ANNUAL REPORT January 2020 – January 2021
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PHOTO CREDIT: NORA SIQECA, USAID TEAM ANNUAL REPORT January 2020 – January 2021 USAID Transparent, Effective and Accountable Municipalities Activity in Kosovo USAID Transparent, Effective and Accountable Municipalities (USAID TEAM) Activity in Kosovo ANNUAL REPORT January 11, 2020 – January 10, 2021 Project Title: USAID Transparent, Effective and Accountable Municipalities (USAID TEAM) Activity in Kosovo Sponsoring USAID Office: USAID/Kosovo Contract Number: AID-167-C-17-00001 COR: Jeton Cana Contractor: DAI Global, LLC Date of Submission: February 11, 2021 Prepared By: USAID TEAM DISCLAIMER: This publication was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development. It was prepared by DAI Global, LLC. The author’s views expressed in this document do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) or the United States Government. USAID TEAM ANNUAL REPORT 2020 | 1 CONTENTS ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................. 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................................... 5 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 11 USAID TEAM BACKGROUND............................................................................................................. 11 WORK PLAN PROGRESS REPORT .................................................................................................. 13 A COVID-19 ANALYSIS........................................................................................................................ 13 ACTIVITIES SERVING THE ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT PLAN ................................................ 17 COMPONENT I: DEVELOP, REFINE AND ROLL OUT MODELS FOR TRANSPARENT AND ACCOUNTABLE MUNICIPALITIES .......................................................................................................... 25 COMPONENT II: ENGAGE THE CENTRAL LEVEL IN ADDRESSING MUNICIPAL CORRUPTION WITHIN THE PROCUREMENT PROCESS ............................................................................................................... 70 COMPONENT III: ENABLE CIVIL SOCIETY TO TRACK AND EXPOSE CORRUPTION ......................... 81 CHALLENGES DURING REPORTING PERIOD .......................................................................... 102 MITIGATION MEASURES TAKEN TO ADDRESS CHALLENGES DURING REPORTING PERIOD .................................................................................................................................................... 105 ANNEX I: WORK PLAN SCHEDULE PERFORMANCE ............................................................ 107 ANNEX I1: AMP INDICATORS TABLE .......................................................................................... 131 2 | USAID TEAM ANNUAL REPORT 2020 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS AAR After Action Review AKM Association of Kosovo Municipalities AMS Audit Management IT System API Application Program Interface CFO Chief Financial Officer CHU Central Harmonization Unit CLA Collaborative Learning and Adapting CM Contract Management COVID-19 Coronavirus Disease 2019 CPE Contractor Performance Evaluation CPP Contractor Past Performance CSO Civil Society Organization D+ Democracy Plus GLPS Group for Legal and Political Studies GOK Government of Kosovo HR Human Resources IA Internal Audit INPO Iniciativa per Progres IR Immediate Result IT Information Technology KAJ Kosovo Academy of Justice KDI Kosova Democratic Institute KPC Kosovo Prosecutorial Council KPI Key Performance Indicators MAC Municipal Audit Committee MEAT Most Economically Advantageous Tender MELA Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning and Adapting MLG Ministry of Local Government MOF Ministry of Finance MOU Memorandum of Understanding MPFC Municipal Policy and Finance Committee USAID TEAM ANNUAL REPORT 2020 | 3 MTBF Mid-Term Budgetary Framework NAO National Audit Office NGO Non-Governmental Organization OCAT Organizational Capacity Assessment Tool OCDS Open Contracting Data Standard OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development OPDAT Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development Assistance and Training OPTP Open Procurement Transparency Portal PFM Public Finance Management PPL Public Procurement Law PPP Private-Public-Partnership PPRC Public Procurement Regulatory Commission PRB Procurement Review Body QAIP Quality Assurance and Improvement Program RFA Request for Application RFP Request for Proposals ROGPP Rules and Operational Guidelines of the Public Procurement SA Social Audit SAI Supreme Audit Institutions SOP Standard Operating Procedure SOW Scope of Work STTA Short-Term Technical Assistance TEAM Transparent, Effective and Accountable Municipalities TOR Terms of Reference USAID United States Agency for International Development 4 | USAID TEAM ANNUAL REPORT 2020 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY USAID Transparent, Effective and Accountable Municipalities Activity (USAID TEAM) continued to deliver high quality interventions in 2020, despite the challenges presented by COVID-19. All project activities were accomplished according to the approved work plan, activity budget, and timeline. Although the last three quarters of the year were affected by COVID-19, the project remains on-track with 88% of its’ activities for the year, having postponed only 15 out of 129 activities. The projects’ achievements in public procurement over the past year include: • USAID TEAM expanded its support to an additional ten new focus municipalities: Deçan/Decane, Ferizaj/Uroševac, Hani i Elezit/Elez Han, Istog/k, Junik, Lipjan/Lipljan, Podujevë/o, Prizren, Rahovec/Orahovac, and Suharekë/Suva Reka. • Municipalities increasingly post public contracts voluntarily on their websites. During 2020, 28 out of 38 municipalities voluntarily published 2,484 public contracts on municipal websites. • Despite difficult circumstances caused by COVID-19, USAID TEAM provided focus municipalities hands-on support in procurement, contract management, audit, finance, human resources, and communications. Municipal advisors supported municipalities using virtual communication tools including telephone and teleconferencing. Using extra caution and strictly following DAI COVID- 19 safety guidelines, municipal advisors were able to make 322 direct visits to focus municipalities. In addition, USAID TEAM Advisors made 115 visits to non-focus municipalities. • All ten new focus municipalities approved their Codes of Ethics. This addresses the growing need among all municipalities to embrace accountability and integrity by adopting a code of ethics, which serves as a guideline for municipal staff, members of assemblies, and local boards to follow. • Nine out of ten new focus municipalities approved the Handbook on Internal Public Expenditure Management Processes (known as the Book of Processes). The Book of Processes defines proper financial management and control requirements with a focus on risk analysis and management. The standardized processes outlined therein became mandatory pursuant to Ministry of Finance Regulation MOF-No. 01/2019 on Financial Management and Control. • All five original focus municipalities made progress against the project’s municipal graduation. From the initial baseline score of 51 points in 2017, and 61 points in 2018, the five focus municipalities reached 76 points in 2019. USAID TEAM shared individual graduation reports and conducted virtual workshops with the municipal managements of the five original focus municipalities (Pejë/Peć, Vushtrri/Vučitrn, Gjilan/Gnjilane, Gjakovë/Đjakovica, and Pristina), to share the annual and mid-year municipal graduation results. The Mayor of Gjakova Ardian Gjini stated: “The municipality has benefited a lot from this project. The operations and systems have USAID TEAM ANNUAL REPORT 2020 | 5 been advanced with support of USAID TEAM. The administrative culture has changed because of the targets set by the project.” • USAID TEAM presented municipal graduation baselines to all ten new focus municipalities (Deçan/Dečane, Hani i Elezit/Elez Han, Istog/k, Junik, Lipjan/Lipljan, Podujevë/Podujevo, Prizren, Rahovec/Orahovac, Suharekë/Suva Reka, and Ferizaj/Urosevac). The project prepared detailed individual reports and conducted online workshops to share the municipal graduation methodology and baseline results, including mid-year internal results, with each municipal management team. The Mayor of Lipjan/Lipljan stated that: “The USAID TEAM project has taught the officials of the Municipality of Lipjan/Lipljan how to identify its flaws and weaknesses. I express my readiness to engage in the implementation of all recommendations that will emerge from this analysis.” Semi-Annual Graduation Results - June 2020 100 90 80 72 62 62 65 64 70 57 60 48 47 48 51 50 40 30 20 10 0 Jun-20 Min. score for grad. • Municipal graduation results for Year 4. Based on data collected for the municipal graduation indicators, the Project has generated final graduation results for 2020 or Year 4 and 14 out of 15 focus municipalities improved against 2020 mid-year results. Over the course of year 4, the average improvement towards graduation was 13%. The most impressive score has Junik, which improved 75% compared with previous year, from 41 to 72 points, followed by Hani Elezit/Elez Han which improved 68% from 46 to 77 points. Other great improvements include the municipality of Ferizaj/Uroševac