Since 2021, when Kosovo’s Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare was merged into the Ministry of Finance, Labour and Transfers, dozens of civil society organizations and activists have warned that social welfare has been left outside government priorities.
Fetije Atashi-Hetemi, who moves with the help of a wheelchair, supports the call made by non-governmental organizations to re-establish the Ministry of Social Welfare, because, as she says, “those in the most vulnerable situations in society should be a priority.”
Since the 2021 merger, access to social services for vulnerable groups has worsened. Atashi-Hetemi, 56, lives alone and says she faces numerous daily challenges. She has used a wheelchair since early childhood due to brain damage caused by high fever.
She says she always had support from family and her community, which gave her the strength to become active in advocating for the rights of people with disabilities. However, she now urges institutions to improve conditions for this segment of society.
For many years, she received €150 in social assistance. It took her eight years of legal battle to obtain a €430 pension entitled to paraplegic individuals. But even this amount is insufficient.
“The pension I receive doesn’t even come close to covering the needs of a person with disabilities—whether for medications, medical visits, or common issues like bedsores. I have to pay an assistant to help me twice a week. I can’t afford more,” she told Radio Free Europe.
Organizations defending the rights of people with disabilities and children say these vulnerable groups face not only stigma and prejudice but also a growing lack of sustainable institutional support.
The Call to Re-establish the Ministry of Social Welfare
Months ago, the Coalition of NGOs for Child Protection (KOMF) sent a public letter to political parties in Kosovo demanding the re-establishment of a separate ministry for social welfare. According to KOMF, such a structure is essential to ensure better access and coordination of services for children, people with disabilities, families in need, and other vulnerable categories.
However, amid Kosovo’s ongoing institutional crisis, this issue hasn’t been addressed publicly by political parties. KOMF data show that only 10% of children with disabilities in Kosovo have access to adequate healthcare and social services. Meanwhile, over 72% of children continue to be disciplined through violent means—a problem requiring urgent institutional attention.
Besides children, pensioners, victims of violence, families receiving social assistance, and war-affected categories are among the groups that suffer from a lack of institutional care, according to the Center for Information and Social Improvement (QIPS).
Former officials of the now-dissolved Ministry of Social Welfare and civil society representatives warn that not reviving this ministry will deepen institutional regression and leave thousands of vulnerable citizens neglected.
Skënder Reçica, a former minister, says merging the ministry into a “super ministry” was “a sign of deep institutional neglect.”
“Social services have been degraded, and ordinary citizens, expecting help and support, have been left at the mercy of fate and soulless bureaucracy,” says Reçica.
According to him, reinstating the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare is not a luxury but a necessity.
“It’s time to say it openly—there can be no welfare state without a dedicated institution to represent those who need support the most,” he emphasizes.
He adds that several projects launched by the former ministry have now failed.
“The social assistance reform, which was at an advanced stage of preparation, has been abandoned. The pension system reform aimed at social justice and equity is forgotten. Investments in social services, which had begun to take shape, are now frozen,” Reçica told Radio Free Europe.
Decline in Social Service Quality
According to the organization Handikos Ferizaj, the dissolution of the Ministry of Social Welfare created uncertainty among NGOs due to institutional ambiguities and lack of coordination.
This organization, which defends the rights of people with disabilities, now observes a decline in the quality of social services.
“The absorption of social services into other ministries has overburdened staff and blurred responsibilities, slowing down policy development and implementation. This has created coordination gaps and reduced the effectiveness of support for this category, making a more focused and organized approach at the central level necessary,” Handikos Ferizaj told Radio Free Europe.
The organization notes that cooperation with the Ministry of Justice, where the Division for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is housed, has been good, but initiatives for supporting children and persons with disabilities remain short-term projects.
“It is essential to implement the Law on Social Services effectively, to develop sustainable programs and projects lasting 3 to 5 years, to simplify bureaucratic procedures, and to establish a strong monitoring mechanism for NGOs that provide these services,” says Handikos.
They also mention the lack of effective coordination and delays in providing services, which “make life even more difficult for people in need, including those with disabilities and poor families.”
Other NGOs raise similar concerns, especially for children with autism.
Difficult Access to Public Institutions for Children with Autism
Lekë Gjurgjiali from the organization “Zë” – the Center for Speech Therapy Treatment and Research – emphasizes that access to professional services for children with autism in Kosovo is problematic.
“Access to speech therapy assessments is difficult. The same goes for accessing speech therapy services in public institutions, given the small number of therapists and their concentration mostly in Prishtina,” he says.
What’s even more troubling, according to Gjurgjiali, is the long waiting list for children seeking treatment in the public sector.
“Waiting lists in public institutions and the costs of treatment in the private sector or through NGOs are problematic. Only a few NGOs offer services free of charge,” he told Radio Free Europe.
Gjurgjiali believes that restoring the Ministry of Social Welfare would also improve cross-sectoral cooperation between governmental institutions and civil society organizations that work on child protection and inclusion.
Bind Skeja from the Center for Information and Social Improvement says the merger of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare with other ministries has caused confusion within institutions, where “responsibilities have not been clearly divided.”
He believes that the merger led to a loss of “institutional knowledge,” since social service responsibilities were handed over to entities “that do not have social causes as their core focus, but operate under different priorities.”
“A concrete example is the transfer of mental health services to the Ministry of Health. Care for people with mental health issues goes beyond medication and requires social support programs such as housing, employment, rehabilitation, etc. These are outside the Ministry of Health’s vision, hindering the establishment of a comprehensive mental health care system,” Skeja explains.
He also criticizes the lack of any social initiatives and care for mental health.
“Social services require a dedicated team that understands the system and prioritizes its improvement to achieve social equity,” Skeja adds.
In 2021, when Vetëvendosje took power, it implemented government reforms to reduce the number of ministries—claiming the goal was to cut operating costs and improve administrative efficiency.
Radio Free Europe sent questions to Vetëvendosje about calls to re-establish the ministry, but as of publication, the party had not responded. Other political parties also failed to answer RFE’s questions on the matter.
In contrast to Kosovo, most regional countries have a separate ministry for social welfare.
In Albania, social welfare issues are handled by the Ministry of Health and Social Protection. In Montenegro, the responsible body is the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare. In Serbia, it is the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs.
