft code of conduct for civil servants has already been drafted, but there are delays in processing it for approval to the Government. Public administration institutions have come across difficulties in the implementation of the Law on Civil Service and sub-legal acts. These difficulties consist in legal discrepancies and contradictions contained in the provisions of the law and sub-legal acts. Difficulties in implementation were also noted in the law on salaries due to the delays in establishing a new system of job classification, but also in the law on state administration. Therefore, in order to correct the deficiencies identified during 2013, the following laws have been drafted: Draft Law on Amending and Supplementing the Law on Civil Service of the Republic of Kosovo, which has been finalized and passed through preliminary consultation procedures, and further processing of the law is expected; the Draft Law on Amending and Supplementing the Law on Salaries of Civil Servants, and the draft law on amending and supplementing the Law on State Administration, which are still in the stage of drafting. In general, although MPA has achieved the indicator of drafting the legislation on the reform of civil service according to PARAP, nevertheless, the main challenge remains its implementation as described below. Institutional structure for the management of human resources institutional structure of human resources has been completed. Department for Civil Service Administration (DCSA), consists of three divisions: Division for Salary Policies, Division for Management of Human Resources and Development of Capacities, and the Division for Payroll system and information for Management of Human Resources. DCSA is responsible for drafting and overseeing the implementation of policies of civil service, to draft, promote and coordinate implementation of policies for training and development of capacities of civil servants, to draft and oversee implementation of policies in the field 3) Regulation No. 04/2010 on the Procedures for the right and proportional representation of non-majority communities in the Civil Service of the Republic of Kosovo 4) Regulation No. 05/2010 on the work schedule 5) Regulation No. 06/2010 on the transfero f civil servants 6) Regulation No. 07/2010 on the appointment of civil servants 7) Regulation No. 01/2011 on interruption, suspension and termination of work relations in the civil service 8) Regulation No. 02/2011 on probation work of civil servants 9) Regulation No. 03/2011 on files and central registry of civil servants 10) Regulation No. 05/2011 on the settlement of disputes and appeals 11) Regulation No. 04/2011 on disciplinary procedures in civil service 12) Regulation No. 06/2011 on holidays of civil servants. 13. Regulation No. 08/2012 on the redundant civil servants. 14. Regulation No. 13/2012 on early retirement of civil servants. 15. Regulation No. 21/2012 on career promotion of civil servants. 16. Regulation No. 19/2012 on the assessment of the performance at work of civil servants. Decision nr.04/84 dated Regulation No. 20/2012 për Punën Vullnetare të Nëpunësve Civil pas Pensionimit., vend.nr.05/93 me datë Regulation No. 03/2012 on the Conditions limiting the right on strike in Special Services in the Civil Service. Decision nr. 04/107 dated Regulation No. 31/2012 on the Procedures for Care for Civil Servants due to mental or physical disability or health problems 20. Regulation No. 06/2012 on Senior Management staff in the Civil Service of the Republic of Kosovo. 21. Regulation No. 05/2012 on Classification of job positions in the Civil Service 22. Regulation No. 33/2012 on allowances and compensation for other Civil Servants. 23. Regulation No. 09/2012 on the Standards on Internal Organization and Systematization of job positions in the State Administration. 24. Regulation on personnel planning 25 Guidelines Nr.01/2014 on the implementation of the process of performance assessment in the civil service of Kosovo 49

50 of salaries, to maintain and administer central personnel registry and the system of information for management of human resources, as well as, maintain and administer payroll list. Although the number of employees in the Department of Civil Service Administration is relatively large (25), only 5 of them are directly involved in strategic planning, policy making and in monitoring the implementation of policies and proactive leadership of processes, while the rest are engaged in maintaining and managing the payroll list. Therefore, the strengthening of DCSA remains a challenge in fulfilling its tasks which, despite great efforts invested by the existing staff, lacked the capacities to take a leadership role in planning the implementation of this legislation, and to play a more proactive role in providing guidance, instructions and in preparing institutions for standardized and coherent implementation of the regulations in force in all institutions. In order to perform this role completely, DCSA needs to expand and build human capacities focusing on strategic planning, policy making and in monitoring the implementation of policies and proactive leadership of the processes. Kosovo Institute for Public Administration (KIPA) is divided in two directorates: Directorate of Trainings and Directorate of Finance and General Services, with a total of 16 employees. Human resource offices are established throughout the central and local level. In each ministry and municipality there exist units of human resources under the department of administration and general services. Independent Oversight Board for Civil Service of Kosovo is responsible for reviewing claims of civil employees and applicants related to employment in the civil service of Kosovo, for overseeing the implementation of legislation on civil service and monitoring the selection of civil servants at management level and similar levels in Kosovo institutions. 59 The system of merit and transparency in the recruitment and promotion of civil employees the process of recruitment is open for the existing civil employees as well as external applicants. Selection is done by a selection commission on basis of merits with the right of appeal at the end of the process. Regarding the transfer of civil employees from one job position to another, this process is conducted in accordance with the Regulation No. 06/2010 on the Transfer of Civil Employees. Table 1 shows that internal recruiting have been a preferred procedure of institutions thus providing an impetus to the career development of existing employees within the civil service of Kosovo. Compared to 2012, in 2013, a decrease of 261 recruitments has been noted from outside the KCS, whereas within the KCS, an increase up to 30 employees has been noted, while transfers have shown a decreasing trend of 14 employees in KCS

51 51 Year Recruitments from outside the civil service Recruitments from inside the civil service From outside the institution Inside institution the Transfers Total Source: MPA report on Civil Service, , MPA has also tried to encourage quality of competition in recruitment processes through transparency in the publication of public advertisements in daily newspapers and the webpage of MPA as shown from the figures in the table below: Year Applicants from outside the civil service Applicants from inside civil service, but outside the institution Applicants from inside civil service and inside the institution Total % 17.17% 5.75% 100% % 7% 6% 100% Source: MPA report on Civil Service, 2012, 2013 Compared to 2012, in Kosovo civil service in 2013 saw an increase in favor of female gender was noted as opposed to males, i.e., 63.8% male, 36.2% female. Likewise, compared to 2012, according to data for 2013, there is an increase in the number of members from minority communities, to 226 employees. Based on data provided by the institutions, 357 persons in KCS are people with disabilities. On the other hand, Independent Oversight Board for the Civil Service, based on the review of complaints of civil employees and candidates for employment, stated that civil employees have not been always recruited and promoted according to civil service procedures based on the principle of merit 62. During 2012, there were in total 470 appeals, out of which 275 concerned recruitment process. Only 52 appeals have been settled in favor of employees 63. Whereas, in 2013, there were 83 appeals linked to the recruitment process, as shown in Table 3 below. Based on the annual report for 2012 of the Independent Oversight Board for the Civil Service of Kosovo, it is stated that despite the noticeable progress achieved in the civil service of Kosovo, proper professionalism, impartiality, adherence to the code of ethics, including the implementation of the 60 MPA report for Civil Service, MPA report for Civil Service, Annual report of the Independent Oversight Board for Civil Service of Kosovo, Report on the implementation of the Action Plan for PAR, DMPAR, December

52 procedures and laws in force has not been reached yet. Building professional capacities in qualitative implementation of the laws and procedures in force remains a challenge. Type of complaint Against the recruitment process Against disciplinary measures/light Against disciplinary measures/serious Other areas Settled in favour of employees Number Total Source: MPA report on the civil service 2013 Payroll system Although the Law on the salaries of civil servants was approved in 2010, the new payroll system has not started to be implemented yet. As an obstacle for its implementation is the lack of classification of job positions. Thus, during 2012, the following sub-legal acts have been approved: 21. Regulation no.05/2012 on Classification of Job Positions, and 22. Regulation no. 33/2012 on other allowances and compensations of civil servants. According to the provisions of the law on salaries and the regulation on performance evaluation (performance), the evaluation process is closely related to the classification of new job positions. Therefore, the implementation of the new payroll system depends on the implementation of the two above-mentioned processes, job classification and the evaluation of the performance at work, and their implementation is a precondition for an effective implementation of the payroll system. In this regard, in order to implement the new payroll system in accordance with the regulation on the classification of job positions, MPA-MF Commission has been established to review the proposals for the classification of job positions. Until now, the Commission has reviewed around 70% of the proposals for classification of job positions. However, the main difficulties have been the procedures for the approval of regulations on internal organization and systematization of job positions in civil service institutions. Another noted challenge was the delay in creating the catalogue on job positions, which was foreseen by the approved regulations. Therefore, lacking necessary instructions, the institutions proceeded on their own to design their proposals for the classification of job positions and to present them to MPA-MF Commission for approval. This process has caused increased in the workload for institutions. The Commission has received a large number of titles and has been trying to harmonize and consolidate them in a catalogue of the classification of job positions, which is still in the process of drafting and is expected to be finalized in the first half of The drafting of the catalogue is being supported by the World Bank. DCSA plans to carry out the appraisal process of civil servants work for 2014 based on the new appraisal system. Setting goals for 2014 was done based on the Regulation no. 19/2012 on the Evaluation of the performance of civil servants. DCSA has issued guidelines how to launch the implementation of the new regulation on the performance appraisal of civil servants. Despite all the efforts made so far, the main obstacle for the launch of implementation of the new payroll system and the promotion remains the 52

53 53 completion of the classification of job positions and the start of implementation of new performance appraisal system. Capacity Building in public administration - Capacity building in public administration is a segment of the strategy covering all areas in specific ways. KIPA is the responsible institution for trainings in civil service, while DCSA conducts training policies. The first strategy on trainings was drafted by DCSA in 2011 and was approved by the Minister of MPA. The Training Directorate in KIPA is tasked to develop and implement an annual training plan for civil servants and other employees of public administration, to assess training needs and results of civil servants trainings. Although more than 45% of employees in the civil service have superior qualifications as shown in the table below, KIPA has continued organizing trainings according to the annual training plan. Qualification structure of civil employees Education Primary Secondary Higher Superior Total % 44% 8% 45% 100% Source: MPA report on Civil Service, 2013 In 2012 over 90 % of the training plan indicators have been implemented by KIPA. During in total 8335 civil servants have been trained in 247 courses, in the areas such as: leadership and management, management of the organization s performance, change management, organization, design and planning of projects, management of innovations, organizational behavior, government communication with public, administrative justice, the law on the protection of personal data, drafting legislation, issues of official protocol, ethics and anti-corruption, public-private partnership, basic public procurement, advanced public procurement, accounting in public sector and financial reporting in public administration, training on archives, the rights of communities for civil servants. 64 Years Courses Days Participants Total Source: Implementation of trainings for the years ,KIPA report for DMPAR, KIPA annual work plan,

54 KIPA has made progress in strengthening and advancing trainings in public administration as shown by the figures in the following tables, by increasing, each year, the number of trainees, courses and training days. Although KIPA has made efforts to further advance the training process and raise the quality of trainings, the lack of budget 65, lack of necessary staff (number of employees in the Directorate of trainings is eight (8) 66, delays in in the implementation of legislation throughout public administration, and lack of sufficient training rooms and other suitable premises remain the biggest challenges. It is also worth mentioning that despite the progress made in advancing trainings, KIPA also faces the challenge in initiating and monitoring the assessment of training impact (Training Impact Assessment) in public administration as a mechanism to improve and increase the quality in KCS. KIPA has tried since 2011 to raise the level of education to senior and management positions in the civil service, based on the advanced professional education in the field of public administration in order to increase professionalism, quality and efficiency. These efforts are shown in the following table: Fig. 17&18. Source: Implementation of trainings for the years , KIPA report for DMPAR, 2013 Regardless of this, the training for specialized areas are managed by the respective institutions in most cases by donor assistance, while KIPA provides advice on these issues. In the area of policy development and strategic planning, support has been provided by DFID as part of the support project for the Office of the Prime Minister and as the support project to the Ministry of Finance in managing public finances, as well as the Project on the functional review of the Government. Support to the policy development 65 Allocation of financial means for KIPA budget for 2013 continued more or less with the same trend as in the previous years. Thus, for 2013, KIPA was allocated 202,745.00, out of which 96, for salaries of KIPA employees, 70, for goods and services, 6, for utilities and 38, for capital projects. 66 Draft Regulation Nr. XX/2013 on internal organization and systematization of job positions in the Ministry of Public Administration 54

55 55 and planning has been provided also by the European Commission, USAID, SIGMA, Swedish SIDA, etc. Trainings organized by KIPA are generally supported by various donors. Trainings for young local trainers in drafting legislation, including the training of trainers in harmonizing domestic legislation with that of the EU, has been supported by GIZ. In 2013, the OSCE has conducted the training and certification of 11 new local trainers in drafting legislation. GIZ has organized training of trainers in harmonizing national legislation with that of the EU, which started in September 2013 and ended in April this year. The number of participants in this training was 20, and the training was conducted in English. In the field of public communication a training on the topic "Government communication with the public", which was attended by more than 40 communication officers of Kosovo ministries, agencies and municipalities. Likewise, trainings supported by USAID were held during 2013 in the area of costing new policies, both for line ministries and the officials of the Ministry of Finance. The World Bank Project on Modernization of the Public Sector, in the last two years, has also supported six budgetary organizations in the field of management of public finances 67. USAID, European Commission, World Bank and DFID have provided continuous support for the department of budget in the Ministry of Finance. The European Commission has supported the advancement of the internal audit system through trainings for internal auditors and their certification. The European Commission and the World Bank have supported the advancement of the procurement system and the training of procurement staff. UNDP, World Bank, DFID, etc., have provided support in the area of civil service system and the organization of public administration. After the approval of the Law on Civil Service and the Law on the Salaries of Civil Servants, the framework of secondary legislation has been almost completed. The main challenge for this objective remains its effective implementation, capacity building of the responsible officers for the implementation of the adopted legislation, in all institutions, particularly the implementation of the new payroll system, implementation of the classification of job positions, performance appraisal, etc. Another challenge is the strengthening of DCSA (the expansion and development of human capacities) with a focus on strategic planning, policy making and monitoring the implementation of civil service policies and proactive management of processes. Another challenge for this objective remains the insufficient budget for KIPA, limited space, capacity building with qualified trainers in KIPA, and the assessment of training needs, including the establishment of a system for monitoring and assessing the impact of training. 67 World Bank program for modernization of public sector, component of public finance management supports the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Justice and Kosovo Judicial Council Secretariat. The project is expected to finish by the end of

56 5.11. Rationalization of electronic administrative processes (e-governance) Increasing the quality of administrative services which are provided by the government institutions to citizens, businesses and the government itself, by digitalizing administrative processes is the objective of the Government. Despite the fact that the information technology infrastructure in the Government has been and is quite advanced, its use for administrative processes has been one of the shortcomings of the public administration in general. Provision of administrative services through IT requires clear administrative procedures. These procedures and the institutions responsible for defining and overseeing the implementation did not exist at the central level of the Government. There was also no unique structure and standards to inform and provide easier access for citizens to administrative services. Increasing transparency and providing access for citizens to the decision making process, as well as providing fast and efficient services to citizens through e-governance in public administration has been a different direction, and a particular contribution was made during E-Governance in Kosovo and improvement of administrative services through information technology has been addressed through several policy documents. E-Government Strategy for prepared by MPA is the main strategic framework for e-governance in the wider public sector (e.g. hospitals, schools, etc.), political processes (e-voting). This strategy also addresses infrastructure and basic IT knowledge as preconditions for the development of a modern information society. Ambitions concerning the provision and quality of services and rationalization of electronic processes according to the strategy have been greater than the possibilities and implementation of automation of processes that have taken place so far in the frame of public administration. However, progress has been made regarding the electronic systems and services always taking into account the measurements that have been carried out by DeGAP/MPA jointly with other actors as shown in the charts below. 56

57 57 Fig. 19. Source: Information Society Agency From the charts (Fig. 19) it can be seen that the greatest progress has been made in drafting policies and legislation (65%). Here we can mention the Law on Information Society, the Law on Digital Signature, the Privacy Law, and the Law on State Domain. As for general procedures, the Law on General Administrative Procedure (which is already under review) constitutes the legal framework and enables the use of IT in administrative procedures. The Law no. 04/L-184 on Administering work in office approved by the Government on 15 December 2012 (while on 25 April, 2013 it was approved by the Kosovo Assembly), Administrative Instruction no. 03/ on the Organization and Functioning of Service Centers for citizens in municipalities 68. Whereas, the strategy for e-governance in the chapters for electronic systems and services and interoperability have been completed at the level of 50%. The Strategy for Electronic Governance has already been reviewed, as well as the legislation and other regulations in the field of IT. Likewise, it is reported that an assessment has been done regarding the condition of the security of the Information Technology system in the Government of Kosovo and as a conclusion, respective recommendations were provided. Following the approval of the Law on the Government Bodies for the Information Society in 2013, the Agency for Information Society has been established and has been operational through the Regulation no. 041/2013 on internal organization and systematization of job positions in the Ministry of Public Administration. The Directorate for rationalization of administrative processes (Article 42) in the frame of the Agency for Information Society is the responsible structure for analysis and rationalization of administrative processes, as well as for monitoring and promoting of administrative processes. It is too early to assess the success of MPA work in issues of administrative procedures taking into account that the function of rationalization and simplification of administrative procedures and their automation is new to MPA. 68 As for the standards, legal framework consists of the following Administrative Instructions: Administrative Instruction Nr. 02/2010 on the Management of Security Information (dt. 26 May 2010) Administrative Instruction Nr. 01/2010-MPA on the Security and Access to Databases (dt. 24 March 2010) Administrative Instruction Nr. 03/2010 on the use of software and hardware (dt. 21 December 2010) Administrative Instruction Nr. 03/2010 on the use of oficial electronic mail (dt. 21 December 2010) Administrative Instruction Nr. 01/2011 on the Management and use of Internet in the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo (dt. 10 August 2011) Administrative Instruction Nr. 02/2011 on the Government Portal of the Republic of Kosovo (dt. 24 October 2011) Administrative Instruction Nr. 03/2011 on the webpages of public institutions (dt. 24 October 2011). Interoperability Framework of the Republic of Kosovo 57

58 Likewise, there is a need to conduct a thorough analysis, particularly in needs assessment for staff training and in greater use of electronic services that are available based on good infrastructure of IT, which is at the disposal of the Republic of Kosovo. The amendment and adoption of the Law on Administrative Procedure will enable the Ministry and Public Administration in general to modernize administration and implement principles of good administration. Regarding the procedures for back office and front office at the local level, it has been regulated by the Administrative Instruction no. 03/ on the Organization and Functioning of Service Centers for citizens in municipalities, while at the central level it is regulated by the Law no. 04/L-184 on the Administration of work in office. Citizens Service Offices for citizens (front office) have been established in all municipalities, while at the central level, these offices were established only in some ministries. Information technology infrastructure is considered to be well consolidated while the strategic framework and institutional and legal structure is almost completed. We could mention the Law on Information Society, the Law on Digital Signature, Privacy Law and the Law on State Domain. Regarding general procedures, the Law on General Administrative Procedure has been already reviewed. Capacity building for the implementation of electronic projects and programs for the provision of quick electronic services and functionality of the Information Society Agency in rationalizing processes will remain a challenge for MPA in the future. Establishment of front offices and back offices is considered as instruments which significantly affect the improvement of administration services for citizens. Their establishment after the local level should be extended to all institutions at the central level, however there is no information on the progress made at the central level Electronic governance (e-governance) The main objective of the administration of this Government, which was announced at the beginning of its governance and was defined through PARS, is the advanced and functional electronic government through the digitalization of and functioning of the Government and public administration, in order to achieve modernization, transparency and high performance of the Government. Electronic governance has continued with the development of electronic systems and the implementation of systems which were developed earlier. In this context, the existing systems have been advanced, such as: civil status, electronic archives, e- property and state portal. The following systems have been developed: e-school as a pilot project, then the Document Management System (DMS), the Vehicle Expenditure Management System (VEMS). Information technology infrastructure, according to the previously approved plans, in general, developed well. State network covers the whole territory of the country. Network capacities are sufficient to allow the development of all necessary electronic services. The network is spread throughout the country with optic fiber (microwave network) which connects as end points around 450 state buildings (facilities). The Voice Over IP has been implemented in most of the central and local institutions, enabling zero-cost 58

59 59 communication within government institutions including Kosovo Embassies and Consulates abroad. Network Operations Center has been functionalized. In the frame of infrastructure, the State Data Centre has been completed and is operational in conformity with the highest standards of IT. State Data Center is at the service of all institutions of the Republic and is administered by ISA. The center is fully functional. Electronic systems and their integration in the Public Administration or in the service of public administration the following systems are operational: Document Management System (DMS) - The system has been technically built and is suitable for any workflow. In the frame of the system, the module for treating requests for access to official documents has been developed, communication with e-portal has been made, and communication with the electronic filing system of documents and ActiveDirectory has been established. The system is in the implementation phase. Advancement of the System, Electronic Archive - In the next phase of its development, this system has been advanced in the part to communicate with system the system of Kosovo Customs - ASYCUDA. The implementation was also done on the points which were foreseen in the contract, and in every point where requests for implementation were made. E-Property A new and advanced version of property management system has been established. A specific module for property management in the engineering department (MPA) has been developed and implemented. On this occasion, the work request form has been made based on the current manual model and the advancement of the rejection and amortization module to adapt to the respective law. The system is fully functional. Civil status has been advanced and is functional based on the requirements of the MIA and EU experts engaged in the field of civil registration. The system is fully operational and is being used in every civil registration office. It has a unified registry and generates personal number for citizens in the country as soon as they are registered in the main registry book. The System - Unification of Databases - Ministry of Justice - Ministry of Public Administration, in 2013, based on the request of the MoJ started to develop the Project "Unification of Databases for the Ministry of Justice". State Portal has been advanced through the module for identification cards, the module for application for official , the module for application for a phone, the module of contact center, the module for advanced search, the module for application for software licenses, the module for access to official documents and the module for internal survey. The digitalization of MPA forms is currently underway. The State Portal is the base port where this information is embedded. Back-up database for civil registry is integrated in the portal and is being updated on regular basis and is accessible to other applications. This interim database operates successfully with the e-school pilot Project. Other systems are being built up in order to set up an interface to enable communication with the back-up database of civil registry. 59

60 The integration of electronic systems and the interaction between them and the provision of services to citizens is one of the tasks of MPA. In this context, the existing systems have been upgraded, such as civil status, electronic archive, e-property, state portal, etc. Other systems such as e-school s a pilot project, Document Management System, Vehicle Expenditure Management System have been developed. The application of the standards of Interoperability Framework should guide government institutions in the future. 6. Management and coordination of the reform The Scope and the actual mechanisms of public administration reform in Kosovo are set in the Strategy for Public Administration Reform and the Action Plan which have been drafted and approved as a result of functional review process during Management and supervision of the implementation of the strategy has been done through a mechanism of inter-ministerial and interinstitutional structures at the political and administrative level. The Inter-ministerial Commission for Public Fig 20 Administration Reform, initially headed by the Deputy Prime Minister, and in 2013 this responsibility was transferred to the Minister of Public Administration, comprises of ministers and leads and monitors the process of implementation of the Strategy 69. At the administrative level, the reform process is coordinated by the PAR Working Group and sub-working groups for each of the 12 objectives (areas) covered by the reform. The Department for Monitoring and Coordination of the Reform in the Ministry of Public Administration is a permanent structure responsible to coordinate the work regarding the reform, through the ministry, the working group and sub-working groups 70, PAR Commission, and to provide relevant expertise for responsible ministries in the implementation of the reform (fig 20). The process is also a regular topic on the agenda of the weekly meetings of the Board of General Secretaries and in the structures of European integrations. In this context, a special working group has been set consisting of officials from Kosovo institutions and the European Commission to pinpoint the priority issues of the reform. As a result of the conclusions of this group and in order to cover the gap created as a result of completion of the timeframe PARS, the MPA had drafted and the Government 69 PAR Commission was set up in The Chairman of the Commission was the first Deputy Prime Minister of the Government taking into consideration nthat this Deputy Prime Minister had no responsibility to lead any particular ministry. Following the elections of 2010, the deputy Prime Minister/Chairman of PAR Commission was appointed the Minister of Justice as well. By leading the Ministry of Justice at the same time, it was impossible for the Deputy Prime Minister to lead the reform of public administration. This caused obstacles in the functioning of PAR Commission, lack of proactive approach in pushing forth PAR, and non-attendance of the meetings, etc. 70 Government decision nr. 05/82 dated 4 July 2012 on organizing structures for the implementation of the Action Plan of the Public Administration Reform 60

61 61 approved on 2 April, 2014, the PAR roadmap for The main structures responsible for the implementation of reform, according to the areas of responsibility of the strategy are the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Public Administration. All these mechanisms and documents, as well as a number of other mechanisms and documents for specific fields 71 of the reform which are led by respective institutions comprise an almost completed and logical frame providing assurance for the successful implementation of PAR. The decision to organize the structures for the implementation of PAR defines in detail the structures, reporting procedures and deadlines, etc. From the formal aspect, these structures are very accurate to holding regular meetings and reporting respecting the deadlines. However, the focus of the working group and sub-working groups served more for reporting on the activities than as an impetus to undertake reforms and discuss and try to find possible solutions for the challenges that have accompanied the reform process. DMPAR/MPA have also led the process of drafting periodic reports and summarized annual reports on the implementation of PARAP based on reports provided by the sub-working group coordinators. It is generally considered that the reports have contained information more on the work processes than on the results of the implementation of the reform. In most cases it is very difficult to assess the achievement of results from the data provided by the institutions through the subworking group coordinators. A proof for the lack of commitment to report has been provided during the drafting of this report. The data received by the coordinators, in most cases, are insufficient to assess the progress made in a particular area. On the other hand, other regular inter-ministerial mechanisms for coordination have been often used by institutions. In many cases, there is an absence of coordination and synchronization of activities among them and structures for PAR. DMPAR, in general, has not been involved in these mechanisms. Despite the achievements in harmonizing data in the reports, it causes expenditures in terms of human resources by reporting on the same issues through the same or different channels. Usually, leading the reforms from the same hierarchical level or from a lower level represents a challenge for the institutions (in this case MPA) responsible for its overall management. This challenge has accompanied also the management of reforms from the level of the Ministry of Public Administration, particularly taking into consideration the highest hierarchical level of the Office of the Prime Minister or the finance sector, which constitute more powerful and more independent segments in relation to the structures of the same level. In many cases, this was noted by the absence of functioning of PAR Commission for a long period of time when this Commission was chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister. Likewise, the quality and commitment to provide qualitative data is not appropriate, because in many cases, it is noticed that there were developments in a sector, but they were not reported. Therefore, due to a number of regular parallel structures and the distribution of few human resources in supporting structures, the strategy coordination mechanism does not prove to be functional and does not provide guidance regarding the reform agenda. 71 A number of documents and mechanisms are operational for specific areas of the reform such as: Strategy and Action Plan against corruption and its implementation mechanisms, the Plan for the implementation of the findings of the Assessment on finance management and responsibilities, e-governance strategy, capacity building strategy in civil service, etc. 61

62 The coordination mechanisms at the political level are officially in place, but in practice they are inactive 72. The review and the change of the PARS scope will inevitably impose a review of the coordination structures of the reform. The need to review these structures comes from the absence of reaching their goals in managing and pushing forth the reform process in the Government. 7. Conclusions Public Administration Reform remains one of the main challenges for the Government of the Republic of Kosovo also in the next mid-term period. In addition to government evaluations, this has been continuously underlined in the progress reports of the European Commission and in annual reports of the OECD/SIGMA for Kosovo. According to DMPAR assessment made in 2013, it was noted that the Objective 6 - Budget Execution and Objective 7 - Audit and Control received the maximum grade 4 (four) according DMPAR assessment system. While the Objective 3 - Ethics and transparency, Objective 4 - Communicating with citizens, Objective 9 - Organization of public administration, as well as Objective 10 - Human Resource Management received the lowest grade (the progress was partially assessed). Other objectives are considered to have achieved progress to a great extent (see figure 21). Fig. 21. The level of implementation of PAR strategy until the end of 2013 according to the evaluation of the Department for the Management of PAR 72 OECD/SIGMA Evaluation on Kosovo for 2013 p