- NGO APPLICATION FORM SECTION I

The Applicant

Full Legal Name of Applicant

(As per registration certificate)

Organizata pr Demokraci, Antikorrupsion dhe

Dinjitet OHU!

Full Name of Applicant

(in English)

Organization for Democracy, Anticorruption

and Dignity OHU!

Address

2 korriku 4/4, Prishtine.

Office Telephone Number (s)

038 248 506

Fax Number

NA

E-mail Address

office@cohu.org,
organizatacohu@yahoo.com

Web Address

www.cohu.org, www.preportr.com

Contact Person, Title

Lorik Bajrami, Executive Director

Contact persons e-mail address

lorik.bajrami@cohu.org

Contact persons phone number

044 173 552

Year organisation was registered

2005

Do you have operational bank

account

Yes.

Estimated Budget
Funds requested from
AKT LS
USD

Applicants cost share

USD

Total cost of proposed

project
USD

SECTION II
Draft Project Proposal

Project Title

Project Duration
Partners

"Ensuring integrity of local governments through

increased research and monitoring capacities of local
CSOs"
10 months
Communication for Social Development (CSD)

Please be concrete in describing your proposed project. Do not exceed 5 pages in this
section, as your proposal will not be eligible for evaluation. Please use the same font.

1.
Justification and Background
Please provide clear description and justification about the problem/issue you would like to
address. Be concrete in describing its relevance to the country/region/target groups.
In Kosovo corruption ranks among the top problems of the country. A number of local and
international organizations1 have shown that corruption in Kosovo has permeated highest
levels of governance, local and central. Our research has shown that public procurement law
and procedures are often bypassed or twisted to serve other purposes than those of the
public.2 Once they get to power, political parties tend to reward businesses and donors that
have supported their electoral campaign, thus creating an unfavorable business climate,
misusing public funds and delivering poor public services.
The misuse of public funds is not only a rule of law problem, but also a problem of delivery of
services to the citizens. If public money are diverted to illegal channels, then the result is
delivery of poor public services. This problem can be encountered all over Kosovo, in majority
and non-majority municipalities. To prevent the misuse of public funds and to ensure that
services are delivered to citizens who need them most, the role of civil society organizations
(CSO) in monitoring the work of local governments is of utmost importance. This is all the
more relevant for smaller communities where the resources of local CSOs are limited to say
the least, and the focus of the media is on high politics. Thus this project aims to increase
the capacities of local CSOs to research, monitor, advocate and deliver regular shadow
reports on the expenditure of local public funds in four ethnically mixed municipalities.
Independent reports have shown that misuse of public funds occurs through misuse of public
procurement procedures. Through public procurement, public funds are often distributed via
clientelist and patronage networks in an exchange system of political and economic rewards,
rather than in accordance with community needs and interests. Therefore this project aims to
1

See reports by Transparency International on Kosovo at http://www.transparency.org/country#KOS

and reports by Organization ohu at www.cohu.org and www.preportr.com. For other local
organizations see http://levizjafol.org/folnew/ and http://www.kdi-kosova.org/en/index.php.
2
See our report 100 million at http://preportr.com/sq/Parate-dhe-politika/100-Milion-92 "and
Buying political territory with public money at http://preportr.com/sq/Parate-dhe-politika/Blerja-eterritorit-politik-me-paran-publike-46

train the CSOs to research and monitor the expenditure of public funds, map their distribution
and increase the accountability and transparence of local governments.
2.
Project Goal and Objectives
What are the goals and objectives of your project? Please name one overall project goal and
several specific project objectives. Each specific objective should be clearly stated,
measurable and attainable during the proposed project timeline.
The overall project goal is to ensure greater transparence and accountability of local
governments through increased research, monitoring and advocacy capacities of local civil
society organizations. The aim is to ensure greater responsiveness of local governments
towards the needs of their communities.
The most important specific objective is the research skills that local CSOs will gain in the
training offered by ohu. Basically this is a revenue watch project which will train members
of CSOs on how to research and oversee the expenditure of public funds by local authorities.
The trainees will learn where and how to search when doing revenue research, what local
resources to utilize, such as, for example, the webpage of Public Procurement Regulatory
Commission and Public Procurement Review Body (when extracting data on procurement
contracts), Central Election Commission (businesses/donors of political parties), Business
Registration Agency (owners of businesses), Office of Auditory General (fiscal discipline and
prudence), etc. Moreover they will learn how to do Google advanced search learning special
techniques and tools to search deeper in the internet, creating and maintaining databases of
research, archiving, etc. The trainees will obtain these skills in a ten days training by an
experienced in-house researcher.
The second specific objective will be the guided research that the trainees will conduct as
part of the training program. Trainees will be divided in groups depending on the area or the
municipality they come from, and each group will be tasked to research on the expenditure of
public funds of their respective municipality practicing the techniques that they learned in the
training. This will entail utilizing the online public resources, practicing the internet advanced
search techniques and tools, creating databases, and archiving. This will be a hands-on
training which will begin and continue after the initial training. The groups will be monitored,
guided and instructed by ohu in their work until the research is finalized. In the end the
trainees will have obtained skills and learned how to utilize them in practice.
This research will continue for six months resulting in published findings, thus the publication
represents the third specific objective.
Fourth specific objective is increased activities of CSOs in monitoring the work of local
governments. This is related to the second and third objective and as a consequence of it
there will be an increased activity of CSOs.
Fifth objective is increased transparence and accountability of local governments as a result
of increased activities of local CSOs (related to the objectives above).
Sixth objective is fostering cooperation between majority and non-majority CSOs as a result
of training and the research to be continued afterwards.

3.

Expected Results

Expected results should directly correspond to specific objectives, project activities and
timeline. They should be concrete, practical and achievable.
Expected results will include:
-

Increased capacities of CSOs to research and monitor the expenditure and

distribution of public funds by local governments

Increased monitoring research outputs by local CSOs

Increased activities and monitoring of local governments by CSOs

Increased transparence and accountability of local governments

Fostered cooperation between majority and non-majority CSOs

4.
Target Groups
Please describe specific target groups of your project, relevant stakeholders to be addressed
and potential allies. Describe how you plan to mobilize/inform/engage broader
community/citizens.
The target groups of the project are local civil society organizations in Albanian, Serb, or
mixed municipalities whose increased capacities and role is expected to have an impact on
their respective communities. Thus local CSOs are the specific target groups.
Relevant stakeholders to be addressed are local governments who will be the specific target
groups of the research to be conducted by the CSOs after the training. Whereas potential
allies are local and national media who are expected to cover the research conducted by
CSOs, and maintain a perpetual public pressure on local governments
By training the members of local CSOs we expect to engage and mobilize respective
communities towards having their needs and interests addressed by local authorities.

5.
Geographic Coverage
Please briefly explain why you have selected your proposed geographic coverage
In our selection of geographic coverage we sought a balanced interethnic composition. In this
regard we chose two Serb-dominated municipalities, Gracanica and Partesh; one Albaniandominated municipality, namely Gjilan, and one, more or less, ethnically balanced
municipality, Novobrdo. These municipalities comprise part of central and eastern Kosovo
and are areas where the majority of Kosovo Serbs south of Ibr live. Thus the project is
distributed geographically and fits perfectly well with the objectives of the project to foster
interethnic cooperation.

6.
Description of activities
Please describe the proposed activities and how they help achieve the project goal and
objectives. Include a description of the capacity building initiatives you will provide to support
the development of civil society in general. If your organization will implement this project in
partnership, please indicate the role your partner/s will play.

The project activities are focused towards building capacities of selected CSOs and
increasing their activities and output.
The first activity involves a ten day training on how to research the expenditure and
distribution of public funds by respective municipalities. Eight members of CSOs, two from
each municipality, will attend the training. This training will be provided by an experienced
ohu researcher, who has experience with training journalists on investigative journalism
tools and techniques. The first part of the training will teach the attendees how to create and
maintain databases, and how to apply them for research purposes. The second part will
teach them how to utilize local online resources to track the expenditure of money, how to use
Google Advanced Search, DTSearch, tools and archiving. In the third part the trainees will be
asked to apply the skills and techniques they learned in the training. This will ensure that they
have gained the skills and are able to practice them.
The second activity involves a one-day lecture will acquaint the trainees with the anticorruption legal and institutional framework, focusing in particular on three indispensable
laws: Law on the Declaration, Origin and Control of Property and Gifts of Senior Public
Officials, Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest and Law on Access to Official Documents.
Local CSOs will also learn how to gain access to public information/documents through
utilizing mechanisms foreseen in the Law on Access to Public Documents. They will obtain indepth information on which are the mechanisms/institutions and procedures to address
complains in cases when requests to access public documents information are refused.
The third activity involves monitoring and guiding the independent research by CSOs. In a
period of four months, after the training is finished, CSOs will research the expenditure of
public funds of their respective municipalities. The trainees will be divided in groups of two
(according to the municipality they come from) to conduct the research. Throughout this
period the CSOs will be guided by ohu staff in carrying out the research, advising them and
offering them support to conclude the research successfully.
Fourth activity involves supporting the CSOs to publish their research and distribute it to the
media throughout Kosovo in order to reach their targeted communities as well as the wider
Kosovo public. Throughout the research the CSOs will submit requests for access to official
documents to respective institutions. The purpose is two-fold, first to test the understanding
and the application of the Law on Access to Official Documents in the selected municipalities
and related institutions. This will show the degree of transparency of municipalities and will
acquaint CSOs with the benefits of this law. Second CSOs will learn to utilize mechanisms
derived from the law in order to obtain those information that are not available through online
research. The statistics on the application of this law will be included in the final reports of
CSOs.
The partner organization in the project, Communication for Social Developments (CSD), is
responsible for facilitating contact with other local CSOs. They will manage the selection
process and everything that that entails. The partner CSO will themselves also attend the
training provided by Organization ohu.
7.
Management Team
Please list project staff proposed for implementation of the action. If applicable, indicate if any
experts will be engaged. Indicate also if any volunteers will be involved.
Qndrim Bunjaku: Lead Researcher, member of ohu staff for five years now, works as
researcher and developer of databases which constitute an essential part of ohu research

on corruption, clientelism, patronage, etc. Qndrim has educational background in economics

and computer science.
Arton Demhasaj: Legal Advisor and Project-manager now leads the Office of Legal Advisor,
has been monitoring the work of Kosovo courts and prosecution, involved in the reviewing of
Kosovo anticorruption legal and institutional framework in cooperation with OHU! partners
throughout Kosovo. Arton Demhasaj holds two bachelor degrees, in political sciences and law
from the University of Prishtina. Also holds an MA in political sciences and is continuing an
MA on Law at the same university.
Lorik Bajrami: Executive Director of ohu and long-time Project Manager of the Legal
Advising Office has led numerous projects since the establishment of OHU! and has
contributed in the production of reports, analysis and recommendations on continuous basis.
Lorik has educational background in journalism and political science, having graduated in
both at the University of Prishtina.
Bardha Nikoliqi: Finance Officer, a senior year student at the University of Prishtina, Faculty
of Economics. She has worked as an accountant and office administrator for a number of
organizations and private businesses. Bardha is in charge of finances and bookkeeping for
ohu.
Florie Xhemajli: Editor-in-chief of Preportr (a product of ohu-established Kosovo Center
for Investigative Journalism KCIJ) is a long-time member of ohu, manages and supervises
the research of journalists, edits and proof-reads all the materials before their publication.
Florie holds a BA in Sociology and is an MA candidate at the University of Prishtina,
Sociology Department.
Alban Bokshi: Project-manager and fund-raiser, is responsible for project-proposals, fundraising, also manages and supervises the work of KCIJ, edits and proof-reads the materials
before their publication, prepares and edits the reports for ohu and KCIJ donors. Alban
holds a BA in European Studies and Poltical Science-International Relations from the
American University in Bulgaria and an MA in Contemporary European Studies from the
University of Sussex, UK.
SECTION III
Institutional Capacity
1.
Brief description of your organization
Please describe the organizations main areas of work and the role it plays in the community.
Shortly describe the level of cooperation with other sectors and networking. Indicate the
number of staff employed. Please limit your response to ONE PAGE.
Organization ohu was established in September 2005 with the aim to fight political
corruption, or what is sometimes called high corruption, and consolidate the rule of law and
democracy in Kosovo through research, monitoring, watchdog and advocacy activities. For a
decade the organization has been engaged in anti-corruption activities scrutinizing the work
of Kosovo institutions such as Kosovo Government, Kosovo Parliament, Kosovo courts and
prosecutors, public companies like KEK, PTK and the Airport, the privatization process, etc.
Monitoring activities were usually followed by a report providing analyses and identifying

obstacles and problems towards fighting corruption in Kosovo and would often conclude with
advocacy and awareness-raising activities to put pressure on the institutions to improve their
performance against corruption.
To further its goal of fighting corruption and considering the need for deeper investigative
stories to uncover corruption links, ohu established its journalistic wing, namely the Kosovo
Centre for Investigative Journalism (KCIJ). KCIJ was established in 2011 with the main
objective to increase independent investigative reporting. This has developed into a medium
for journalists who have skills, will and professional preparation to make a difference on the
media sector. Since then KCIJ has published extensive investigative reports through its
newspaper Preportr3, distributed via two daily Kosovo newspapers and its online
publication. Hundreds of cases of misuses of power and corruption were reported. KCIJ
reports had moved Kosovo Parliament on making the misuse of public money an intensive
part of discussion, while a whole session of Parliament was dedicated to the findings of the
newspaper in the end of 2012. Journalists and editors of KCIJ were also engaged on
debates and discussions about investigative and independent journalism in Kosovo through
different means and events such as roundtables, TV debates, and podcasts and discussions
through social media.
Often the topics of the supplement Preportr focus on exposing the discriminate manner of
governance and policy making process biased to the people that are connected with one or
other political party. It exposes the lack of the principle of indiscrimination on the use of
public resources, meaning that there is no equal access and opportunities of people to the
public goods. Most recently KCIJ published a number of research stories, such as the story
on the extent of political patronage in Kosovo institutions, a research on the misuse and the
smuggling of cancer drugs and an issue on the financing of political parties.
Currently ohu and KCIJ together employ twelve people, five out of whom are women
working as managers and journalists.
2.
Organizations Experience in organizing cultural events
Please provide a short overview of the organizations recent experience in organizing
cultural events defining specific success achieved. Indicate partnerships and cooperation
with other stakeholders that may have led to your success. Extent to which the applicant
organization has demonstrated leadership ability within their sector of expertise and the
capacity to provide support and services to constituents.
Please limit your response to ONE PAGE.

3.
Other Donors
Please list the names of other donors that have supported your organization through direct
grants.
Civil Rights Defenders

Free Press Unlimited

Open Society Institute

Kosovo Foundation for Open Society
Democratic Society Promotion
3

See Preportr webpage at: http://preportr.com/en-us/Home

4.
Annual Budget Review
Please provide annual budget of the formal applicant for the last three years.

YEAR

ANNUAL
BUDGET

NUMBER OF
RECEIVED
GRANTS

( in USD)
2012

144670.00

119939.00

159221.00

10

2013
2014

Certification

I hereby certify that the information contained herein and attached hereto is
complete and accurate to the best of my knowledge.

__________________________________
____________________________
Head of Organization

Date:

_____________________

Signature

Stamp