Building on long-standing USAID-funded technical assistance, the Kosovo Assembly’s Department for Research, Library and Archives (DRLA) created and successfully trained a Budgetary and Financial Analysis Unit.  As its first independent action, the DRLA’s Budgetary and Financial Analysis Unit independently produced and distributed to all members of Parliament (MPs) an analysis of the Government’s 2020 budget.  The analysis included capital cost reviews, comparative budgetary analyses, and a public debt assessment.  

DRLA is an in-house body that provides tailored, nonpartisan research to MPs.  Before the establishment of the Budgetary and Financial Analysis Unit, DRLA was not able to produce much-needed budgetary and financial analysis for the MPs and Assembly committees.  This analytical shortcoming negatively affected the ability of the Assembly to review the Government’s budget, accurately estimate costs of proposed legislation, and review expenditure reports.  

USAID’s partner, the National Democratic Institute (NDI), initially guided the Assembly last year to recruit external assistance on an ad-hoc basis that could produce analysis and brief MPs ahead of budget-related parliamentary activity.  Recognizing the benefit of this type of analysis and the need for it to be sustainable, DRLA hired two dedicated budget analysts for the Budgetary and Financial Analysis Unit.  With support from NDI, DRLA designed a training program composed of four training modules, which provided the unit staff with the knowledge and skills required to work with the analysts to produce the necessary analyses. 

With this new in-house resource, MPs and committees alike will be empowered with analytical information for proposing and assessing legislation.  As a result, the Assembly will be able to produce quality legislation self-sufficiently, ultimately improving the efficacy and sustainability of Kosovo’s leading democratic institution.