Pristina, May 18 2022 – The Ombudsperson, Mr. Naim Qelaj participated in the publication of the report of the organization KOMF, which has to do with their monitoring on the process of decentralization of social services in the country.

The report “Social services close to the citizen” states that the process of decentralization of social services has not been fully implemented even in 2021. The report states, among other things, that the two main laws that are expected to have an impact on the implementation of the decentralization process, the Law on Finance of Local Government and the Law on Social and Family Services, failed to be adopted even in 2021, although they have been finalized.

The Ombudsperson, Mr. Naim Qelaj said that state institutions, in addition to creating a legal infrastructure which will lead to the improvement of social services, respectively sustainable financial provisions, should also create mechanisms that will implement social service schemes.

“So far we have seen that the budget allocated for social assistance, out of which 96 percent goes directly to payments of certain social categories, and only four percent go to other services for citizens. “And this shows that a genuine policy is not being developed to increase the quality of social services,” said Mr. Qelaj.

The report also states that the capacities of municipalities for management and provision of social services have continued to be deficient as in the previous two years.