Marking the upcoming International Day of Eradication of Poverty on 17 October 2019 and to promote an increased debate around the issues and causes of poverty in Kosovo – the United Nations Kosovo Team (UNKT) and the Association of Kosovo Journalists held the 14th Award Ceremony of the Journalism Poverty Prize 2019 contest.
The awards ceremony was attended by UN representatives, media, institutions, private sector, donors and civil society.
Best short video story award went to Rejhane Selimi for the two part TV report: “Family Maloku Lives in Difficult Conditions” on Klan Kosova. Best TV Documentary went to Kaltrina Rexhepi for the RTK1 documentary “Alms: Business or Need?”. Best Audio story award went to Bardha Shkreli for Radio Kosova’s “Reportage on Poverty”. Best Written Story prize went to Besnik Boletini for the piece “Poverty, Insecurity, Death” on KosovoTwoPointZero. Best photography Prize went to Arben Llapashtica for the series of photographs on scrap collectors published on Koha Net and Balkaninsight websites.
Poverty rates in Kosovo remain the highest in the region and in Europe. According to the Statistical Agency of Kosovo and the World Bank, 5.2% of today’s population live in extreme poverty. Kosovo is witnessing an encouraging trend with poverty rates declining. However, many challenges still remain. For example, the 4.2% GDP growth rate registered in 2018 won’t be enough to contribute to any significant changes in key development indicators. The employment rate in Kosovo is still the lowest in the region and far below EU average. The overall unemployment rate is very high at 27.5% with youth unemployment at 52.4%. Most notably, Kosovo has also the highest unemployment rate for women in Europe: at 31.8%.
Read the full press release of UNKT about the 2019 winners of the Journalism Poverty Prize here: http://unkt.org/2019/10/14/journalism-poverty-prize-2019-award-ceremony/
