Context
The Government of Kosovo is pursuing a policy of convergence with the European Union with the long-term goal of accession to the EU. In order to enable judicial and administrative personnel to implement the forthcoming reforms largely autonomously, the Kosovar Government has set up two training institutes: the Kosovo Judicial Institute (KJI) for the judicial sector and the Kosovo Institute for Public Administration (KIPA) for the administrative sector.
As yet neither institute is able to perform its tasks to the necessary extent. Moreover, the training courses have been geared exclusively towards the Albanian-speaking target group so far, and there are no suitable courses for the Serbian minority.
Objective
The two training institutes, KJI and KIPA, are able to plan and implement their training courses effectively. They are better able to support the judiciary and administration throughout Kosovo.
Approach
A range of high-quality courses, other training formats and opportunities for professional exchange is to be provided by strengthening the institutes. The continuing professional development offered is designed to enable judicial and administrative staff to act in accordance with the rule of law in an effective manner. The project concentrates on the following areas to achieve this goal:
Setting up a Research and Publications Programme. This KJI programme focuses on producing and publishing resources for the application of law in the judicial and administrative system. These resources include commentaries and compilations of forms and laws. The project is advising the KJI management on the institutional development of the new unit and on other matters.
Developing training options for Serbian-speaking regions. Training courses for Serbian-speaking judicial and administrative personnel are vital to meet the training requirements in the areas inhabited by Serbs, particularly in northern Kosovo. This programme must meet the particular needs of the Serbian-speaking regions, because the staff concerned are largely unfamiliar with Kosovar legal and administrative practice. Finding Serbian-speaking trainers and producing training material in Serbian, as required by law under the country's language regime, presents another challenge.
Promoting professional networking for the exchange of knowledge and experience. By establishing appropriate formats for events, KIPA is to promote networking and exchange between administrative staff from the various ministries and local governments, including the Serbian-speaking areas.
Strengthening management at the training institutions. The management of KJI and KIPA is empowered to implement the training options more effectively. Workshops are held within each organisation to analyse how improvements can be made to the way training is coordinated. This is done in particular by evaluating the trainers and the training modules.
Results
GIZ's work in the partner country has contributed to greater uniformity of court rulings. The resources developed by the predecessor project for the application of law have been distributed to the judicial and administrative staff, who are now using them. As a result of the legal literature published, all the relevant decision-makers in the judicial and administrative sectors can refer to legal definitions and court rulings that conform to EU requirements in their work.
KJI and KIPA plan to hold at least ten training courses in the legal and administrative sectors in the Serbian-speaking part of northern Kosovo by the end of 2016. In addition, network meetings have been organised and conducted for local gender coordinators. The gender officers at municipal level in particular confirm that the KIPA events have promoted sectoral networking.
Following the launching of a quality management system at KIPA, the municipal administration in Priština also introduced a quality management system in selected departments, the first public administration to do so.