MDG Profile:
Setting goals and developing strategies for the long term is a challenge
Kosovo is administered by the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) under Security Council Resolution 1244. Because of its status, Kosovo did not participate in the Millennium Summit in 2000 and its representatives did not formally sign the Millennium Declaration. Following two years of negotiations between Kosovo and Serbia, the UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari presented the Comprehensive Proposal for Status Settlement in 2007. The lack of clear agreement on the final status led to the proclamation of independence by the Kosovo Assembly on 17 February 2008.
According to the latest Early Warning Systems quarterly poll conducted in May 2008, three months after the declaration of independence, unemployment and poverty are perceived as the main problems by the majority of Kosovans. For comparison, in 2002 when the first quarterly poll was launched, uncertainties related to the final settlement status were regarded as the key challenge. The findings of May polls reaffirmed the relevance of development, in general, and the achievement of the MDGs, specifically, as a priority for Kosovans.
UNDP has been working on reducing poverty in Kosovo since 1999. In 2004, to help the Kosovo authorities use the MDGs as a framework for development, the UN Kosovo Team prepared a baseline MDG Report entitled Where will we be in 2015?. The Report shows Kosovo’s progress towards achieving the MDGs and makes recommendations for sustainable development.
In 2005, UNDP Kosovo, with technical support from the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Development Fund for Women, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, UN-Habitat, and the United Nations Volunteers, supported the Gjakova/Djakovica municipality in leading Kosovo towards achieving the MDGs. The team, together with civil society and local government, revised the existing municipal development plan and aligned it with MDG targets.
A Second MDG Report for Kosovo was finalized in 2007 through consultation and inputs from various stakeholders, which resulted in an analytical report with localized targets and indicators to reflect the situation in Kosovo. The Parliament discussed the findings with a view to devising a strategy for mainstreaming the MDGs into its development agenda.
The UN Kosovo Team recently established a Joint UN Thematic Working Group on Statistics to help the Statistical Office of Kosovo to address existing data gaps and use DevInfo as a centrepiece development database in Kosovo.
Last updated: 30 June 2008
Disclaimer: Due to the special status of the UN Administered Territory of Kosovo, there were no separate statistics available for it at the time of launching this site. The figures used on this factsheet are those used for Serbia. Disaggregated statistics will soon become available.
