Empowering Kosovo citizens to secure their property rights and further stimulate economic development through the legalization of unpermitted buildings requires reaching out to all communities. In order to increase awareness among hard-to-reach communities, USAID, through the Kosovo Economic Governance Activity, has partnered with the Non-Governmental Organization “Voice of Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptians” (VoRAE) to conduct legalization outreach activities with minority communities in twelve (12) Kosovo municipalities.
This partnership is expected to increase the number of legalization applications submitted by citizens as the process enters its final year. USAID provided legalization training and informational materials to 23 VoRAE field staff who are currently reaching out to more than 25,000 citizens to encourage and assist them to apply for property legalization. Legalization of unpermitted buildings and formalization through registration in the cadaster empowers citizens to secure their property rights and provides a title and legitimate ownership of the property that can be used as collateral to access finance. In addition, it allows these buildings to be securely bought, sold, or mortgaged, thereby helping to fuel Kosovo’s economic growth.
To date, USAID supported development of an automatic processing tool for municipal officials, and developed specific guidelines on how to treat applications for buildings without permits. As of August 2021, 680 buildings in Pristina and Gracanica, valued at around US $250 million have been formalized and registered in cadaster
Chemonics for USAIDKosovo