On February 23, Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS), the GAP Institute and the Institute for Development Policy (INDEP),  organized the Annual CorrWatch Conference titled: “Increasing Public Oversight and Accountability of Public Institutions in Kosovo”, held in Prishtina. Under the support of the British Embassy in Prishtina, during this first CorrWatch Annual Conference, the aim was to discuss the accountability and transparency of public institutions in five key areas, including: a. recruitment processes, b. public procurement practices and contract management, c. distribution of grants and subsidies, d. issuance of permits, licenses and tariffs, and d. performance of Publicly-Owned Enterprises (POEs).

At the beginning of the event, the project presented a five-month assessment report for the abovementioned areas, to proceed further with four (4) thematic panels for each of these areas, aiming to discuss the main findings, challenges and problems identified during the monitoring period, and to discuss modalities on how to rectify them, by establishing good practices. Gathering more than 100 participants, this Annual Conference served as an effective platform for the institutional stakeholders, civil society and experts to discuss lessons learned and the way forward to ensuring an enhanced institutional transparency and accountability within these key components.

The CorrWatch Annual Conference opened with a welcoming speech deliverd by the Ambassador of the British Embassy in Kosovo, H.E. Mr. Nicholas Abbott. “It is civil society that oversees and pushes governments to fulfil their promises and makes governments transparent and accountable to its citizens”, added Ambassador Abbot. “The welfare of citizens, the prevention of organized crime and the export of crime should be the goal of every government. And this can only be achieved through close cooperation with civil society and citizens”, he concluded.

In the following panels, participants had the chance to further get informed and discuss the institutional capacities, challenges and lessons learned during the recruitment processes, public procurement, grant provision and subsidies, issuance of licenses, permits and tariffs, as well as on the overall performance of targeted POEs, on the basis of findings of the CorrWatch monitoring conducted in the past five-months.

This Annual Conference took place under the auspices of the project titled: ”
Increasing Public Oversight and Accountability of Public Institutions in Kosovo”, supported by the British Embassy in Kosovo.

Venue: Hotel Swiss Diamond, Prishtina, Kosovo