The Kosovo Women’s Network has sent these evidence-based recommendations to the mayors, directors, and gender equality officers to inform the 2025 budgets to better meet the diverse needs of women and men. Specifically, recommendations have been given to the Directorate of Social Welfare, Directorate of Education, Directorate of Health, Directorate of Agriculture, Directorate of Public Services, Directorate of Sports, and Directorate of Urban Planning. These recommendations aim to promote gender equality.

Directorate of Social Welfare: Establish a budget line for gender-based violence to provide emergency financial support (clothing, medical supplies, hygiene products) for affected women and children. Increase salaries up to €12,000 to employ two specialized social workers to assist in cases of gender-based violence.

Directorate of Education: Allocate a budget for more childcare centers. Increase the number of psychologists to address gender-based violence and harassment in schools. Ensure that every child with disabilities who needs it has a personal assistant. Include sanitary pads as part of the school budget for hygiene products.

Directorate of Health: Allocate funds for financing midwives in rural areas, weekend healthcare services, and counseling for women in menopause.

Directorate of Agriculture: Remove ownership and co-payment criteria for micro-grants to improve access to financing for women in rural areas.

Directorate of Public Services: Allocate funds for regular transportation to villages to enable women and girls to access education, employment, and participate in decision-making processes.

Directorate of Urban Planning: Allocate budget for constructing ramps, roads, and curbs to accommodate people with disabilities and parents using strollers, in all planned infrastructure investments; provide lighting for safety, develop additional safe bicycle lanes, and offer free communal spaces for small NGOs.

Directorate of Sports: Ensure budget allocation for girls and boys, women and men to engage in sports.

The time spent on research and compilation of these recommendations was supported by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) through the Gender Budget Watchdog Network (GBWN).