During a panel on 25 September, Gender Mainstreaming the Digitalisation of Public Services o, Nicole Farnsworth, Program Director and Lead Researcher at the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) presented key findings from KWN’s 2024 research “Gender Equality: At the Centre of IT… and Beyond: A Gender Analysis of Digitalisation in Kosovo”, co-financed by the European Union and Sweden. 

The panel was organised by Democracy Plus as part of the Public Administration Reform Conference in Kosova, “KOSOVAPAR 2024”, hosted by the Government of Kosovo under the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in partnership with the University of Prishtina. 

The panel focused on integrating gender considerations into the design and implementation of digital platforms and public services. As Kosovo undergoes a digital transition, the discussion highlighted the importance of ensuring that digital services are accessible and responsive to the diverse needs of women and men, including marginalised groups. Panelists discussed current challenges, and best practices. 

Farnsworth shared key findings and recommendations from the “Gender Equality: At the Centre of IT” report’s chapter on public administration reforms, including the need for the government to: 

• Conduct gender analyses to inform all laws, policies, and strategies related to digitalisation 

• Include CSOs with digital expertise in working groups, public hearings, and consultations and as contracted experts 

• Apply affirmative measures for gender-balanced IT employment in public administration 

• Collect, analyse, and use gender-disaggregated data to inform digital services 

• Improve electronic data exchange across institutions and with the Kosovo Agency of Statistics (by gender and ethnicity, age, disability,  etc.) 

• Use data for evidence-based policymaking and digital services 

• Digitalise more services that will benefit women/girls (e.g., social housing, assistance). 

The report utilises KWN’s Gender-responsive Inclusive Digital Transformation Model, adapted from the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) model, which can be useful for the Government of Kosovo, among other actors, in Kosovo and beyond, in designing more gender-responsive digital reforms.  

Margus Sarapuu from GIZ congratulated KWN for its research, observing that the research and model are “globally significant” and offer opportunities to inform and support other similar research elsewhere.(Read more here: