Democracy for Development Institute (D4D) has started holding information sessions for the Good Governance Platform in municipalities across Kosovo. The purpose of the info session held first in the Municipality of Mitrovica was to review the specifications of the ‘Good Governance’ platform, focusing on the ease of access to information, relevance of information and the usage of this platform with relevant stakeholders from the civil society, as well as from the local and central public institutions.

Part of the discussion during this meeting was Deputy Mayor of Mitrovica, Faruk Mujka, member of the Municipal Assembly of Mitrovica, Valbona Sadiku, and civil society activists from the Center for Education and Community Development, Bukurie Hyseni Brezhnica – the panelists praised the governance platform as an added value in the joint efforts to improve the state of good governance at the local level in the municipality of Mitrovica, as well as to increase the cooperation of municipal officials and citizens through the creation of a space with accurate information for citizens about the rights and their responsibilities as well as the responsibilities of their elected politicians in improving the life of the community.

The ‘Good Governance’ Platform has been produced as a need in Kosovo to bring local decision-makers closer to citizens to promote sustainable governance. Given that in Kosovo, many public officials struggle with understanding what good governance means when translated into the everyday tasks they need to exercise and the standards they need to uphold while holding their public office, the Good Governance Platform addresses this issue by providing explanation for relationships between municipal bodies and citizens, among municipal bodies and of each municipal body towards the state, and mapping out good decision-making processes as prescribed by the law. This platform is useful in fulfilling the knowledge gap of municipal officials, assisting public representatives and citizens, as both parties will be able to continuously verify the correct functioning of procedures and relations in public institutions.

This activity was held in the framework of the project “Increased Participation for Good Governance”, implemented by D4D, supported by the Embassy of Netherlands in Kosovo.