EWMI, with support from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF), conducted a needs assessment of the Kosovo Ministry of Local Government Administration (“MLGA” or “Ministry”) to identify activities that would strengthen its organizational capacity. A well-functioning MLGA is essential to Kosovo’s peaceful, democratic future, and this newly established Ministry must have the tools and capacity necessary to lead Kosovo’s decentralization process. With greater authority being transferred by UNMIK to the local governing authorities, the MLGA faces dual challenges: the Ministry must not only implement an effective and successful multifaceted decentralization program, but it must at the same time meet the everyday needs of the Ministry, with a local staff that has little if any previous experience in government administration.  EWMI’s assessment identified two key areas that the MLGA and the international community must address in order to ensure their success: (i) improving the process for writing the Law on Local Self-Government and other implementing regulations; and (ii) building the capacity of the Ministry’s staff.