Functional Review of the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning

and summed up for the whole ministry. We recommend to complete the planning activities with a mediumterm
focus, and to add a top-down kick-out phase to the process that would clearly set up ministry wide
priorities right at the beginning. A monitoring procedure that would report the achievements and/or failures
to MESP top-management should be established as well.
We also recommend establishing a steering group for strategy formulation, covering department and
agency heads. The department and agency heads already meet on a regular (weekly) basis with the
Minister and/or Permanent Secretary and could adopt this role. A clear strategy formulation procedure,
written instructions with responsibility and timelines, and reservation of sufficient time span to discuss the
strategy is required. . We suggest appointing for special occasions a working group or ad hoc committee
to solve particular problem. This practice is common in the environmental administration throughout EU.
The Permanent Secretary bears managerial responsibility for development within the Ministry. With
several units and all agencies out of his direct reach, this responsibility can only be enforced to a limited
extent. The PS is carrying a significant administrative load with a total of 13 structural MESP units reporting
directly to him along with numerous other responsibilities and functions. The number of units reporting
directly to the PS is probably too high and certainly too fragmented. As can be seen from the organigram
and the staff list the PS does not have any deputies.
The ability of a public administration to formulate and implement coherent policies and strategies is a key
indicator of administrative capacity. This chapter addresses the decisive issue whether and how the current
environmental administration satisfies the requirements in domestic and in the international contexts. Its
performance in this regard can be best assessed by reviewing the administrative results achieved to date
in Kosovo as they relate to the key environmental administration functions as defined elsewhere in this
report.
The MESP has developed several short and medium-term sectoral strategies and planning documents
(some of them by the foreign experts or under their supervision) which contain clear strategic objectives
and performance indicators. The overall policy planning, evaluation and monitoring capacity in the MESP
is very limited which is also reflected in absence of up-to-date policy planning documents in policy sectors
except for spatial planning. However other environmental sectors, i.e. water and wastewater management,
solid waste management, air quality, inspection and enforcement, nature conservation and biodiversity
protection are still without definition of clear vision, mission and values and valid medium term policy
documents. The policy planning process in the Ministry is operational in nature, predominantly for oneyear
periods at a time and typically takes the shape of annual programming policy documents – compact
1-2 page long documents defining objectives, describing choice of measures and justifying budget
expenditure for the specific policy programme / activity.
The Kosovo Environment Action Plan 2006-2010 (KEAP) brings a comprehensive list of priority projects
spread over all significant areas of environmental interest. The law on Environmental protection [No.
2009/03 L-025 (Art. 24)] requires preparation of Local Environmental Action Plans (LEAPs). The actual
situation is that only few municipalities have prepared a LEAP in Kosovo.
More impact and priority is attributed to European Partnership Action Plan (EPAP) adopted in 2008 and
updated in 2009. It is a general document addressing most economic and social issues, which covers also
environment, spatial planning and housing. Although, it follows the priorities listed by KEAP 2006-2010, it
is more concrete in designating the necessary follow-up.
Other important documents covering a narrower focus possess a high value. –These include the
Environment and Spatial Planning section of the Program of the Government of Republic of Kosovo 2008
– 2011,the Sectoral Strategy for Spatial Planning 2007 – 2013 and Business Plan for the Kosovo
Cadastral Agency 2009 – 2014..
The preparation of these strategies and plans is required by law and visibly affects the administration
involved. However their actual realization is far behind expectations.
Recommendation II.7: Place and define strategic and policy planning process within the MESP and
create efficient steering mechanisms to implement policy strategies top-down. Elaborate medium term
strategy documents for each sector.
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