Spatial planners, the current and former staff of the Kosovo Institute for Spatial Planning received certificates of the successful completion of a the Training in Spatial and Development Planning for Kosovo at a gala event hosted by the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning (MESP) on March 7, 2008. The ceremony was attended by the representatives of UN-HABITAT in Kosovo and the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS) based in Rotterdam , the Netherlands , as the organisations which assisted in the establishment of the Kosovo Institute of Spatial Planning and supported the capacity building programme for its staff.

Through a cooperation agreement with the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies, UN-HABITAT and IHS experts for four years, provided professional assistance and advice to the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, contributed to the development of the spatial planning sector in general and in particular to the drafting of the Strategic Spatial Plan for Kosovo.  This support was provided through a combination of workshops, trainings, on-job assistance and experts advice. The process of drafting of the Kosovo Spatial Plan was the result of the capacity building programme based on the learning by doing approach and aimed at the application of the theory in practice. 

“The successfully completion of this training, is not the end of the learning planning process; knowledge on the planning process does not have an end”, said Mr. Luan Nushi a director of the Institute for Spatial Planning in Kosovo. The Permanent Secretary of the MESP, Mr. Muhamet Aliu stressed that this training based on learning by doing approach was helpful for MESP staff and has proved them with the capacity to deal with the spatial planning challenges in their daily work.

While speaking about close cooperation between MESP with UN-HABITAT and IHS and the great assistance they provided in strengthening the capacities of MESP staff in the spatial planning field, the vice-Minister, Mr. Emin Krasniqi stressed the need for further cooperation in this field.

“It is my great pleasure and honour to congratulate you on the successfully completion of the training and hope this knowledge you gained will contribute to the future sustainable development of Kosovo. UN-HABITAT is happy to be an important partner both in the past and now and it will continue to cooperate with the Ministry on the number of spatial planning issues. The work done by the Institute for Spatial Planning has been a practical test of the abilities of its staff and I hope you will pass other difficult test in the spatial planning field, too”, said Mrs. Krystyna Galezia , Officer in Charge of UN-HABITAT Kosovo office. 

Forbes Davidson, Project Manager and Senior Faculty of IHS, focused his speech on the good working atmosphere and conducive environment during his cooperation with MESP staff. He also acknowledged the Ministry for its great enthusiasm for cooperation with IHS and UN-HABITAT and for its support to the training process. “Capacity building strategy linked with the priorities within MESP is important but emphasis should be given to the education of new spatial planners as well’, he said.