As result of the latest elections, there have been many changes in the composition of municipal staff and related organizations. Under the motto “Making Better Cities Together”, UN-HABITAT Kosovo organized a “Retraining Workshop” on the essentials of Strategic Spatial and Urban Planning. The Retraining Workshop took take place in Victory Hotel, on March 11^th, 2008. The Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning (MESP) supported the retraining by providing a session on the legal procedures of local planning and on the Kosovo Spatial Plan as well.

All six MuSPP municipalities participated actively in the retraining workshop. The municipal delegations had a mixed character, with newly appointed directors and staff of Planning Departments, as well representatives of the Councils of Planning Experts and the Informal Councils of Civil Society Organisations.

The purpose of the Retraining Workshop was:

1.       to give new staff  the opportunity to catch up with modern planning essentials;

2.       to discuss to what extent the current planning methods and tools are adapted to the planning challenges in Kosovo;

3.       to create a network of planning professionals (experts, decision makers, community-representatives,…) and to enable exchange of experiences and lessons learned.

Although the retraining was focused on local level, it created opportunities to establish effective links between local and central level.

The several introductions by MESP and MuSPP were followed with interesting discussions. Among many interesting discussion points it’s worth noting:

·          the steering force of the local planning department throughout the entire planning process, including steering the external planning consultants;

·         the full compliance with the legal requirements of the Law on Spatial Planning, including less obvious things as a full report of public reviews;

·         the need to revitalise the Councils of Planning Experts and Informal Councils of Civil Society organisations with clear composition, role and tasks;

·         the need for better access to basic planning documentation such as the (expanding) legal framework, the Kosovo Spatial Plan and administrative guidelines;

·         the need to plan how to implement and respect the MDP/UDP once it is approved by Municipal Assembly

·          the need to speed up the first planning cycle with the approval of MDP/UDP

·         the need for more and better communication and cooperation between local and central level

The conclusion of the retraining workshop stressed the overall need for pro-active co-ordination and co-operation between Ministries and Municipalities, civil society, associations, donor agencies and other organisations, as this is the only way to advance spatial and urban planning process and recommended the need for further support of spatial and urban planning processes.

In the afternoon there was an additional meeting with representatives of the Informal Councils of Civil Society organisations. Conclusion of these meetings is that there is an urgent need to re-activate these councils and to discuss ways to achieve ‘recognition’ by the municipality, as well how to organize and manage these councils in a sustainable and independent way. This meeting will therefore be followed up by in-depth discussions in all MuSPP municipalities.