Component 1 - Citizen Engagement

Through strategic grant interventions the Citizen Engagement component team will liaise between central and local government and build bridges between line ministries and municipal government in improving the quality of governance and service delivery for citizens. This component will aim to eliminate the barriers between public institutions and representatives of majority and minority ethnic communities as well as individual members of these communities.

The main activities of the Citizen Engagement Component will be helping municipalities to understand minority communities’ needs by ensuring municipal development priorities, include community input through community forums, public hearings, and civil society initiatives to improve quality of life and inter-ethnic cooperation. Through this component, the program will implement small-scale infrastructure projects identified both by community members and municipality.

Some of the main outcomes of this component will be:

• Strengthened communications between Kosovo Serb and Kosovo Albanian citizens
• Breaking down the invisible barriers between different ethnic communities.
• Creating sustainable partnerships between communities living in Kosovo and local/central authorities in order to work together and address common needs.
• Implementation of small-scale infrastructure projects identified both by community members and municipalities.