•  Kosovo and the Millennium Development Goals

When our world crossed over to the third millennium in year 2000, 147 head of states agreed to tackle human development problems through a set of time bound goals called the Millennium Development Goals. Although the global challenge to alleviate poverty is overwhelming, they decided to concentrate on eight crucial goals which touch upon available income and food, education, gender equality, child and maternal health, HIV/AIDS and other major diseases, sustainable environment and global partnerships.

The Goals are set to encourage all countries, rich or poor, to focus on human development problems. They have been carefully selected with the help of the United Nations Agencies and other international organizations. They include 18 feasible straightforward targets to be met through country policies and programs, international aid and civil society's engagement. The targets are set to be achieved on a 25 year period from 1990 to 2015.

International agencies have agreed on clear indicators to keep track of the progress made towards reaching the targets. These indicators will measure the progress at the country level, as well as the global level since all countries will use the same gauge. The monitoring and reporting on the progress made are important in order to keep the Goals alive on the public and political agendas. In order to achieve the Goals, there needs to be a continual commitment of all human development stakeholders at the country level. Advocacy actions must therefore be implemented for this purpose. The report will be a key in fostering such public awareness.

•  Why are the Millennium Development Goals relevant to Kosovo?

Kosovo representatives were not sitting at the Millennium Summit in 2000 and thus have not signed its declaration. The Goals that stand out from this declaration are nonetheless relevant to the situation of Kosovo. The end of the second millennium, with its systematic discrimination and violence against Kosovans brought the challenge of human development to its peak.

Poverty here is widespread with half the population living below the poverty line. Education was well established during the communist period, but the events of the last decade have reduced the availability and quality of schools. Women do not stand as equals to men, especially in terms of education and literacy. Maternal and infant health constitutes a major challenge for a region with a very high birth rate. Tuberculosis is endemic. On all those counts, Kosovo compares very poorly to most European countries. HIV/AIDS is not a widespread disease but systematic surveillance and health education must keep it from spreading. Industrial and domestic pollution pose a serious challenge to the environment, although not much is known of its exact scope.

Kosovo must now chart its own course and tailor each target and indicator to its reality. It is obvious, for instance, that malaria (target 8) does not pose a problem for Kosovo nor do slum dwellers (target 11) represent a major problem. On the other hand, poverty (target one) is likely to persist in Kosovo given the major challenges facing economic development. Tuberculosis (target 8) in Kosovo is one of the highest in Europe. A large number of girls tend to drop-out of school at the end of the primary level (target 4).

•  A Baseline Report for Kosovo

In this report, we provide some figures on where Kosovo stands in regard to the global Millennium targets. We highlight the major public strategies undertaken to reach the targets and the challenges that must be overcome to ensure adequate monitoring and reporting in the future. This report must be read with caution because the quality of the data used is generally poor. Many factors contribute to this situation. There has not been any accurate general census since 1981. Most surveys available were conducted independently and did not follow the same methodological standards; therefore it is hazardous to compare figures. Migrations and armed conflict in the 1990s introduced substantial fluctuations in demographic, social and economic trends.

Since 2000, Kosovo has been rebuilding its statistical capacity and, often, baseline can only be established from there on. The scope of the research and analysis carried in this report does not allow to establish trends or to foresee any targets tailored for Kosovo in 2015. More in-depth research will be necessary as well as direct involvement of the policy makers of Kosovo. But this report establishes a baseline and provides a useful and up-to-date snapshot of Kosovo in regard to the Millennium Development Goals.