“In Kosovo, a new app makes reporting problems to the government fast and easy” originally published on Global Voices on November 2, 2026. Licensed under CC BY 3.0. Text-only republication; media omitted and formatting sanitized.
It will cut the bureacratic red tape that plagues state institutions
Originally published on Global Voices
Image by Sbunker. Used with permission.
This interview is part of a series of spotlights on the work of some of the grantees of the Digital Spark granting scheme, as part of the Regional Support Mechanism EECA project, implemented by the Metamorphosis Foundation and TechSoup, in partnership with CIVICUS and under the Digital Democracy Initiative (DDI) that covers the Global South. It is being published on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
One of the biggest barriers for people’s effective engagement with the authorities in Kosovo is a confusing and unresponsive bureaucracy. Whenever citizens want to report a problem in their community, such as potholes or illegal waste disposal, they are met with a system that requires them to know the roles and responsibilities of various state institutions and handle necessary paperwork themselves.
When submitted to the wrong agency or without proper documents, citizens’ complaints are either ignored or can take long periods to be processed, which discourages engagement and has an adverse effect on people’s trust in the government. Ultimately, it deteriorates the already challenging situation regarding transparency, communication, and accountability of state bodies in Kosovo.
In 2026, a local non-governmental organization (NGO), Sbunker, responded to this challenge by creating an online platform called Kosovo.report to help citizens report their complaints to the authorities in a quick and easy manner. Global Voices conducted an email interview with Hana Deva, project manager at SBunker, to learn more about their initiative. The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Global Voices (GV): Please tell us about your organization and why you chose to get involved with the Digital Sparks project.
Hana Deva (HD): Sbunker is a non-governmental organization founded in 2016, focused on providing analysis and informed perspectives on important political, economic, social, and cultural issues in Kosovo and the Western Balkans.
Through our Disinfo program, we monitor local and regional media content to identify and address disinformation. Sbunker produces podcasts and other media content exploring political and social developments, philosophical, cultural, and theoretical discussions.
We joined the Digital Sparks project because we wanted to create a direct form of civic engagement through technology. This led to the development of Kosovo.report, a platform designed to give citizens a simple way to report problems and submit requests concerning their neighborhoods and local communities.
The platform is intended to act as a link between citizens and public institutions by helping these reports reach the relevant institutions and making the process more accessible to the citizens.
GV: What issue/challenge in your community prompted you to undertake this project?
HD: Through our work in media and civic engagement, we became interested in how citizens communicate everyday problems in their communities to public institutions.
Research on public administration in Kosovo points to fragmented public service delivery, inconsistencies in administrative procedures and digital services, and continuing challenges in communication between citizens and institutions.
This can make the process of reporting an issue to the right department unclear.
Kosovo.report was developed with this challenge in mind. The idea is to give citizens a more straightforward way to report an issue, without requiring them to first determine which institution or department is responsible.
Based on the type and location of the problem, the platform is designed to route the report to the appropriate department and allow the citizen to follow what happens afterwards.
GV: What are the key changes/activities that your organization implemented during your participation in the project?
HD: Our main work has been the development of Kosovo.report, from the initial concept to a functional platform now being prepared for its pilot phase.
Alongside this development, we have coordinated with the Municipality of Prishtina to determine how reports should reach the appropriate departments, and prepared a Memorandum of Understanding to formalise this cooperation.
Beyond the platform, Sbunker has served as a capacity hub for other Digital Sparks project grantees during the project period. We organized meetings and an advocacy workshop where grantees worked on developing a joint advocacy event.
We also hosted a young fellow, Bora Dibra, from the Albanian organization IRSH (Young Intellectuals, Hope), for a one-month fellowship focused on digital civic engagement, media literacy, and participatory advocacy.
GV: How did your participation in the project impact your organization’s beneficiaries and the community that you serve? Please provide examples.
HD: The project has allowed Sbunker to expand the way we approach civic engagement. Much of our work traditionally focused on informing citizens and creating public debate through publications.
Through Kosovo.report, we are developing a tool that takes this a step further by giving citizens a channel through which they can raise problems in their communities and have their reports directed to the relevant departments.
The next step will be the pilot of Kosovo.report in the capital, Prishtina, where we will be able to test the platform with citizens, gather their feedback, and identify what needs to be improved.
GV: How has your own knowledge, awareness, and experience with digital democracy and civic space changed, thanks to your participation in the project?
HD: Developing Kosovo.report has given us experience in creating a digital tool through which citizens can report issues and direct them to the relevant departments.
The process has also involved working with the Municipality of Prishtina as we prepare for the pilot phase of the project, which is a different scope of work from Sbunker’s focus on media and public debate.
Our role as a capacity hub has also given us an opportunity to work more closely with individual grantees and other civil society organizations, learn about their projects in digital democracy, and the challenges in their communities.
Taken together, these activities have expanded Sbunker’s experience from media, analysis and public debate, to developing digital tools and working more closely with civil society organizations and public institutions.
GV: What are the most valuable lessons and experiences you are taking away from this project?
HD: One of the most valuable experiences has been developing something that is intended to have a direct use in people’s everyday lives. With Kosovo.report, we are taking a different approach by developing a platform that citizens can use in their communities and communicate with relevant institutions.
Building the platform has also given us a better sense of what it takes to turn an idea for civic participation into something that works in practice.
The capacity hub and fellowship have added to this experience by allowing us to work with people approaching digital democracy and civic engagement from different projects and contexts.
GV: What comes next? How will you apply the learning and digital capacity you have built in your future work and within your community?
HD: For us, Kosovo.report is a starting point for what we want to do in the digital democracy area. The current focus is on Prishtina, but we want to take the platform beyond the pilot and explore opportunities to connect with other municipalities and public institutions across Kosovo.
The first phase is helping us see what works, what needs to be improved, and how the platform can better respond to the needs of local communities.
The project has also strengthened Sbunker’s capacity to develop digital approaches to civic participation. We want to build on that experience in our future work by looking more closely at the needs of the communities we work with and explore where digital tools can help address them.
We also want to continue the relationships developed through this project, both with civil society organizations and collaborators, and see where they can lead beyond the project.
Source: Global Voices
