PRP Success Story: Kosovars for Equal Property Rights

It is important to convey believable role models and behaviors, and focus group discussions with audiences revealed their need to hear messages and stories from real, respected, and reliable sources.

Interventions that encourage societal changes in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors, combined with strong policies and legal enforcement, will support the achievement of a key USAID objective – improved access to and ownership of land and property in practice, especially for women.

The USAID Property Rights Program (PRP) is implementing an innovative communications strategy that employs participatory approaches and best practices for social and behavior change.

Using survey data from the National Baseline Survey for Property Rights, a report commissioned by PRP to provide a better understanding of the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of Kosovo citizens on property rights issues, PRP organized nine Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) in collaboration with CSO partners in three major regions of Kosovo to develop in a participatory manner messaging designed to reach to the following targeted audiences: (A) married or widowed women ages 18-45 with brothers; (B) married men ages 18-45 with sisters and/or daughters; and (C) parents ages 45-65 with grown children.

The focus groups discussed their individual media viewing habits, famous persons whom they consider to be respected and trustworthy, and other issues.  Participants were quite candid regarding the impact of tradition on attitudes about inheriting and transferring property.  Through the course of this lively discussion, the groups voted on their preferred tagline for the general campaign and identified the messages that best represented them.

The preferred tagline for the Campaign is:

‘For Our Common Good: Kosovars for equal property rights’

The messages receiving the most votes from each target group are:

Women’s Message: ‘Keep your and your family’s inheritance – it’s your right!’

Men’s Message: ‘We support women’s property rights because it’s right for our families.’

Parents’ Message: ‘We support our daughter’s right to inherit just as our son’s. Do you?’

This valuable information will be used to shape PRP’s upcoming media campaign, which will be developed and carried in close cooperation with the Office of the President, the Government of Kosovo as well as donors and CSO partner organizations under the rubric, ‘Për të mirën Tonë’ (‘For Our Common Good’).  The campaign will inform citizens of their rights, court, and procedures related to property rights, the importance of joint titling of land and property assets, and the importance of keeping one’s inheritance.