Box F.1: Support to Kosovo Cadastral Agency In 2000 Norway’s mapping agency (Statens Kartverk) presented a project to support Kosovo’s Cadastral Agency (KCA). The project included a large technical assistance component as well as investment of some equipment. At the same time the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) and Sweden’s Sida initiated their support and together agreed to a joint “programme” in this first phase. The cooperation was not without challenges, with three different technical cultures working side by side and interlinked, but by 2003 the KCA was more or less established. The period from 20032007 saw Norway, Sida and SDC continuing their support through relatively turbulent times for KCA, with lack of political support from the Ministry of Public Administration and the coming and going of five Directors/Chief Executive Officers. In the period 2005-2007 Statens Kartverk reinitiated their technical support, together with the continuous support from Sida and SDC, and KCA cemented its role also politically. The donors jointly agreed to hire an international “management advisor” to the CEO. The World Bank also supported the establishment of a Program Coordination Office inside the KCA. The KCA developed a strategy and a business plan that they costed for the donors to relate to. The status in late 2009 is that KCA has a clear political mandate, management tools, technical systems including a Land Information System, but relatively weak human resources due to competent staff leaving for better paid jobs. The Kosovo Cadastral Support Program (KCSP) is considered very relevant by all stakeholders, including national authorities at all levels. The different phases of the KCSP have delivered the planned Outputs on time and budget, but the quality of delivery has not always been according to plan (NCG 2001 and 2003, SDC 2008). The arrangement where three different donors all contracted their own specialised technical experts to do parts of the KCSP was problematic. The interfaces did not always work, and the different cadastral philosophies of the implementers led to challenges. The three, more less independent procurement systems also made the implementation less effective than it should have been, and resulted in delays from both Norway and Sida. In the SDC review of the KCSP (2008) this is suggested as one of the main challenges moving forward. The most important impact was that the KCA in 2009 is an established institution with clear political support. Its products have helped establish the basis for the work being done in the property sector in Kosovo, by the Kosovo Property Agency and the Kosovo Privatisation Agency. These are real impacts for which the KCSP should be credited. Having focused for a long time mostly on the technical aspects of the KCA, the support in 2007-08 paid more attention to governance and management issues. This resulted in the hiring of a management advisor to the CEO of KCA, and the development of a KCA strategy and business plan. The KCA is still relatively fragile when it comes to human resources as most of the experienced staff left when the KCA moved to a governmental salary scale. There is also disagreement with regards to the usefulness and practical applicability of some of the technical equipment introduced. There are still challenges with regards to vertical mandates, that is the political support to KCA from its line ministry and the mandate of the KCA to work with the Municipal Cadastral Offices (MCO). The sustainability of the impacts achieved so far seems to be closely linked to three main elements: (i) the continuous support of donors towards the 2009-2014 Business Plan and its successful implementation, (ii) the Ministry of Public Administration (MoPA), the KCA and the donors’ ability to agree on a unified “philosophy” for the cadastral work in Kosovo, and (iii) the MoPA and KCA’s long-term financial strength and the ability to employ and keep qualified staff.
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Evaluation of Norwegian Development Cooperation with the Western Balkans