The learning initiatives implemented under the project included topics ranging from fiscal programing of structural reforms, to budget submissions of line ministries to management of public investment. Delivered in Ljubljana, the learning had a regional character.

At this meeting we gathered together the participants from Kosovo to hear their impressions.

Mr. Salvador Elmazi, the Budget Director at the Kosovo Ministry of Finance said that this project has shown that line ministries have the maturity as partners and sense of responsibility towards the state budget and this is a good moment to work further on development of their capacities. Ms. Sanije Himaj from the Ministry of Finance and Mr. Rexhe Osmanaj from the Ministry of Infrastructure told us that practical examples of Cost-Benefit Analysis would benefit them and other ministries a lot, especially the Ministry of Local Governance, to easily evaluate infrastructure project proposals from the local governments submitted for financing by the state budget. From Mr. Sherif Dobra from the Ministry of Education we heard that his experience of being trained as a trainer in a modern fashion and excellent trainers helps identify opportunities where he can pass his knowledge to other colleagues and engage them in the learning process.

Ms. Ileana Hoxha, the Head of Budget and Finances of the Student Center of the University of Priština talked about the blended learning experience and especially about the Line Ministries Portal to which she joined during the training. She would like to see more posts from the portal members, articles and examples from the practices, and expresses readiness to take an active role herself.

General impressions are very positive and once again we realized that regional learning and sharing opportunities for line ministries are very rare, especially those related to performing their financial functions. The titles of the events were well chosen and also allocated timely according to the budgeting cycle and which was much appreciated by the participants. All formats of learning are interesting, but it seems that blended learning–a combination of online and face-to-face learning–was the most convenient for participants from Kosovo, as discussed by Ms. Besa Curri–Limani, the Finance Director of the Ministry of European Integration.

The project “Strengthening Financial Management Functions of Line Ministries” is funded by the World Bank’s SAFE Trust Fund (established by the EU and SECO) and is targeting line ministries and ministries of finance from the countries of the Western Balkans and Turkey.