Steering Committee of the Twinning Project held its regular meeting

Vushtrri,  September 12, 2018  – Steering Committee of the Twinning Project, which aims to further support education in the field of public safety, today in the Kosovo Academy for Public Safety (KAPS), held its regular meeting where it was reported on the progress of the project for the last three-month period of this year. Experts reported that the three components that were developed in this three-month period have been successfully implemented.

Present at this meeting were the Director General of the Academy Ismail Smakiqi, Massimiliano Prozzo of the European Union Office in Kosovo, the Head of the Twinning Project Krista Haak, Ritva Vahakoski twinning project expert, Acting Dean of the Faculty of Public Safety Nexhat Jasahri, Nderim Gërguri from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Tringë Sokoli from the Ministry of European Integration, Milorad Corac from Kosovo Police, Adem Shala from Kosovo Probation Service, Bujar Mustafa from Kosovo Police Inspectorate, Bashkim Arifi from Kosovo Customs, Iset Lahu from Emergency Management Agency as well as other Academy officials.

Director General of the Academy Mr. Ismail Smakiqi talked about the progress of the project and expressed his satisfaction that the Twinning Project so far has been successfully implemented.

At the meeting, Director Smakiqi estimated that during the twinning project at the Academy there has been progress where some major projects have been implemented that are of interest to KAPS and law enforcement.

"At the Academy were achieved a number of successes such as the Academy's accreditation by the National Qualifications Authority for institutional accreditation and validation of professional programs and conducted a numerous trainings that are being realized " said Mr. Smakiqi.

He highly appreciated the implementation of component one which is related to the development of sustainable vocational training structures representing by all public safety agencies coordinated by the Academy, component two dealing with the establishment and further advancement of the Bachelor program in KAPS, as well as component three that has to do for the contribution to the full functionalization of the Institute for Research and Development at the Academy for the benefit of all public safety agencies.

While Mrs. Krista Haak, leader of the twinning project thanked all the actors for cooperation estimated that up to this stage the project was successfully implemented.
Mrs. Haak said that during this period the main focus has been on the trainings that were needed to implement curriculum for vocational training at the higher education level.

"Professional curriculum instructors from six agencies have been trained to ensure the implementation of the curriculum, including learning outcomes as well as teaching and learning methods. Training for curriculum modules has been held and in addition the latest E-learning training for academic staff has been held. The Academy has many good opportunities to use E-learning with full capacity in the future, "said Mrs. Haak, and expressed her satisfaction that the Academy staff and agencies expressed their readiness to participate in various research activities.
Mrs. Haak said that all these achievements are the result of continuous cooperation of all stakeholders who have participated in the implementation of the plan.
Positive assessment of the project progress has also been given by Massimiliano Prozzo from the European Union Office in Kosovo.
Mr. Prozzo said that until now there has been no obstacle and has become a very successful work in practice.

"There is a general consensus regarding the positive assessment of this project is a successful story. I had an explanation from my colleagues and representatives of Kosovo institutions that the project has achieved all the results in all the activities realized according to the plan, "said Prozzo.

By providing support for the successful realization of the project, positive feedback was given by representatives of ministries and public safety agencies who were present at this meeting.

The presentation of the three-month twinning project report was made by Ritva Vahakoski, a resident twinning advisor.

Vahakoski during the presentation to the audience has made the clarification of each component.