Gjilan, 14 April, 2024
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, yesterday held a meeting with registrars and supervisors, who are in the process of registering the population, this meeting was held in the city of Gjilan.
Expressing the satisfaction that is among them, at a time when we are developing a very important process in our country, Prime Minister Kurti said that for the future of the state, much will depend on the work of these remaining weeks in the registration process, which started on April 5.
“Many data will be produced that will help not only decision-makers, but also other users such as the Government and civil society, then businesses, donors and investors, to design policies, develop strategies, programs and products and to provide services that meet the needs of citizens and respect their rights”, said Prime Minister Kurti, adding that the budget allocations that will be made will also be based on the population census.
As he emphasized the most important aspects of this process, he also singled out the positive effects it has, such as forecasts and planning that will be based on the population census, which will serve for a fairer and more equal distribution.
The Prime Minister once again expressed his unreserved support in this process: “We are supporting you, but at the forefront of this very important battle, which exceeds the electoral cycles, you are me, and I thank you for the work and commitment you are doing so far and we pledge to support you in your further work and the challenges that may arise on your way to census the population around the world.”
Prime Minister Kurti’s complete speech:
Good evening everyone. I am very glad to be among you tonight, when we are developing the most important process in the Republic of Kosovo in terms of responsible decision-making in the weeks, months, years and perhaps even more than that in the following and on the other side of it pertains to development planning and budget allocations, which we will have to do in every aspect and at every level when we have the overview realized by you.
Imagine a person who tries to improve or fix himself in appearance without having the mirror at all. Even we cannot fix and improve our state if we do not produce the mirror first, and the mirror of our state in every municipality and not only in general, but also in more detail than in every municipality, is realized precisely through your work, which started on April 5 and will continue for another 5 weeks, until May 17.
You produce the overview of our state, so our state for improvement and regulation will depend a lot on the work of these remaining weeks in the registration process, which began on April 5.
Numerous data will be produced that will help not only decision-makers, but also other users such as the Government and civil society, then businesses, donors and investors, to design policies, develop strategies, programs and products and provide services that meet the needs of citizens and respect their rights.
Data-driven policymaking is what adds precision to the truth. It is not enough to be true, you must also be accurate, and to be accurate we need accurate and comprehensive data. They are realized precisely by the questions that you ask as a recorder and by the supervisors afterwards, which have their cumulative aspect, to monitor you as a recorder, but at the same time to summarize the data later.
I found out that there are 36 supervisors and 136 registrars. It is very important that you understand already in these six weeks in general, every minute, that not every hour is valuable, and I have asked you to consider how many people you can enroll in the working hours that you have, because any omission or unregistered residue of anyone, as a family economy, as a business or as an individual citizen, costs the state and that person himself.
The budget allocations that will be made will be based on the population census. Forecasts and planning will also be based on the census and we want this to be a fair distribution. If we have unregistered citizens in a neighborhood or municipality, when the budget is allocated, we will do injustice, because we will have to allocate less budget than they deserve, since there are unregistered people there. Therefore, for equal and fair distribution, we need accurate data in advance.
I know it’s a complex undertaking, it’s not a yes or no question, nor is it like polls organized by different companies, which party or politician do you like. It is a detailed and not simple questionnaire. But it is important to understand that all the actors, from the Kosovo Statistics Agency, the central and local level of government, supervisors and registrars, experts in the field, the media and even the communities, support you, we have you at the forefront of this battle and you will count on our unsparing and unreserved support and support, until this process is finished, which is important for the internal progress and the accuracy of the result at the end.
Now, the quality of completing the questionnaires with accurate data will be decisive. The idea is not just to complete the questionnaire, but to have the answers be correct from the interviewee. This means that any carelessness or omission is directly reflected in the quality of the reliability of the process and therefore in its overall success.
Registrars and supervisors are the main links. In this process there are even more links, but you are the main ones. If the mayor of the municipality leads in some things or I as the prime minister lead in some others, in this population census, you lead. We are your support, but at the forefront of this very important battle, which transcends electoral cycles, is you and I thank you for the work and commitment you are doing so far and we promise to support you for the future work and about the challenges you may face on your way to census across the board.
Now what is important to keep in mind in your work, you must be an impartial facilitator. So, you don’t ask the citizen as the teacher asks the student, to find out if he knows the answer to the question related to the lesson that was just given. So you ask because you don’t know the answer. You don’t ask to find out if the person being asked knows the answer, but to learn about the data. So, it is very important not to create a relationship between the teacher and the student during the question, because you have the citizen in focus, you are at the forefront of the battle, but the focus of this process is the citizen.
The citizen, as they say, is the owner of the house in a democratic parliamentary republic, and in this population census he is the focus. He is in the center. So we are interested in his answer which we do not know in advance, so when you ask the question you must make sure that with your question you are creating an environment, you are creating an atmosphere where we depend on the citizen, namely on his answer, not the citizen answers thinking whether you like the answer he will give or not. Because there is no correct answer beyond what the citizen says.
So, what the citizen says is the correct answer, we can make inaccuracies if we don’t record it as he said. But we cannot claim to know the truth of the answers or their accuracy. Then accurately and impartially convey to the citizens all possible questions and answers from the registration questionnaires without ever expressing any preference or implication or prejudice for the answers the citizens will give. So you have no preference. You must be unbiased and objective. The preference is given by the citizen, not by us as his registrar.
Accurately and carefully record the responses of the citizens ensuring that each response is treated and recorded giving importance with equal dedication. It doesn’t make a young person take their answers more seriously than an old person or vice versa. A man more than a woman or vice versa. In the questions you ask when recording the answers, you must make sure that you have equal treatment for all citizens, regardless of age, gender, origin, religion, material base, etc.
Professionally handle answers and data from citizens while maintaining the privacy and confidentiality of citizens’ personal data. So, the answers you get from the citizens, regardless of whether they are interesting or not, you cannot discuss them with others. You submit those answers and there is no more discussion about what you heard. It remains on paper. The moment you fill out the questionnaire with the citizen’s answers, you submit it. I know that memory is not erased, but it must be erased from your understanding as a source of information. You are not a source of information and you must not be a source of information. All the information is in the letter you submit at the end. Accordingly now with tablets in the report which you submit. It is good news that I believe that there are also digital maps here, that in the first weekend there were physical maps and now there are also digital maps.
And in the end you have to keep in mind all the time that our future will depend on the outcome of this process. If we do not have a credible, legitimate, accurate, comprehensive process, then local and central governments will have a very high risk of development planning and budget allocations, and the impact will be very large on citizens as a result of a process of which did not turn out as expected from us and as it should.
I believe that you are alert, aware, honest and serious, professional enough for the work you will do, but try to work as much as possible these days, to register as many citizens, households, so that we have a census which will make us proud of our condition, of your work, and of the chances of greater adjustment and improvement in the years to come.
Thank you again, I know your work is not done today, it has already started nine days, so learn as much as you can from the experience, get the right data, be nice to citizens in an impartial and objective way and don’t discuss the information you receive because we must be a guarantor of privacy and confidentiality.
Thank you!
Last modified: April 16, 2024