May 18, 2020

Costing Guidance: A User-friendly Framework for Costing of Structural Reform Measures

Mr. Venhar Nushi, Senior Policy Planning Officer at the Office of Prime Minister in Kosovo shares his reflections on what he and his institution have achieved by taking part in learning events that were delivered as part of the “Strengthening Line Ministries’ Capacities to Assess Fiscal Implications of Structural Reforms” (FISR) project.

One of the most meaningful FISR activities that I have participated in is the “Enabling Finance Officials as Trainers and Learning Facilitators” workshop, organized by the CEF in March 2019 in Slovenia. It brought together experts from line ministries to exchange ideas on how to increase cooperation between institutions in improving the design, costing and budgeting of structural reforms as an element of the Economic Reform Programs (ERP).

The second and third most meaningful activities, a continuation of the first event, was the “Knowledge Sharing on Costing of Structural Reforms: ERP for the period of 2020–2022”, organized by the CEF in Pristina, which provided guidance for officials working on the preparation of structural reform measures, including how to practically use the Methodological Guidance for Costing of Structural Reforms (Costing Guidance) to ensure adequate estimation of their implementation costs and their presentation in the ERP.

The first activity produced the Costing Guidance which improves the overall quality of the structural reform chapter of the ERP by offering a consistent and user-friendly framework for the costing of structural reforms. This guidance was quite helpful in the following two workshops in Pristina as well as in the costing of the Structural Reforms in Kosovo’s ERP 2020–2022.

The most important value is the success of the process and then comes the personal one. I feel that I am much more prepared when it comes to the costing of the reforms and I have contributed to my organization’s success in this regard.