Efficiency and Inclusion Go Together: Gender Impact Assessment of Kosovo's Administrative Burden Reduction (ABR) Process

The study is co-funded by the European Union and the German Government and implemented by GIZ, and has been carried out by the Kosovo Women's Network (KWN) in cooperation with the Office of the Prime Minister's Strategic Planning Office (OPM SPO). 

This was a government initiative, and it is the first assessment of this kind in Kosovo and Western Balkans. The final findings mark an important step in how Kosovo approaches administrative reform: not just as a technical exercise, but as an opportunity to make public services fairer and more accessible for all citizens.

Not Neutral by Default

Administrative reforms are often seen as gender-neutral. Streamlining a form, digitalising a service, or cutting processing times can appear to benefit everyone equally. But in practice, women and men, as well as people of different ages, locations, economic situations, and abilities, interact with public services in different ways. A reform that does not account for these differences may inadvertently leave people behind.

The GIA set out to examine exactly this: whether Kosovo's ABR process, running since 2022, has considered, and met, the diverse needs of its citizens, and what needs to change going forward. 

The research combined desk review, a survey of 247 citizens, a survey of 203 public officials, and 34 key informant interviews. The picture that emerged is nuanced.

Simplification and digitalisation measures have clearly reduced burden for both women and men. Fewer physical visits to institutions, less paperwork, and faster processing benefit all users. Some initiatives have been particularly meaningful for women. Life-event services around childbirth, for example, were designed with women as the primary users. In a pilot in hospitals in Gjilan and Ferizaj, births can now be registered directly by healthcare staff, and applications for child and mother allowances are processed automatically, removing the need for new mothers to travel or submit forms themselves. Following the success of the pilot, the service has now been rolled out across all maternity hospitals in Kosovo. The digitisation of the Agency for Gender Equality's grants system is another example of reforms with real, positive effects.

At the same time, barriers remain. Citizens who lack digital access or literacy, have care responsibilities, live in rural areas, or face mobility constraints still encounter difficulties, particularly when processes are hybrid or require repeated submissions of physical documents. Women, people with disabilities, ethnic minorities, and elderly citizens are more likely to face these challenges.

The assessment also found that gender analysis has not been consistently built into reform design. Most ABR-related programmes and legal acts reviewed did not include gender-disaggregated data or measurable gender equality goals. The ABR programme for 2025-2028 is more gender-sensitive than its predecessor, but there is still room to improve, especially in setting concrete targets and involving the Agency for Gender Equality and gender equality officers from the start of reform processes.

Tools for More Inclusive Reform

The GIA produced concrete recommendations for the Strategic Planning Office within the Office of the Prime Minister and other institutions: embedding gender analysis in the design and monitoring of reforms, collecting and publishing gender-disaggregated data on service use, and involving gender expertise consistently throughout the reform cycle.

A set of practical tools was also developed, including gender-responsive checklists for assessing ABR initiatives, guidance for drafting concept papers with gender considerations, and a standard operating procedure for integrating gender into the eKosova platform. These are designed to be usable by institutions across government, not just those with a specific gender mandate.

GIZ supported this process from design to final presentation, working alongside the local partners to make sure the assessment was grounded in real evidence and that its findings can be translated into practical action. Administrative reform is most effective when it reflects the reality of people's lives. This work contributes to a public sector where public services are not only faster and simpler, but also genuinely accessible to all citizens, regardless of gender, age, location, or background. 

The full report is available here.