Public administration reform in Kosovo: strengthening the role and capacities of Kosovo Institute of Public Administration : [presentation given November 17, 2010.]

This capstone project is addressing the challenges of Public Administration Reform (PAR) in Kosovo with focus on strengthening the role and capacities of the Kosovo Institute of Public Administration (KIPA), the KIPA is a critical institution for ensuring a successful implementation of the Strategy of Public Administration Reform. During research, it was noticed that countries aspiring to join the European Union have undergone serious reforms in their public administration, in search for good governance, and improvement of administrative efficiency, also the promotion of the devotion of public sector staff to democratic values, ethics and respect of the rule of law. In this regard, this capstone project makes comparative analyses between six countries, including Kosovo, and their civil service training centers. These countries and their civil service training institutions, have witnessed and are witnessing the ongoing changes, influenced by significant reforms of public administration, and also very much influenced by the process of European Integration. The KIPA stakeholders main concerns, that have emerged from conducted survey, are the government budgetary allocation for KIPA and the professional skills of the KIPA staff. In this regard, 92% of respondents considers that KIPA is under financed (fig. 0.1), and an interesting very mixt perception it was expressed about the level of professional skills of the KIPA staff. This way, a significant percentage of respondents, 61%, consider that the skills of KIPA employees are partially or totally inadequate (fig.0.2), against 3% of respondents that considers them as a adequate. This Report offers an objective assessment of the current role, legal framework and capacities of KIPA. This assessment it is based on comparative analyses made and on experiences of the countries in transition studied in this report, and also using the best practices of developed European countries. it recommends concrete steps towards accomplishment of the This report, considering the very important role that KIPA has in the process of implementation of PAR, offers short and mid term recommendations to KIPA. Furthermore, the report recommends concrete strategic development objectives, which are in line with the development paths undergone by a similar civil service training institutions, from European Union member states. In this line, reports main recommendations to KIPA can be considered: • Adoption of Law on KIPA, that defines KIPA as a market-like and client driven training institution; • Establishment of KIPA Executive and Advisory Board’s ,and • Twining with a similar institution from one of the EU countries. In addition, the report recommends to the Government of Kosovo introduction of mandatory training budget, which will not be lower than 1.5 % of salary budget, and targeting level of 3% by 2015

Prevalence of Perceived Stress, Anxiety, and Depression in HCW in Kosovo during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Survey

A pandemic may have a negative impact on healthcare workers’ (HCW) mental health. In this cross-sectional study, we assess the self-reported prevalence of stress, anxiety, and depression and identify their predictive factors among HCW in Kosovo. The online questionnaire collected data on socio-demographics (sex, age, occupation, education, workplace) and the presence and severity of depression, anxiety, and stress through the 21-item Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, t-test, and linear logistic regression were used to analyze the data. Of the 545 respondents, the majority were male (53.0%), under 60 years of age (94.7%), and married (81.7%). Most of them were physicians (78.2%), while the remaining were nurses, midwives, and other health professionals (22%). Prevalence rates for moderate to extremely high stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms were 21.9%, 13.0%, and 13.9%, respectively. The nurses reported significantly higher mean scores for depression and anxiety than the physicians (p < 0.05). Being married, having poor health, not exercising, and reporting “burnout” from work significantly predicted higher levels of depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms among health workers (p < 0.05). Most HCWs (71.6%) reported a mild, moderate, or severe mental health burden, and certain factors predicted higher levels of such burden