The implementation of urban and spatial plans poses a number of difficulties for municipalities of Kosovo.  In order to address this issue and provide recommendations which could ease the process, representatives of MuSPP partner municipalities, the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning (MESP), international organizations dealing with planning, MuSPP staff and all relevant stakeholders met at a workshop on March 14,2012.
The workshop began with the welcoming remarks by the Head of UN-Habitat office in Kosovo, Mrs. Krystyna Galezia, who described the aim of the workshop. She pointed out the importance of bringing together representatives from local, central level governments and other relevant stakeholders dealing with spatial and urban planning. Ms Galezia said it was vital to create adequate mechanisms for monitoring the implementation of plans and establish indicators which would allow to measure the impact of plan implementation on the quality of lives of citizens.  In his opening remarks, Mr. Arben Citaku, the Permanet Secretary of MESP, referred to the legislative framework for urban and spatial planning and expressed his appreciation for the MuSPP programme and its  support to Kosovo municipalities and MESP.
The first session of the workshop started with the presentation by a representative of the Spatial Planning Department within MESP, Mrs Suzana Goranci, who focussed on the legal requirements of the plans with the special focus on Municipal Development Plan (MDP). She referred also to the role of MuSPP in the implementation of the plans. The presentation gave an overview of the existing situation of the plans in Kosovo municipalities. The presentation was followed by group work session during which groups composed of MuSPP partner  municipalities and institutions had an opportunity to identify key challenges and problems related to the implementation of plans. The presentations of the group work pointed to a number of aspects which obstruct successful implementation of plans such as limited access to land for development.
The group work was followed by a presentation by Mrs. Lumnije Gashi of  MuSPP,  who described the process of drafting of MDPs in two MuSPP partner municipalities Junik and Hani I Elezit/General Jankovic.  The MDPs were drafted by the municipal staff of these municipalities with the support of MuSPP experts. The main part of the presentation was dedicated to the 5th phase of the plan, i.e. the implementation provisions and the action plan. This section of a plan was in the focus of discussions throughout the whole workshop and captured major attention of all participants. They came up with a number of recommendations including the idea of developing comprehensive Action  Plans as an integral part of MDP/UDP.
The issue of the process of the plan implementation was addresses in the presentation of the MuSPP expert, Mr. Hasse Eriksson, who responded to questions raised during the preparatory  phase of this workshop. Mr. Eriksson referred to a survey conducted in all MuSPP municipalities on the challenges that municipalities face during the implementation of the plans and interviews with main bodies responsible for the implementation of the plans.

Mr. Modest Gashi,an urban planner from Peja/Pec, shared the experience of this  municipality in the implementation of the “road map for Peja/Pec”. He explained that the document  was drafted with the support of MuSPP in 2007, as a tool to support implementation of the MDP and UDP. He also described an organisational set up of the municipal office which supports implementation of urban and spatial plans in this municipality. 
Present at the workshop were the directors of the Institute of Spatial Planning (ISP), Mr. Luan Nushi, as well as the director of the Department of Spatial, Mr. Agim Radoniqi. Apart from commenting on the present-day situation on Kosovo’s municipalities with regard to the implementation of plans, Mr Nushi  said that the spatial planning database on land categorisation is ready and presents a good base when drafting and revising the plans. It is recommended that ISP should undertake training to municipal officials on the use of the software and create municipal spatial data base that will be harmonized and linked with the central level one. ISP needs support for providing this training to the municipal officials. Political awareness – political involvement during drafting the planning documents is required, and it would enable the implementation of the plans in an easier and more efficient way. From the central level, there should be indicators determined as a basis for monitoring and implementation of municipal plans.
The recommendations submitted during the workshop related to different aspects and covered all fields which would impact the implementation of the plans and overall planning process. Many of them referred to the planning process, political context, cooperation/coordination, information sharing, legislation, development control and inspection, capacity building, planning and budgeting, institutional and organizational set-up, public participation etc.  The list of the recommendations deriving from this workshop was long, and it is planned that a report including all of them will be shared with all municipalities and institutions which contributed to this workshop  in the near future.