Part of the discussion during the meeting in the Municipality of Istog was Deputy Mayor of Istog, Lulzim Blakaj, Municipal Assembly member Naim Behlukaj, and civil society activist from Syri i Vizionit, Naser Lajqi. The panelists of this meeting praised the platform for good governance as a mechanism on citizen awareness for the importance of active participation in important political processes and their role as agents of change in their communities. The Platform is also considered to have an impact on increasing the level of accountability, responsiveness and transparency in the performance of duties by new municipal officials, by providing a sufficient space in becoming familiar with the principles of good governance that are expected to be implemented during the execution of the their duties.

Municipality of Prizren was represented at the meeting by the Chairperson of the Municipal Assembly of Prizren, Artan Abrashi, the Director of the Directorate of Administration in Municipality of Prizren, Osman Hajdari, and the program manager from NGO EC ma ndryshe , Valon Xhabali. The Platform for Good Governance was considered an effective tool to increase the understanding of the roles and responsibilities of elected municipal officials by providing accurate information to citizens and their political electives about the latter's tasks and responsibilities as defined on the legislation in force on Local Self-Government in the Republic of Kosovo, as well as a tool for increasing the level of exercise of civil rights in local decision-making by assisting municipalities and citizens in enhancing their mutual co-operation.

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