OSCE Mission helps to increase financial accountability of Kosovo's municipalities
The legal requirements and the timelines that municipalities have to adhere to when planning their budgets for 2007 to 2009 are outlined in Budget Circular 2007/01, which was signed by the Minister of Finance and Economy, Haki Shatri, on 30 March.
The new regulations aim to increase the financial accountability of the municipalities, while at the same time enhancing their autonomy.
"In the past, it was one person, normally the chief executive officer or directors of municipal finance departments, who dealt with the municipal budget," says Biserka Ivanovic, a Project Manager with the OSCE Mission in Kosovo.
"However, the new rules require municipal heads of departments to prepare their own budget, and then present it to their chief financial officer for approval.
"This means that people who are not budget experts are being asked to come up with budget proposals, as well as estimates of the budget they think should be spent in their respective departments in 2008 and 2009," adds Ivanovic.
Training municipal officials
For this reason, the OSCE Mission - together with US government organization USAID - is providing assistance to the Ministry of Finance and Economy through training sessions for senior officials, producing and distributing promotional material for public budget hearings, and monitoring hearings on compliance with the new regulations.
The first and second training sessions, held in May and June 2006, clarified the requirements of the Budget Circular and reviewed the role of senior officials such as chief financial officers, directors of municipal finance departments and board members.
In addition, municipalities were required to hold a minimum of four public hearings at various stages of the process in order to encourage public participation from the very beginning.
At the third training session in July, the focus was on introducing and reviewing procedures related to the first public budget hearings, as well as the budget preparation process.
"We concentrated on training municipal officials on how best to chair the public budget hearings, how to better communicate with the public in these hearings and explain the difficult language about budgeting and finance to people who are not familiar with it," says Eranda Aliu, also an OSCE Project Manager.
Promotional campaign
The Mission produced radio announcements and posters which were distributed to all Kosovo municipalities, inviting people to participate in the hearings. It developed and distributed promotional material for these hearings and advised municipal administrations on how to get people interested.
"In most municipalities, a good number of people showed up and participated actively," says Aliu. "There were a few exceptions, but we have to bear in mind that this was the first time these municipalities had held such public budget hearings.
"The most important thing is that the municipalities understand that the process has to be a democratic one and there is a need to involve the citizens."
Besides the training for officials and the development of promotional materials, the Mission is also providing assistance to the municipalities in the fundamental principles of budgeting.
Financial planning
"Through introducing financial planning," says Ivanovic, "we want to tackle the decision-making processes, transparency and accountability."
The final training session will be offered in September, shortly before the project is concluded at the end of the month, when municipal budgets will be submitted to the Ministry for approval.
"Before that happens, the OSCE will support the remaining public budget hearings and develop technical manuals together with USAID in areas such as budget preparation, citizen participation and strategic planning," adds Ivanovic.
"We will deliver additional training to coincide with benchmarks in the budget planning process, and OSCE staff in the field will monitor municipalities on a daily basis and offer them recommendations for improvement."