October 22-26, 2018

Eight meetings were held during the past week between citizens and local authorities in various villages in order to identify the problems that the citizens have and address them by the institutions. #KDI is organizing these meetings in 11 municipalities of Kosovo within the project “Increase accountability of local government institutions in Kosovo”, supported by the British Embassy in Pristina.

Beside meetings with residents, the #KDI coordinators on the field also monitor municipal assembly meetings. During the past week, the meetings were monitored in: Malisheva, Graçanica, and Kamenica.

#Malisheva

For the residents of the village of Lumishtë of the municipality of Malisheva that were present in the meeting with municipal officials organized by KDI, a priority remains the requirements for the regulation of pavements, unpaved alleys, public lighting and sewage in a part of the neighborhood.

The finance director of the municipality who was present in this meeting provided clarifications and additional information about the 2019 budget for this village as well as the commitment to increase efforts to address some of the above requirements.

#Mitrovica

Unpaved roads, network adjustment sewage system for the water the village, the lack of public lighting, the restoration and resettlement of road crossing signs, were some of the worries addressed from residents of Kçiçi i Vogël i Mitrovicës during the meeting with municipal officials.

The latter stressed that they will give priority during 2019 asphalting the road “Clirimtarët e Lirisë” as well as the deployment of public lighting in public in two neighborhoods of the village as well as the regulation of 1000 meters of the network sewage.

Residents of the village of Zasella in the Mitrovica municipality unfurled their concerns to municipal officials during a meeting organized by #KDI. Water supply, adjustment of the sewerage, asphalting of neighborhood roads, and school accumulation, were some of the issues that residents expect to be prioritized by the municipality. The municipal officials present expressed their willingness to contribute to the wellbeing of the village residents emphasizing that their priority concerns will be addressed during 2019.

#Viti

Budri residents in Viti/Vitina municipality gathered for a meeting with the mayor of the municipality, where they had the opportunity to present their demands and the problems they face in everyday life. Their concerns are related to the lack of public lighting in the neighborhoods “Hatixhe Mustafa” and “Kodra e Qeshmës” and the village school fence. The municipal representatives promised to solve these problems and stressed that they would consider the issue of sewerage in this area as a matter of concern.

#Klina

Residents of the two villages of Klinë/Klina municipality: Gllarevo and Rigjevë during the meeting with representatives of the municipality requested that this institutions should prioritize some of the demands and problems faced by these residents such as the lack of drinking water.

Residents of Rigjevë demanded the construction of a pavement from the village’s main road up to the school, with a length of about 2 km. While the residents of Gllareva, requested to lay some streets within the village, the functionality of the ambulance 24 hours, investment in school. In this meeting participants from the municipality were, the Mayor Mr. Zenun Elezaj, Director of Urbanism, Mr. Lorenc Marleku, Director of Finance, Mr. Aiz Desku and Director of Agriculture, Mr. Morina. Mayor Elezaj, while announcing plans for next year said that in 2019 the water network for the village of Gllare, Sferka and other villages will be completed. Another request was the investment in Gllarevo’s school, and for this the municipal authorities said they had applied for a project at the Ministry of Education. Elezaj said that the ambulance in the village of Gllarevo will be renewed next year. He also pledged that a part of a road in this village will be laid to the grip by the spring, based on the demands of the residents. As far as the demand for the sidewalk in Sferka, Elezaj has pledged to prioritize it, but said that it intends to do so through grants.

#Shterpca

Infrastructure problems were among the most mentioned by the residents of Brod village in Štrpce municipality during the meeting they held with local authorities. According to the residents, among other things, primary concerns to them are the issue of transportation for school students because of the dangers that this road presents for them, the risk of landslide in the Rudaj neighborhood, channeling the entire village.

Meanwhile, the women of this village complained of the lack of an object where they could develop various projects they have been working on, a part of which already failed due to the lack of such a facility. The present municipal officials said they would review the possibilities for realizing these requests, depending on the budget possibilities that this municipality has.

At the meeting with the unorganized bee-keepers group in Sevvce, Shtërpcë, the attendees discussed the main problems they face each day during their work. According to them, the main problems remain the lack of honey packing opportunities, lack of knowledge on customs procedures, and the problems caused by bears in winter when down the mountain. These and other concerns remain to be addressed by municipal officials who promised to work on resolving these problems.

#Kamenica

KDI organized a meeting between the residents of the village of Lubishte and the municipal officials of Kamenica.

Concrete issues agreed by both sides to include in the 2019 budget were: asphalting of the road in a neighborhood of this village, asphalting of the road linking the village of Lubishte with the village of Podgorc and lighting of the sports field to the schools “The Martyrs of Ljubljana”. All of these were promised to be arranged next year by the officials present.