Prishtina, 18 May, 2024
Piloting of the reformed social assistance scheme in Kosovo begins today.
In October 2023, the Ministry of Finance, Labor and Transfers (MFPT) presented the project for the reform of social assistance. After intensive work, from today vulnerable families will have the opportunity to apply to be included in the new social assistance scheme.
In the event that marked the beginning of this process, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, the Minister of Finance, Labor and Transfers, Hekuran Murati, and the Human Capital Expert at the World Bank, Mrikë Aliu, were present.
In his speech, Prime Minister Kurti emphasized that the new scheme removes the discrimination that exists with the current scheme, not excluding from the scheme families who no longer have children under 5 years old, and encourages employment on the other hand through incentive mechanisms and cooperation with the Agency of Work. Prime Minister Kurti also emphasized that the lessons to be learned from this pilot will also be reflected in the new draft law on social protection.
Minister Murati, for his part, offered more details about the project, considering the start of this pilot as a fundamental change that addresses the discrimination present in the current scheme. Through the new scheme, poverty testing is provided through the calculation of income in the last three months, and the piloting is done for all families that have been discriminated within the current draft law.
Whereas, the representative of the World Bank, Mrs. Aliu thanked the Government of Kosovo for the continuous efforts to reach this point where the reform of the social assistance scheme is guaranteed in a more effective and comprehensive scheme, and also reconfirmed the continuation of the Government’s support throughout each step of this reform.
The way to fill out the application, step by step, was also presented at the conference, which can be done online, directly by a family member, or through the relevant official at the Center for Social Work.
Application link: https://ekosova.rks-gov.net/518
Prime Minister Kurti’s complete speech:
The honorable Mr. Hekuran Murati, Minister of Finance, Labor and Transfers,
Dear Ms. Mrika Aliu, human capital expert at the World Bank,
Dear Ms. Elvira Berisha, communication expert within the social assistance reform project,
Dear attendees,
Dear media representatives and employees,
When we got the governing mandate, we promised work and justice. Work that means economic development of the country and justice that means fair and equal treatment before the law.
For the first, speeches are not necessary! The statistics of the increase in jobs, the decrease in the unemployment rate, the increase in the employment of women and young people, the economic growth, the increase in business turnover, and the increase in budget revenues, clearly reflect the success of our Government in this regard.
From 331,742 jobs at the end of 2019, at the end of 2023, that is, for a period of 4 years, we have 419,126 jobs or over 87 thousand jobs more or over 26 percent. Further, from an economic growth of 1 billion euros for three years during the mandates before our government, we went to an economic growth of 1 billion euros per year with our Government. From an increase in budget revenues of 1 billion euros for more than 10 years before us, we went to a collection of budget revenues for 1 billion euros more in three years of governance.
This new economic reality for the country is also confirmed by the international financial institutions in their reports, such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and recently the report of the international credit rating agency, Fitch Ratings.
But our work for the economic development of the country, which translated into more jobs for the citizens of the Republic and more budget revenues for Kosovo, we did not stop here.
We worked to redistribute these revenues through various social schemes and numerous measures for citizens, businesses, especially to vulnerable groups of society. This is because our primary duty as a Government, and as it should be for any Government, was to redistribute the tax collected from those who have more to those who have less.
As early as September 2021, we started distributing maternity allowances and child allowances, social schemes which not only provide funding for the basic needs of new mothers and children, but also financial independence for women. So far, we have over 400,000 children and over 55,000 expectant mothers who benefit from these schemes. And even about 100 thousand women opened bank accounts for the first time.
To face the successive crises that hit us, we allocated over 100 million euros to support our pensioners and families benefiting from the social assistance scheme. We distributed over 35,000 food packages and continuously supported about 20 popular kitchens to prepare food for those who need it the most. We are subsidizing electricity bills for over 60,000 families within the Program for the Protection of Vulnerable Consumers.
But again, as the Government, we did not stop there!
Our focus has been not only the introduction of new policies and momentary redistribution for crises, but also the radical reformation of policy systems that were poorly designed and even discriminatory.
The social assistance scheme that we inherited is such a policy.
The design of the current social assistance scheme, which started in 2007 and has not changed since then, is discriminatory, unfair and encourages unemployment and worse, informal employment.
It is discriminatory and unfair because the moment the child in a family that has been benefiting from the social assistance scheme reaches the age of 5, the family’s benefit from the scheme is stopped, and it is the design of a counterproductive scheme because the moment any of the family members has started to generate income, no matter how low it may have been, the family’s benefit from the scheme has been stopped, thus creating incentives for non-activation in the labor market and even for informal employment.
To address these problems, the Ministry of Finance, Labor and Transfers together with the World Bank have designed a new social assistance scheme which is based on the poverty test, ensures full equality for all and promotes formal employment, and the piloting of which we are starting today.
This scheme that we are introducing removes the discrimination and wrong incentives that have been installed in the current scheme. This scheme makes a poverty assessment for each family and ensures that those families who are poor will be supported by the Government, regardless of the age of the child.
The new scheme is also built on appropriate incentives, on mechanisms that ensure the activation of scheme beneficiaries in the labor market and their formal employment.
Therefore, from this moment, every family in our Republic that has an income lower than 100 euros per member per month, can access e-Kosova and apply to become part of the piloting of the reformed scheme of social assistance. This pilot will also serve us as the Government to learn more, so that the lessons we learn can be reflected in the Draft Law on Social Assistance and Protection, which we are currently working on.
And for the details of this reformed social assistance scheme, I pass the floor to the Minister of Finance, Labor and Transfers, Hekuran Murati.
Last modified: May 20, 2024