Kosovo Trust Building

1. To strengthen partnership between youth-led initiatives and media actors in order to amplify the positive role of youth in building sustainable peace in their communities through building inter-ethnic trust, promotion of responsible citizenship and awareness-raising on diverse human-rights related issues.

16 Initiatives

Media and communication

2. To undertake efforts to provide media coverage and space for youth-led activities at the key public broadcaster and other media in order to raise the attention of local and central institutions to the problems that Kosovo youth face on a daily basis (education-related issues, bullying in schools, prevention of peer-to-peer violence, employment opportunities and socio-economic empowerment, air pollution, etc.) and empower youth by giving them a stronger voice in their communities

5 Initiatives

Media and communication

3. Encourage cooperation of women in: media, NGO and politics.

8 Initiatives

Good governance and access to services

4. To ensure that the staff at the municipal level have received appropriate training with regards to timely provision of access to official documents and to ensure proper implementation.

2 Initiatives

Media and communication

5. To promptly condemn all attacks and violence against journalists and other media workers such as intimidation, threats and harassment, including online attacks and smear campaigns against journalists.

1 Initiative

Media and communication

6. Improve cooperation between municipalities and media with no discrimination on any grounds.

2 Initiatives

Media and communication

7. To provide incentives for involvement of young people in awareness raising campaigns offline and online on societal issues, including as key actors in disseminating information.

23 Initiatives

Media and communication

8. To strengthen cooperation between the Ombudsperson, media and civil society in order to develop and institutionalize implementation of the existing legal frameworks on access to official documentation.

0 Initiatives

Media and communication

9. To urge judicial authorities to promptly investigate and prosecute all attacks and violence against journalists and other media workers such as intimidation, threats and harassment, including online attacks and smear campaigns against journalists, as well as the cases of disappearance and murder of journalists.

1 Initiative

Media and communication

10. To encourage municipalities to allocate funds to media outlets in a given area, in a transparent and legal manner, to report on issues of general importance in municipalities and improve multi-ethnic reporting, without interfering in their editorial independence.

0 Initiatives

Media and communication

11. To strengthen cooperation between the local and central media.

2 Initiatives

Media and communication

12. To subsidize international business that come to Kosovo for five years.

0 Initiatives

Economic empowerment and environment

13. Women are discriminated against in the labor market. Implement the 40% quota as per EU regulation throughout Kosovo.

9 Initiatives

Economic empowerment and environment

14. Create a skill pool – a mechanism: Linking women entrepreneurs with a successful business company (knowledge transfer on marketing, finance and taxation). Government should subsidize or provide institutional support. Identify needs of enterprises in terms of marketing and others.

6 Initiatives

Economic empowerment and environment

15. Streamline public institutions to eliminate barriers that hinder competitiveness of Kosovo businesses. Activity: Working group between the private sector and the Ministry of Trade and Industry in identifying the specific barriers, which could be removed in order to improve business climate.

5 Initiatives

Economic empowerment and environment

16. Stimulate young entrepreneurs through business incubators, business start-ups specifically on innovation and digitalization. Reduced taxation, sufficient grants for startups (especially the already established form different communities). Conduct a feasibility study with a SWOT analysis. Responsible actor/s -Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry Economic Development, civil society, international organizations.

16 Initiatives

Economic empowerment and environment

17. To solve the waste water treatment between Gazivoda Lake and Mitrovica. So the new artificial lake in Mitrovica would be clean. Positive environmental impact for all communities. Cost implications are reasonable. Recommendation to construct black water treatment facilities for the villages along the Ibar River. Responsible actor/s -The Ministry of Environment should coordinate among the municipalities, international organizations for supplementary funding.

2 Initiatives

Economic empowerment and environment

18. Waste management in Kosovo needs to be addressed. There is no recycling plants for waste in Kosovo. Waste is a resource, which in Kosovo is lost in landfills instead of being recycled. Riverbeds a full of plastic bottles. Recommendation: Create a law on plastic bottles recycle/treatment introducing a deposit fee, which is returned. The same goes for the use of plastic bags, which in EU countries you have to pay for.

9 Initiatives

Economic empowerment and environment

19. Increase understanding of the need for a better environment. Recommendation: Educate people for protection and better treatment of environment. Environment should return on the priority of the political agenda. Environmental protection needs to be integrated into the education system and thus at the very early stage. Responsible actor/s -Ministry of Education Science and Technology, Municipalities, Civil Society, International organizations.

27 Initiatives

Economic empowerment and environment

20. TBF to highly recommend to the Government and the Assembly not construct Kosovo C power generating plant and focus instead on green energy, including through attracting relevant investors. Specifically solar panels, wind mills, energy saving measures. Responsible actor/s Assembly of Kosovo, Ministry of Environment, Municipalities, chamber of commerce, Ministry of Trade and Industries, Ministry of Economic Development

1 Initiative

Economic empowerment and environment

21. Improve transparency in the privatization process taking into consideration the community aspect and to improve trust among the communities.

1 Initiative

Economic empowerment and environment

22. Establish link between expertise and the grassroots, specifically youth, to prevent need to import skills: database, skill pool, formalized mentoring by experts. Responsible actor/s - Ministry for Culture Youth and Sport, Ministry of Labor and municipalities

13 Initiatives

Economic empowerment and environment

23. Kosovo institutions, in order to improve the economic status of non-majority communities, must respect the obligation to employ at least 10% of Serbs and non-majority communities in public institutions and companies.

3 Initiatives

Economic empowerment and environment

24. Technical assistance to communities to help draft business plans and develop technical capacities. Responsible actor/s-Ministry of Labor, Chamber of Commerce, Business Associations, municipalities

10 Initiatives

Economic empowerment and environment

25. Organize a business fair with participants from throughout Kosovo from all communities to collect and share best practices. During the fair formalized dialogue between business communities and Government to incorporate environmental aspects, improve business conditions and trust between communities. Promote Public Private Partnerships (PPP)

4 Initiatives

Economic empowerment and environment

26. Establish inter-ethnic projects in the agricultural sector and increase support to farmers and the food processing industry. Financially support with grants, equipment, seedlings, subventions, and tax reductions. Ministry of Agriculture, municipalities

7 Initiatives

Economic empowerment and environment

27. Provide business advice about legal and hygienic requirements and standards related to food processing. Responsible actor/s -Ministry of Trade and Industry to coordinate. Implement EU Standards

1 Initiative

Economic empowerment and environment

28. Religious communities should jointly advocate against domestic violence and in promotion of women rights, thus also targeting patriarchal norms in the society;

2 Initiatives

Inter-religious trust-building

29. The GoK should develop a long term inclusive economic development strategy, with concrete action plans and budget allocations.

4 Initiatives

Economic empowerment and environment

30. Economic policies should take into consideration local specificity – north of Kosovo, enclaves and Kosovo in general.

8 Initiatives

Economic empowerment and environment

31. Prevent and manage incidents with religious connotation from escalating into larger conflict;

2 Initiatives

Inter-religious trust-building

32. Direct informal and formal communication between religious communities;

1 Initiative

Inter-religious trust-building

33. Educate children on other communities and religious groups and on the multicultural and multi-confessional aspect of Kosovo through the formal education systems. Subsequently, organize regular workshops for pupils from, primary and secondary schools, on tolerance and non-discrimination.

2 Initiatives

Inter-religious trust-building

34. Municipal authorities should promote programs that raise awareness on building inter-religious trust ;

4 Initiatives

Inter-religious trust-building

35. Implementation of court decisions regarding resolving the issues of contested religious community property;

0 Initiatives

Inter-religious trust-building

36. Civil Society Organizations (CSO’s) should coordinate its activities with religious communities, and use good practices from inter-faith dialogue to increase overall inter-community understanding;

2 Initiatives

Inter-religious trust-building

37. Media and religious communities should engage in the common platform to promote positive stories;

0 Initiatives

Inter-religious trust-building

38. Encourage government to take into consideration religious communities’ amendments proposed on the Law on Religious Freedom;

0 Initiatives

Inter-religious trust-building

39. Religious communities should be more transparent toward the media;

0 Initiatives

Inter-religious trust-building

40. Media should refrain from portraying religious groups as political instruments;

0 Initiatives

Inter-religious trust-building

41. Media organizations should engage in comprehensive communication and promotion of inter-faith dialogue and stress positive achievements of inter-religious cooperation;

1 Initiative

Inter-religious trust-building

42. Traditional practice is prevailing over the Law on inheritance / Women are disadvantaged in the process of property inheritance / Religious leaders should play a role in promoting women rights;

1 Initiative

Inter-religious trust-building

43. Religious communities should effectively work on sustainable programs that counter violent extremism and nationalist political rhetoric as well as different kinds of segregation;

1 Initiative

Inter-religious trust-building

44. Religious communities should openly support rebuilding/reconstruction of damaged and destroyed religious heritage sites; and building new ones;

0 Initiatives

Inter-religious trust-building

45. Publically condemn all security incidents affecting religious cultural heritage sites and undertake timely outreach activities with the aim of reassuring affected communities;

0 Initiatives

Inter-religious trust-building

46. Increase coordination between municipalities and religious communities to restore and maintain damage/destroyed graveyards and religious heritage sites. Municipalities should allocate more financial resources for the maintenance of graveyards;

1 Initiative

Inter-religious trust-building

47. Encourage government to adopt Law on Restitution and Law on Religious Freedom

0 Initiatives

Inter-religious trust-building

48. Special measures should be taken to ensure meaningful access to legal aid for women, children, IDPs and groups with special needs.

14 Initiatives

Access to justice

49. Raise the public awareness about the judicial system (and how to better avail of the integrated system i.e. how is the court structured, what citizens expect from the integration of judiciary and what are the functions, etc.)

19 Initiatives

Access to justice

50. Encouraging volunteerism and paid internships.

36 Initiatives

Good governance and access to services

51. Recommendations published in the 2017 Report of the Ombudsperson for the Office of the Language Commissioner must be implemented.

0 Initiatives

Good governance and access to services

52. Roster of licensed, qualified interpreters should be created. Additional testing and verification of diplomas should be introduced.

1 Initiative

Good governance and access to services

53. The Council for Cooperation between the Government and the civil society is one of the mechanisms for addressing the recommendations from this Forum.

0 Initiatives

Good governance and access to services

54. Monitoring mechanism has to be established to follow up on development of all recommendations reached at this Forum.

1 Initiative

Good governance and access to services

55. A list of employment positions that are in deficit should be created and young people encouraged to pursue their education in that direction.

1 Initiative

Good governance and access to services

56. Kosovo institutions to provide one-year paid internships to graduates of higher education to allow them to obtain first work experience: Tripartite Agreements – Company, Government and the Intern

1 Initiative

Economic empowerment and environment

57. Municipal Assembly Caucus groups have to be more functional.

1 Initiative

Good governance and access to services

58. Provide support – mentoring, grants and networking for micro, small and medium enterprises of women entrepreneurs to expand their businesses. Activity: to stimulate through funding ethnically mixed employment. Also to develop a strategy for increasing the number of small and medium enterprises.

14 Initiatives

Economic empowerment and environment

59. Public servants speaking two languages should be paid more. Scholarships for studying language of other communities should be introduced.

0 Initiatives

Good governance and access to services

60. Training of the staff to be financed by the international community.

19 Initiatives

Good governance and access to services

61. Culture projects, such as documentaries, enable rising awareness among people and are the best way to promote gender equality and women’s rights.

18 Initiatives

Good governance and access to services

62. All local institutions have to closely cooperate with the Official Gazette so it could be updated regularly.

0 Initiatives

Good governance and access to services

63. All institutions must keep their web pages updated.

1 Initiative

Good governance and access to services

64. Institutions should be encouraged to meet minimum prescribed standards for public participation. They are to improve mechanisms for transparency by engaging NGOs in public debates where all issues will be discussed, and citizens will be active participants. That way the citizens will be involved in reaching conclusions and bringing decisions.

38 Initiatives

Good governance and access to services

65. To improve the quality and regular updates of information provided on the web pages of municipalities in all official languages, as well as the prompt response to requests.

3 Initiatives

Media and communication

66. All institutions that have not delegated clerks to the office for gender equality have to do it.

0 Initiatives

94%

Progress status

67. The group failed to provide concrete proposals on the follow-up mechanism, but broadly suggested that a task force should be established to oversee the implementation of small-scale projects at the grassroots level in close partnership with municipalities, central authorities, and international community.

0 Initiatives

Education

68. Increase efforts of informal education initiatives in challenging existing narratives through innovative and creative approaches, such as digital and state-of-the-art technologies in conveying positive narratives;

73 Initiatives

Education

69. Train teachers from all communities on values of tolerance and non-discrimination and extend such knowledge to parents through regular consultations or group meetings.

7 Initiatives

Education

70. Offer more opportunities for educational practitioners and students from both systems to come together and discuss education-related matters (science, technology etc.);

23 Initiatives

Education

71. Conduct needs assessments/evaluations more often to understand the gap between the needs of the labor market and current educational outputs and create feedback mechanisms with the private and public sectors

11 Initiatives

Education

72. Independent Media Commission, Associations of Journalists and Press Council of Kosovo have to provide capacity-building trainings on media ethics (inter alia: critical thinking, balanced fact-based and impartial reporting, work with marginalized and sensitive groups, coverage of non-majority communities and gender-awareness for journalists and students of journalism).

3 Initiatives

Media and communication

73. To encourage the public broadcaster to continue having qualitative programs in the languages of the communities, thus increasing the access to information and exchanges between the communities and regional public broadcasters.

2 Initiatives

Media and communication

74. Donors should consider media as a priority area, thus enabling joint coverage of issues of mutual concern.

13 Initiatives

Media and communication

75. To increase collaboration between Albanian and Serbian-language media; For example, to have cross-training or “exchange” programs for journalists, whereby one or more journalists from one Albanian-language media outlet would work for a while with a Serbian-language outlet and vice versa.

2 Initiatives

Media and communication

76. All media in Kosovo should have joint efforts to increase the presence of non-political topics of mutual concern, such as artistic and cultural events and environmental issues in public media in all official languages, while simultaneously insisting upon professional (objective, impartial and unbiased) reporting.

7 Initiatives

Media and communication

77. To avoid sexist and homophobic language on media.

1 Initiative

Media and communication

78. To develop incentives for increase in qualitative multi-ethnic reporting.

4 Initiatives

Media and communication

79. Promote environmental protection as an asset for economic development and develop profit-oriented waste management. Stimulate and reward private businesses that are eco-friendly through reduced taxation and grants for eco-friendly start-ups. Responsible actor/s -Civil Society, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Municipalities, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Education sector, use the existing mechanisms.

11 Initiatives

Economic empowerment and environment

80. Facilitate establishing contractual relations between Serbian and other communities’ producers from Kosovo and large retail chains. This could be a follow up activity of the TBF. Responsible actor/s -Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry Economic Development, business communities

1 Initiative

Economic empowerment and environment

81. Increase number of joint meetings and public lectures of religious community leaders with the aim of improving inter-community understanding and serve as a good example of inter-community cooperation and educate younger generations on the importance of religious heritage;

0 Initiatives

Inter-religious trust-building

82. Integrate elective courses for learning regional languages into elementary/secondary school curricula

2 Initiatives

Education

83. Reinstate Faculty of Languages in North Mitrovica/Mitrovicë and Pristina a separate department for Albanian/Serbian language and culture

0 Initiatives

Education

84. Ensure that education reform addresses discriminatory content aimed at other societal groups based on their ethnicity, religion, gender, race, sexual orientation, disability, etc. and devise an oversight mechanism

6 Initiatives

Education

85. Prevent youth-based violence by educating young people on mediation and dialogue as alternative ways of dealing with conflict.

20 Initiatives

Education

86. To present women as leaders and role models and avoid portrayals that reinforce discriminatory and patriarchal attitudes and social norms about the role of women (especially before and after elections).

3 Initiatives

Media and communication

87. To encourage the Ministry of Education and all relevant institutions in Kosovo to provide opportunities to Kosovo residents (in particular journalists in order to strengthen their capacity to report on the issues pertaining to the non-majority communities) to learn any of the official languages regardless of place of residence through formal and non-formal education.

0 Initiatives

Media and communication

88. To undertake efforts to increase the number of women in media, including in leadership positions;

2 Initiatives

Media and communication

89. Include gender-related issues in the media and do more to reflect gender equality within reporting.

4 Initiatives

Media and communication

90. To urge the public institutions to provide ongoing support for the investigation of cases of journalists who were murdered or kidnapped. To acknowledge the specific risks faced by female journalists and the importance of a gender-sensitive approach when considering measures to address the safety of journalists.

2 Initiatives

Media and communication

91. The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport in cooperation with other local and international actors should invest in educating youth on how to identify, react to and prevent hate speech / intolerance online and offline, as well as to withstand fake news and propaganda through human rights education, counter and alternative narratives. The initiative should be broaden to any other age, whenever possible.

3 Initiatives

Media and communication

92. International community to finance workshops and projects aimed at increasing gender awareness.

26 Initiatives

Good governance and access to services

93. Religious communities should be more gender aware, respect for women rights, property rights;

1 Initiative

Inter-religious trust-building

94. Increase focus on vocational education based on needs of the labor market. Responsible actor/s -Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Ministry of Labor, education community

25 Initiatives

Economic empowerment and environment

95. Brain-gain, young people that graduated abroad should be encouraged to return by different programs, they should be offered positions without conditioning them to become party members.

4 Initiatives

Good governance and access to services

96. Public University should introduce Serbian Language Studies Department.

1 Initiative

Good governance and access to services

97. At the central level help from international institutions and organizations is needed for financing engagement of more interpreters. Also, measures at the disposal of the Office of the Language Commissioner must be increased and utilized. Furthermore, (to overcome the poor quality of translations) a reorganization of the documents’ translation process is required and all documents should be translated at one office by qualified and skilled interpreters/translators. Proof Reading Officers should check all documents prior to its release to the Parliament.

7 Initiatives

Good governance and access to services