For democratic governance, UNDP will focus on strengthening the capacities of central and local governments. Civil society participation, transparency, accountability and women empowerment in decision making processes will receive important emphasis across these areas. Capacities of public administration in Kosovo will be developed through on-the-job mentoring and coaching of high ranking civil servants. In addition, support will be mobilised as necessary to support the implementation of the public administration strategy. Along with other UN agencies, UNDP will support various governing institutions in improving the legislative, budgeting and implementation processes, as well as strengthening the legislative monitoring mechanisms in order to achieve better internal and external accountability.

UNDP will continue to support the decentralization processes, building on the assessment of the Ministry of Local Government Administration on the results of the local government reform undertaken during 2005-2010. Further support will include capacity development of new municipalities and local officials. UNDP also aims to improve secondary legislation in order to make local-level development more inclusive and to strengthen inter-municipal cooperation. Rule of law, a strong judiciary and access to justice for all are cornerstone of democratic governance. Kosovo has made good progress in establishing a legal aid system and in strengthening its judiciary. However, the backlog of cases is still very high, people’s access to justice is constrained, and the safety mechanisms at the local level is fragile. UNDP will continue to promote gender justice by advocating for the protection of women’s right with a comprehensive legal empowerment outreach program, which will involve CSOs and paralegal workers reaching out to disadvantaged communities and women, including the victims of violence. UNDP will cooperate closely with judicial institutions, guiding them towards gender responsive services.

UNDP will continue to support judicial education, expertise for legislative work and assist the Supreme Court of Kosovo in harmonizing judicial practices. Support will also be provided for the roll out of the mediation and probation services. With OHCHR, UNDP will plan activities focused on transitional justice. Implementation of the anti-discrimination law and support to the Ombudsperson Institution will be among the priorities. In security interventions, a safety approach at a local level with focus on gender-sensitive issues and communities will be applied. Specifically, UNDP will scale up community safety by addressing two geographical hot spots for crime in Kosovo targeted towards armed violence and cross border crime. In addition, the programme will support the implementation of the newly adopted domestic violence law through the Women Safety Security Initiative project.