A crucial question in any development assistance program is how an initiative will sustain itself after the donor support ends. In the case of an online portal that has been a game changer for transparency and accountability in Kosovo, a leading national media corporation has stepped up to the plate. Telegrafi.com, one of the most credible online news sources in Kosovo, signed an agreement with civil society organization “Levizja Fol” (“Speak up Movement,” in Albanian) to sustain the life of the Open Procurement Transparency Portal (prokurimihapur.org) beyond the close of USAID’s Transparent, Effective and Accountable Municipalities activity. Until now, Levizja Fol, with funding from USAID, has supported the portal, which allows easier detection of conflict of interest, corruption, or other illegal activity in public procurement.
Telegrafi has already made the portal available to its viewers, and a link to the “Prokurimi i Hapur” site can be found on its homepage. The portal, developed by Levizja Fol in 2018, automatically pulls data from the Government of Kosovo’s electronic procurement platform and presents this data in a user-friendly format, allowing researchers to more easily monitor ongoing procurement tenders and the awarding of public contracts. Expressing his readiness to scale-up the reporting on public expenditures in Kosovo, the editor-in-chief of Telegrafi.com, Muhamet Hajrullahu, stated: “At Telegrafi.com, we are devoted to reporting issues related to public tenders in Kosovo and above all reporting on citizens' tax expenditures. We think that with this agreement, we will advance the reporting in our portal and make available information related to public procurement and transparency.”
In addition to exemplifying how engagement of the private sector can help to sustain this breakthrough initiative, which has recorded over 55,000 users to date, the partnership between Levizja Fol and Telegrafi showcases how media and civil society can partner to promote Kosovo’s self-sufficiency. The Executive Director of the Levizja Fol, Mexhide Demolli, emphasized their commitment to continuing to enrich the portal with data and stressed that such a collaboration will keep the portal alive and running, and will provide transparency for each public contract signed in Kosovo.
USAIDKosovo