Recommendations

1. 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

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

0 Initiatives

Economic empowerment and environment

3. Municipalities of Kosovo could pay the interest for loans taken by local farmers.

0 Initiatives

Economic empowerment and environment

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

9 Initiatives

Economic empowerment and environment

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. The Kosovo institutions should fully implement the CEFTA agreement.

0 Initiatives

Economic empowerment and environment

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

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

4 Initiatives

Economic empowerment and environment

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

8 Initiatives

Economic empowerment and environment

19. Encouraging volunteerism and paid internships.

36 Initiatives

Good governance and access to services

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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

28. 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

29. Further measures to guarantee the personal safety of judges and prosecutors and their families and provide adequate pension, health and risk insurance schemes.

1 Initiative

Access to justice

30. 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

31. 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

32. 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