The Government of Kosovo has secured support from the International Development Association (IDA) (hereinafter ‘the Bank’) for a Kosovo Digital Economy (KODE) Project in the amount of 20,7 million EUR. The KODE Project aims to improve access to better quality and high speed broadband services in project areas and to online knowledge sources, services and labor markets among citizens, and public and academic institutions. Ministry of Economic Development is the implementing agency for this project. The Project Development Objective (PDO) for the Kosovo Digital Economy (KODE) Project is to improve access to better quality and high speed broadband services in project areas and to online knowledge sources, services and labor markets among citizens, and public and academic institutions. The Project is structured along three components: Digital Inclusion, Digital Work and Empowerment, and Project Implementation Support.
Component 1: Digital Inclusion.This component will finance: (a) the expansion of digital connectivity through the co-financing of deployment of high speed broadband connectivity in areas that have been identified as not connected or underserved and (b) improving of the enabling environment for wireless broadband services, through the deployment of the National Spectrum Monitoring System (NSMS) and provision of technical assistance and capacity building activities for ARKEP and MED to strengthen the enabling policy, legal, and regulatory environment
Component 2: Digital Work and Empowerment. This component will finance activities for: (i) trainings for young people and their connection to online working opportunities, (ii) Increasing access to knowledge, information, and services through: (1) setup NREN to improve access of students, researches and educators of HEIs in Kosovo to knowledge, research networks; and connect NREN to the GÉANT network (2) provision of support to increase use of online labor market information and services to improve information flows about work opportunities, through targeted awareness raising and information sharing activities to households in the areas under Subcomponent 1.1
Component 3: Project Implementation support. This component will finance project management activities (incl. environmental safeguards management), fiduciary management, strategic communications, partnership development, Monitoring and Evaluation functions, and citizen engagement. It will sustain operations of a Project Implementation Unit, as well as its institutional strengthening, training, communications and citizen engagement activities, M&E, etc. In addition to financing the core team of the PIU, focused primarily on fiduciary, safeguards, and project management functions, the Project will include communications and CE support to raise awareness and acceptance of the different KODE activities, and increase the level of engagement around them among target beneficiaries, key stakeholders, and the population at – large.