Support to Association of Kosovo Municipalities- AKM 2019-2025 Stöd till Association of Kosovo Municipalities - AKM 2019-2025 The Association of Kosovo Municipalities (AKM) is a non-governmental, non-profit and membership based organization to which municipalities can adhere on a voluntary basis. The organization was established in 2001 based on the Law on Local Self-Government in Kosovo, the European Charter of the Local-Self Government, and the Law on Freedom of Association in Non-Governmental Organization of the Republic of Kosovo. 
AKM with its strong constituency, successfully advocates for municipal interests at the national level and represents a platform for peer learning among municipalities.  AKM has a network of 15 Collegia (comprised of municipal departments), through which it scrutinizes related draft policies and establishes its lobbying position vis-à-vis central government. Through the Collegia, AKM conducts capacity-building activities for municipal Assembly members and political staff. 
AKM has ambition to continue its intensive advocacy further and at the same time wants to strengthen its capacity-building role by developing more structured trainings. As a result, AKM drafted its Strategic Plan 2016-2020 emphasising that establishment of a Training Unit as a facility for capacity development at local level, is one of the key strategic pillars of the Organization.

Given the above, Sida has allocated  SEK 6 150 000 to finance the proposal for financial support for establishment of Training Unit (TU)  for the project  ""Enhancing Capacities of Local Elected Officials towards Improved Service Delivery in Kosovo Municipalities" for the period of 2019-2022. 
The proposed intervention is closely related and will add the value to Sida's supported project "DEMOS II" that aim to stimulate municipalities to increasingly implement the legal framework,  improve performance and address the development of a policy framework which is more favourable for decentralised governance. 

Project theory of change: AKM/TU offers optimized capacity development services to local elected and appointed officials (LEAO) by offering comprehensive training modules. LEAO's will be equiped with new skills and able to contribute to public administration reform in a more transparent and accountable manner. In this way, LEAO's will perform better, transparency and accountability towards citizens will improve and as a result the democratization of the local level government will be strengthened.  
It is Sida assessment that the intervention's theory of change is relevant and corresponds to the Sida thematic priorities and contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 Agenda as follows:

Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.  Target 5.5 Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.

Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and Sustainable. Target 11.3 By 2030, enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries.

Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels Target 6.6 Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels.

In this project Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) contributes financially with Euro 200 000 for four years. Against this background it is proposed Sida to fund the project for the period 2019-2022 with SEK 6 150 000. AKM är en icke-statlig, ideell och medlemskapsbaserad organisation som kommunerna kan ingå i på frivillig basis. Organisationen grundades 2001 baserat på lagen om lokalt självstyre i Kosovo (Law on Local Self-government), den europeiska stadgan för den lokala självstyrelsen och lagen om föreningsfrihet vid icke-statlig organisation av republiken Kosovo. AKM åtnjuter ett stort förtroende och förespråkar framgångsrikt kommunala intressen på nationell nivå samt utgör en plattform för kunskapsutbyte bland kommunerna. AKM har ett nätverk av 15 medlemsorganisationer (bestående av kommunala avdelningar), som granskar relevanta lagförslag och formulerar gemensamma ståndpunkter gentemot staten. AKM genomför genom medlemsorganisationerna kapacitetsuppbyggnade aktiviteter för kommunfullmäktigeledamöter och politiska tjänstemän. 
AKM har som ambition att fortsätta sitt främjandearbete ytterligare och vill samtidigt stärka sin kapacitetsuppbyggnade roll genom att utveckla mer strukturerade utbildningar riktad till nyvalda politiker. Som ett resultat av detta utarbetade AKM sin strategiska plan 2016–2020 och betonade att inrättandet av en utbildningsenhet som en facilitet till kapacitetsutveckling på lokal nivå är en av organisationens viktigaste strategiska pelare.
Givet ovanstående har Sida tilldelat 6 150 000 SEK för finansiering av förslaget för ekonomiskt stöd till upprättandet av utbildningsenheten Training Unit (TU) för projektet "Enhancing Capacities of Local Elected Officials towards Improved Service Delivery in Kosovo Municipalities” för perioden 2019–2022. 
Den föreslagna insatsen är nära relaterad till och kommer att förstärka Sidas projekt "DEMOS II" som syftar till att stimulera kommunerna att i större utsträckning implementera det juridiska ramverket, förbättra utförande och ta itu med utvecklingen av det politiska ramverket som är gynnsammare för ett decentraliserat styre.

Projektets förändringsteori är; AKM / TU erbjuder optimerade kapacitetsutvecklingstjänster till lokalvalda och utnämnda tjänstemän (LEAO) genom att erbjuda omfattande träningsmoduler. LEAO: s kommer att vara utrustade med nya färdigheter och kunna bidra till reformer av offentlig förvaltning på ett mer öppet och ansvarsfullt sätt. På så sätt kommer LEAO: s verksamhet att fungera bättre. Öppenhet och överensstämmelse gentemot medborgarna kommer att förbättras, och därmed kommer demokratiseringen av det lokala styret att stärkas.
Det är Sidas bedömning att projektets förändringsteori är relevant och motsvarar Sidas tematiska prioriteringar och bidrar till Agenda 2030 avseende följande mål:

Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Target 5.5 Ensure
women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all
levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.

Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and Sustainable.
Target 11.3 By 2030, enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for
participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in
all countries.

Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide
access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all
levels Target 6.6 Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels.

I detta projekt bidrar Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) med finansiellt stöd om 200 000 Euro i fyra år. Mot denna bakgrund föreslås Sida att finansiera projektet för perioden 2019–2022 med 6 150 000 SEK. This development intervention's intended outcome is to "Enhancing Capacities of Local Elected Officials towards Improved Service Delivery in Kosovo Municipalities'' through skilled, well-informed and with knowledge equipped local elected and appointed officials. This intervention will contribute to municipalities to improve service delivery, increase transparency and accountability towards citizens regardless of gender, ethnicity, age and socal group. At the same time, it will be an opportunity for local governments to modernize public service as part of the public administration reform. 

 AKMs Capacity Development Program acknowledges that there are important assumptions that underpin this claim. The expected results of the intervention at the end of 2021 are clustered in three outcomes:
- Mayors, directors and assembly members will be equipped with new skills and knowledge in order to serve the public better.
- Local elected and appointed officials will be more transparent and accountable towards the public in order to meet important anti-coruption criteria and increase public trust.
-AKM/TU will be proactive in its response to the capacity development needs at the local level.