Policies are just words if public servants don’t have the information needed to carry them out. New building safety codes, efforts to curb corruption, and laws making it easier for minorities and people with disabilities to access services all hinge on the state’s ability to teach new skills to officials on the ground.
In part, this is why having a functional online training platform for public servants is a requirement for accession to the European Union. Kosovo had no such tool until this past summer, when the Kosovo Institute for Public Administration (KIPA) teamed up with USAID to launch a brand new interactive learning platform for officials across the country.
Previously, government employees traveled to attend courses in Pristina regardless of where they were based. This meant high costs and limited participation in courses that provided vital information on policy implementation and new workplace practices. For citizens, this also caused temporary disruption to services they received through their municipality while staff were traveling.
Currently, KIPA is in the process of shifting approximately 30 percent of the 6,000 training sessions it conducts each year to the online platform. Some of these first courses will focus on cyber security, public procurement and teaching new norms that proactively avoid conflicts of interest and political partiality. KIPA hopes this will help it train 1600 employees and save €150,000 over the next five years.
Speaking to the impact of the new system, Kosovo Deputy Minister for Internal Affairs Bardhyl Dobra noted that “It turns training from a logistical challenge into a seamless part of our officials’ daily routines, allowing them to excel without unnecessary obstacles.”
All sections of government have taken notice of this new development and are keen to join. KIPA is the central hub for capacity building within the civil service and is growing to fulfill their mandate to train all 80,000 public servants in Kosovo in the years ahead. Citizens will reap the benefits of these efforts through better services, responsible use of public funds, and standards that move Kosovo closer to EU accession.
