25 thousand families with social assistance, money is available only to survive

The social policy base in Kosovo consists mainly of social assistance schemes, pension schemes, including age and contribution pensions, premature retirements of some companies, welfare for war veterans, and other social categories.

All these schemes, the Kosovo budget, last year cost more than 416m euros, or 20 percent of the total amount, are said to be researched by the Institute for Advanced GAP Studies, entitled <x0m> How does the state spend our money?”

Only in the social assistance scheme, given to families living in serious economic conditions, according to the six-month report of the Kosovo Statistics Agency, are some 250,000 families involved. The largest number of households is from the Mitrovica municipality, with 2324 families or over 9 percent from the total.

Under the law, these families, as part of social schemes, receive a fee of between 50 and 150 euros a month, depending on the number of members.

The five-member Gashi family from Pristina is one of many families who receive social assistance. Miradija, a mother of three, says that in a month she receives 87 euros as social assistance and that this amount, she underlines, is not enough to meet the basic needs of the family.

And I try to save the rest for bread. I can't buy another one. My oldest son, he's looking for clothing, the little ones are looking for money when they started school, but I don't have it left at”, says Miradija.

Social assistance, which Kosovo institutions offer for families in need since 2003, has shown insufficient for a family basket of this category.

Muhamet Jocaj, former director of the Department of Social Management that operates within the Ministry of Labour and Social Management, in a proposal for Radio Free Europe, says the amount shared as social assistance cannot overcome the social situation.

“Shumma is insufficient. The amount of social assistance can only prevent it from degrading. Otherwise, money is introduced by other means to stimulate the family, where any family member can be employed. Because this situation is just to keep it alive”, Jocaj said.

According to official data, the poverty rate in Kosovo is estimated to be around 23 percent. This figure accounts for the total poverty (that people are poor by what is considered to be standard requirements), and over 5 percent extreme poverty (showing that people are poor because they cannot meet basic food needs).

Muhamet Jokaj, says the budget-sharing amount for social assistance families is lower if compared to other social schemes.

“is not a high budget, at least given for poverty in Kosovo, given that the only scheme is by which poverty is measured. All other schemes are provided for something other than age or disability qualifications or for participation in war, all of which have nothing to do with poverty. This scheme, annually, is estimated to be 28-30m euros, while more than 100m euros are allocated for other” schemes, he says.

By research done by local and international organisations in Kosovo, it was stressed that the value of social assistance for a month does not match the needs of households based on their size or structure.

A citizen's monthly basket in Kosovo is estimated to be 115 euros, consumption for family economies over 7,500 euros a year -- much that does not ensure a good standard of life for citizens.