Kosovo Human Development Report 2010 - UNDP Kosovo - United ...

tion against certain ethnic groups
(notably Kosovo-RAE), are draining
Kosovo’s full socio-economic
potential. For women, people with
disabilities, and Kosovo-RAE, these
socio-cultural norms have lead to
the practices of self-exclusion from
decision-making processes. Some
groups contribute to exclusion by
either resisting integration (in the
case of Kosovo-RAE) or accepting
and passing limitations on through
daughters and other female family
members. Fear of disapproval, ostracization
and even violence are
factors preventing women from
challenging traditional roles and
assuming a greater profile in Kosovo’s
political and economic life. Socio-cultural
discrimination is particularly
damaging when it comes
to economic participation (with
women and Kosovo-RAE having
the least access to factor markets),
and education. In education, gender
parity is reducing rather than
increasing over time and girls more
often than boys are denied their
right to learn because of poverty,
distance or lack of prioritization.
• Lack of self-reliance has a corrosive
impact on human development:
international assistance to
Kosovo, while well meant, has unbalanced
its human development
trajectory. Kosovo’s economy has
become dependent on international
transfers, import taxes (made
possible by a large international
presence) and remittances. Its legislative
and policy vision is being
driven by external partners, and
the pace of reform has outstripped
capacity to deliver. Its civil society
has grown to accommodate the
need of international actors to execute
aid budgets – limiting “natural
selection” for NGOs whereby
94 | KOSOVO HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2010
only those genuinely valuable as
a community factor would find
sustainable domestic funding and
thrive. Self reliance is a critical factor,
therefore, in creating the necessary
conditions for social inclusion
to truly take root as Kosovo
accepts the reality that its future is
ultimately its own responsibility.
(ii) While exclusion is a broad phenomenon,
some groups are particularly
affected and require special support
1. Long-term unemployed: considering
Kosovo’s jobless GDP growth and
high fertility rates, most unemployment
in Kosovo is long-term. Nearly
82 percent of the unemployed
are out of work for more than 12
months. The social safety nets represented
by the family ends as children
age, creating extreme vulnerability
for the long-term unemployed and
their families. Social assistance is not
targeted to reduce dependency and
there is an important absence of jobseeker
schemes and learning opportunities.
Unemployment precludes
full access to health care (due to
costs), limits the cycle of learning, increases
the risk of poverty even with
access to other factor markets and
increases the risk of exclusion from
public utilities and services. Education
rates are lower among the unemployed.
Rates of exclusion from
factor markets are four times higher
among those with under 10 years
of schooling compared with those
with 17 years or more. Unemployed
families and their children are more
likely to be excluded from learning,
and more likely to require children to
work to supplement family incomes.