The Republic of Kosova is Europe’s youngest and most youthful country. The western Balkan nation has a population of 1.6 million and declared independence nearly 20 years ago. At the time, nearly 50% of the country was under the age of 25. Today, 70% are under the age of 35. Kosova is counting on the energy and ingenuity of its young people to help remake its public institutions for a prosperous future.
The University of Prishtina — situated on a sprawling campus in the centre of the capital city — is one of the sites where that future is being built. It’s home to nearly 25,000 students and, since 2022, ‘KosovaPAR’. The annual public administration reform conference is spearheaded by Bardhyl Dobra, deputy minister for public administration within the Ministry of Interior. Dobra’s experience in research, international institutions and government has helped him form a unique perspective on reforming government institutions and a growing global network to help turn plans into progress.
Apolitical’s Jesse Samasuwo, senior manager for policy and insights, spoke to Bardhyl Dobra on the sidelines of this year’s KosovaPAR — where the focus was on building public sector capacity for the AI era — to hear his reflections on how the country is making progress on its reform agenda.
This year's KosovaPAR was the third instalment and brought together academic researchers, schools of government, thought leaders and civil servants from Kosova.
The case for change
Jesse Samasuwo: Why has government reform been such a central priority in Kosova for the last few years?
Bardhyl Dobra: When the government was constituted in 2021, the Prime Minister promised reforms to Kosova citizens. Not only reforms in public administration but all sectors, because reforms were needed and they were demanded by our citizens. If you look at the EU country reports on Kosova from 2008 to 2021, each of them make the same recommendations for more professionalism in administration.
Samasuwo: How are the efforts going?
Dobra: In 2021, the OECD conducted a review of our public administration across six areas — reform strategy, policymaking, workforce management, accountability, delivery and public finance. The 2021 review showed that, compared with our neighbours in the western Balkans, we were below the regional average in five out of six areas. The most recent report, from 2024, puts us ahead of the average in all six areas. Similarly, in 2025, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund withdrew Kosova from the list of fragile states. This is happening 26 years after the end of the war and after four years of intensive reforms in all sectors. This is a testament that reforms can work.
Samasuwo: What are some of the most notable changes, particularly around workforce transformation?
Dobra: I will take a very simple example: life tenure. Our old law created a bizarre situation where you had mid- and low-level management that had life tenure in the position. I'm not talking about the status of civil servant for life; just a title for life. You could become a head of department at the age of 25 and remain in the same position until 65. This does not promote innovation. It just pushes people to get into routine. So we put an end to this practice, without harming the status of civil servants.
Initially there was a lot of opposition. But while we were drafting the legislation, I met thousands of civil servants in public consultations — particularly younger staff — and I realised that so many of them were happy about the change because it gave them more prospects for a career in government. This change gave them greater opportunities to rely on their hard work and talent to access new positions, especially in managerial positions.
Igniting youthful energy
Samasuwo: How does Kosova’s young population inform your thinking about reform and capacity building?
Dobra: Seventy percent of our population is under 35 years old. That’s already an advantage in many ways. In the civil service, though, the average age is 44. After the pandemic, I noticed a new generation looking more toward the private sector. Before that, the public sector was the preferred employer.
But we are seeing interest come back, because people now see real career opportunities. Salaries have increased. The new law on public officials that took effect in 2023 changed everything. Before, we had only 10 candidates per position. In 2024, we had 33. That’s a big difference — more competition, more quality. And we’ve seen the share of young recruits jump from 36% in 2023 to 52% in 2024; the share of women also increased, from 48% in 2023 to 63% in 2024. This is a positive sign: public administration is open to talent again.
Attendees at KosovaPAR 2025.
Building capability for the AI era
Samasuwo: The theme of this year’s conference is focused on the link between public administration capacity and artificial intelligence implementation. Can you talk about how Kosova is approaching this challenge?
Dobra: It starts with people and training; building institutions that are equipped to support our civil servants. We need better quality training, but also more training across a wider range of topics. We are working with a group of local and international experts to look at different national schools around the world. The idea is to transform our Kosova Institute of Administration, which delivers only training, into a National School of Administration, which will have education, training, research, but also consultancy capacity for other public agencies. We will start with very basic consultancy. If an institution needs to draft a strategy but lacks the capacity, this department should come in to help them learn how to do it and accompany them throughout the process.
We want to create our own capacities in this national school. And this is why my focus within our administration is also to support our young people to get the right tools and do the work themselves. They are capable of doing it. They are proving it every day that they can.
Samasuwo: Can you say more about this people-centred approach?
Dobra: I belong to this school of thought that human beings are critical to effective public administration. Without human beings, AI, I think, will not solve problems. It will solve some of the basic problems, but the human being is really the masterpiece in the game of public administration. The sooner we start to prepare our people on how to use it effectively, to support them in what they do, the better.
Samasuwo: What are some of your plans to use AI in government?
Dobra: We are very intentional in our approach. We are focused on building our fundamental digital capabilities so we can deliver important services. There are some sporadic use cases in our government at the moment, for example in our tax administration. But there are exciting potential applications for the future. For example, using AI to support drafting legislation. So, you enter all the laws that have and, whenever you draft a new law, you ask it to run an analysis to ensure there is no conflict with other laws. I don’t want to lose the human touch — AI simply doesn’t have it. If you ask an AI to review recruitment rules, it won’t tell you, “Create specific processes for people with special needs.” It doesn’t care about representation — but I do. Our citizens must be represented in the administration. Humans should always control the machine.
City of Prishtina. Credit: Jonathan Ansel Moy-de Vitry.
Lessons to learn
Samasuwo: What one thing do you think other countries could learn from Kosova’s journey and reform progress so far?
Dobra: Be bold, reform! There's a big issue, not only in Kosova, but everywhere around making mistakes. You cannot be 100% sure of anything in the moment. If you are in public office, your duty is to reform, to deliver to citizens, therefore you must try new approaches. You do your research, you do your work, have competent people around yourself and you make the best possible and most well-informed decision you can at the moment you make it.
Out of 100 tasks, if you complete 98% of them in a good way, and on two of them, you failed — not because you wanted to fail, but because of whatever — I think citizens appreciate this. Particularly when you work hard, when you are humble and honest. But just sitting on the sidelines – not doing anything because you are afraid — that’s not the right approach. You cannot just sit.
Samasuwo: Deputy Minister, thank you so much for sharing your time and insights.
Image credits: Unsplashed (Venora Cerimi, Jonathan Ansel Moy-de Vitry) and KosovaPAR Conference
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