Interethnic Dialogue and Reconciliation in Kosovo - Project on ...

plex conditions under which the transfer is occurr<strong>in</strong>g, he expressed gratitudefor the support of the mayors <strong>and</strong> affirmed the central government’scommitment to follow<strong>in</strong>g the matter closely <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>terven<strong>in</strong>g ifnecessary.Challeng<strong>in</strong>g conditions <strong>and</strong> uneven start<strong>in</strong>g ground have led to vary<strong>in</strong>gresults. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to one leader of a larger municipality, overall the transferof competences has occurred <strong>and</strong> the municipalities are operational.Accord<strong>in</strong>g to one deputy mayor of a<strong>Interethnic</strong> relations areessential for tourists willcome from variouscountries, as well as fromwith<strong>in</strong> <strong>Kosovo</strong>, <strong>and</strong> they willneed to feel comfortable <strong>in</strong>Strpce <strong>in</strong> order to spendtheir money.small municipality, the process isslow <strong>and</strong> citizens that have movedfrom one municipality to another arelos<strong>in</strong>g out. In this municipality notall officials had a copy of the transferagreement <strong>and</strong> the participant wasclear <strong>in</strong> his op<strong>in</strong>ion that the municipalitywas not <strong>in</strong> a position to competentlyh<strong>and</strong>le its expansion. Heused this opportunity to request help for those municipalities hav<strong>in</strong>gtrouble complet<strong>in</strong>g the transfer process.One mayor of a ‘parent’ municipality responsible for the transfer of competenciesto 2 municipalities succ<strong>in</strong>ctly outl<strong>in</strong>ed the challenges they face:a. Capacity – human <strong>and</strong> technical; b. Fund<strong>in</strong>g; c. Safe <strong>and</strong> organizedtransfer of documentation <strong>and</strong> databases to new municipalities; <strong>and</strong> d.Timel<strong>in</strong>e for overlap of service provision.Participants at the September 2010 <strong>in</strong>terethnic roundtable <strong>in</strong> Novoberde/Novo BrdoFund<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> timel<strong>in</strong>e issues <strong>in</strong> the municipalities are closely l<strong>in</strong>ked tothe plann<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> execution of decentralization at the upper level.Mother municipalities also have a direct effect on capacity <strong>and</strong> the abilityto organize <strong>and</strong> complete the physical transfer of resources <strong>and</strong> data.In municipalities such as Novobrdo satellite offices are needed closer tothe outer villages. In Gracanica the number of municipal workers formerlyemployed by Prisht<strong>in</strong>a cannot be supported under the currentbudget. There is also a major fund<strong>in</strong>g gap for education. Parent municipalities<strong>in</strong> some cases have agreed to cont<strong>in</strong>ue to cover costs <strong>and</strong> provideservices, but there is concern over how long these subsidies can <strong>and</strong>should cont<strong>in</strong>ue.Many of the participants voiced concerns on the rate <strong>and</strong> the ability totransfer documents, databases, maps, etc. These tasks are technicallydetailed <strong>and</strong> the <strong>in</strong>formation is sensitive. Participants have requestedresources <strong>and</strong> the h<strong>and</strong>s-on procedural guidance of the M<strong>in</strong>istry ofAdm<strong>in</strong>istration. A participant expressed that it was a serious oversight tocreate budgets <strong>and</strong> allocate resources without any hard demographic dataor analysis of new municipalities. Also detrimental to the developmentof the new municipalities is the lack of straight l<strong>in</strong>e provisions to the newmunicipalities.For there to be mean<strong>in</strong>gful transfer of power at the local level municipalitiesmust be able to serve their constituents. In Novobrdo, after thetransfer, all services <strong>and</strong> communication with citizens who rely on theGjilan services were stopped as per the law. However, the <strong>in</strong>ability of thenew municipality to take over services <strong>and</strong> an uproar from the citizenscaused the Mayor of Gjilan to suspend this resolution. It is clear themother municipality's subsidy of the new municipality is not susta<strong>in</strong>able.The central government must provide cont<strong>in</strong>gency plans <strong>and</strong> allocateresources to mitigate this gap <strong>in</strong> service provision.There have been some issues with municipalities effectively cooperat<strong>in</strong>gwith each other. After several missed rounds, the Municipality ofPrisht<strong>in</strong>a attended the meet<strong>in</strong>g. A senior representative of theMunicipality of Prisht<strong>in</strong>a reported that they began work<strong>in</strong>g withGracanica <strong>and</strong> established an agreement that Gracanica h<strong>and</strong>le its ownservices for its citizens start<strong>in</strong>g on April 28th.In the face of these challenges the municipalities <strong>and</strong> their leadershipcont<strong>in</strong>ue to evolve <strong>in</strong> their ability to h<strong>and</strong>le these responsibilities.1819