How satisfied are citizens with local authorities and their work? How transparent are local authorities in their decision making? How effective are they in managing funds and collecting revenues?

One of the ways to final answer to these questions is to use UGI, a tool developed by UN-HABITAT to measure the quality of governance.

An interesting workshop on Urban Governance Index (UGI) was held in Prishtina on 28 till 31^st May. Presenting the concept and methodologies to a diverse group of participants including politicians, decision makers, practitioners, members of international agencies working on various aspects of good governance, and civil society organisations, the workshop aimed at awareness rising of this audience on the possible ways of the application of this tool and promote its practical use in improving the practices of local governance.

Following a general introduction to the UGI presented in Pristina, municipality of Gjakova / Djakovica volunteered to use this tool to assess its performance. Over two days, a team of municipal officers, representatives of public utilities, members of the Municipal Assembly and representatives of civil society discussed the indicators and provided detailed answers to the set of questions. Once all the necessary data are collected and the calculation spreadsheet are filled, the municipality will receive results and will be able to compare its performance versus other 24 cities all over the world which have already taken part in the exercise.

Gjakova/ Djakovica is not the first Kosovo city to work with UGI. During the development phase, Pristina was invited to take part in the field testing of this tool.

Also municipality of Ferizaj / Urosevac showed a major interest in applying the tool in the near future.

After discussions with the Ministry of Local Government and Administration (MLGA), the MuSPP team and Ministry of Local Government and Administration will work together to develop specific indicators for Kosovo municipalities.