Democracy Plus held a roundtable on “Involving and Addressing Neighborhood Priorities” under the Civic Forum, attended by municipal officials and representatives of villages of Vushtrri, Fushe Kosova, Obiliq municipalities, as well as officials from the Ministry of Local Government Administration.

Jetmir Bakija from D+ opened this roundtable and pointed out that the purpose of this project is to ensure that self-initiatives and priorities from villages of these three municipalities are protocoled in the respective municipalities. This is exactly why the D+ site www.forumi.online was introduced.

The Mayor of Vushtrri, Xhafer Tahiri, commending this project of Democracy Plus, said that the main challenge is to prioritize projects in a given village.

“When I saw this Democrat Plus project, I was very pleased because it is a new form of work and I believe there will be further results. However, the challenge is to identify the mos needed project for a village. In addition, the challenges of this period are how to make Village Councils more active on issues related to the budget.  Regarding budget hearings there is little interest and low turnout, but we are making efforts to find technological forms to increase citizens’ participation in these hearings,” said Mr. Tahiri.

Gezim Sahiti, Monitoring Official in the Ministry of Local Government Administration, stated administrative instruction on the organization, functioning and cooperation of municipalities with villages, settlements and urban neighborhoods has been completed and there was success in the municipalities where such councils were active to resolve their issues.

Milaim Shala, official at the Directorate of Public Services in Fushë Kosovë, said that they had ongoing cooperation with residents of this municipality on how to address their requests.

The Deputy Mayor of Obiliq, Ibush Mjekiqi, said that all priorities determined by the residents were taken very seriously and out of the 4 priorities one has been realized.

The Chairperson of the Municipal Assembly in Obiliq, Burim Gerguri, aid they will continue to prioritize the demands of citizens and will strive to be their right arm, wishing that this good work will continue for the two upcoming years as well.

This D+ activity is supported by Olof Palme International Center