The Kosovo Economic Development Initiative was a Task Order under USAID’s General Business, Trade and Investment (GBTI) Program, with a primary emphasis on building the capacity of established institutions and providing Kosovars with the necessary tools and training for managing their key economic and financial institutions. AMEX’s Training Advisor worked with the Treasury Department of the Ministry of Finance and Economics (MFE) to increase staff capacity in Kosovo’s legal and economic institutions through increasing understanding of tasks related to economic development and implementation of legislation. Specifically, AMEX’s Training Advisor provided training in areas including:
- Decision-Making Processes
- Conflict Resolution
- Critical Thinking
- Strategic Planning
- Report Writing
- Change and Flexibility
- Time Management Skills
- Stress Management
- Quantitative Learning
- Study Skills
- Self-Assessment
- Goal Setting
After carrying out baseline assessments regarding staff skill levels, AMEX’s Training Advisor devised a tailored, comprehensive two-year training plan that addressed training needs at both the individual and unit level. The training plan included a 12-course professional development program (PDP) for participants selected from across the various departments. The PDP engaged participants in both individual and group assignments, which were then submitted to peer review in addition to review by guest training advisors and their department heads. Executive managers from participating departments (including Finance, Treasury, Tax, Budget, Procurement, and Customs) embarked on a specialized course of study that provided them with the opportunity for collaborative learning across departments and showed them how they fit within the overall institutional framework. A wide variety of assessment tools were used to gauge participant progress; all who successfully completed each training course received a certificate. The average learner demonstrated a skill improvement of 17-25% with notable progress achieved in the following skills sets:
- reading
- presentations
- professional management
- strategic planning
- delegation of authority
- ethical decision making
- conflict resolution
AMEX’s Training Adviser was mandated to institute an educational program that a) expanded understanding of economic concepts, and b) increased analytical capacity in important areas including: macroeconomic analysis; tax policy; banking supervision; investment analysis, and privatization. The Training Advisor also facilitated the establishment of an internship that exposes recent university graduates to economic and legal policies and practices and encourages them to pursue careers in public service.
