§ Adam PriceTo ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development what recent humanitarian assessment the Department has made of the aftermath of the Kosovo conflict in 1999. [130349]
Mr. Gareth ThomasDFID has aimed to assess the post-conflict situation in Kosovo in partnership with other international agencies, and with the Kosovo authorities. In December 2001, we worked with the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, the International Organisation for Migration, the Dutch Government and the Statistical Office of Kosovo to produce Kosovo's first comprehensive poverty assessment. This showed that approximately 50 per cent. of Kosovo's population was living in poverty, with894W 12 per cent. in extreme poverty. The assessment has since been used to assist the design and monitoring of social services and benefits.
Since then, we have focused on building the capacity of the Kosovo institutions to monitor social service delivery and poverty outcomes. We remain in discussion with other agencies on possible implementation of a second poverty assessment, and on the support needed by the Kosovo authorities to enable them to monitor poverty and deliver services effectively.