Background and Objectives:
The Governance and Development Planning Programme aims to develop
and institutionalize a new inclusive planning system in Kosovo. While building on the achievements of the former UN-HABITAT Urban Planning and Management Programme (UPMP 2002-03), this Programme is partly aimed at consolidating the results of the UPMP by building the capacity of
institutions and providing training. The Programme is training 95 municipal
and 35 ministry planners to apply the new planning system developed under
UPMP, which is more inclusive, strategic and action-oriented.

It will lay equal emphasis on building the capacity of civil society to engage with decision-makers and participate actively in the development planning process at urban, municipal and Kosovo-wide levels. As a result, the planners will have acquired skills and concepts for involving citizens and the private sector in preparing action plans that reflect the priorities of citizens and which harness public and private resources in a concerted way for city improvements.

The Programme was initiated because stabilization of Kosovo, to a large
extent, depends on sustained economic growth, social integration and
democratic institutions. With a rapid population increase within a relatively
small territory, inclusive spatial planning becomes especially important. This project will, over the coming 24-month period ensure that that participatory governance procedures have been anchored at all levels of planning and management in the spatial planning sector in Kosovo.

Activities:
The following activities are being undertaken:

• Completion of the legal framework for spatial planning with the
  introduction of 19 new by-laws;
• Introduction of a new urban planning and management framework
  approach for the 30 municipalities;
• Drafting of a spatial plan for Kosovo;
• Developing methods for engaging civil society in planning and
  development;
• Initiating the first Masters degree programme for urban planning and
  management in Kosovo;
• Continuously developing training tools and specific guidelines that are
  applied in the capacity-building programme that includes planners from all 30 municipalities and the Planning Institute under the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning.

Results:

• 19 new by-laws and administrative instructions for inclusive planning have been drafted and approved.
• An upgraded Inclusive Planning Framework has been developed through a 10-workshop training programme.
• Multi-disciplinary Municipal Planning Teams (MPTs) have been formed in 27 municipalities.
• 95 planners have been trained to prepare new sustainable municipal and urban development plans within 12 months.
• Select civil society organizations across Kosovo have been strengthened and have been established as key partners for stakeholder mobilization in the municipal and urban development planning process.
• An effective, sustainable and partly self-financing central level Institute of Strategic and Spatial Planning for Kosovo has been established.
• A Draft Strategic Development Plan for Kosovo has been developed
  through a participatory process.
• A Masters Degree Programme in Urban Planning and Management in
  line with the Bologna Declaration on higher education (European norms and standards) has been introduced at the University of Pristina.
• The capacity of lecturers at the University of Pristina’s Faculty of Planning has been strengthened.
• Important lessons learned in the form of documents, case studies and
  tools that could feed into normative aspects of UN-HABITAT’s work
  under the Urban Governance and Secure Tenure Campaigns have been compiled.