Millennium Kosovo Foundation Event ‘ERA DIMËN’
On December 14, The Millennium Foundation Kosovo held an event called ‘ERA DIMËN’ - ‘the smell of winter’ in Albanian - to celebrate the accomplishments of a multi-year air pollution program, implemented by the Millennium Foundation Kosovo. Airglow Labs’ Christa Hasenkopf, was invited to give a few remarks to set the global context for air pollution work challenges and opportunities.
Back in 2019, Christa Hasenkopf ran a workshop in Prishtina to help source and cultivate ideas for Millennium Foundation Kosovo's Dig Data Challenge on air quality, which is how she first encountered their unique approach to putting open data and transparency at the center of fighting air pollution. By doing so, the Government of Kosovo, Millennium Foundation Kosovo, and their many partners avoided the siren call of air pollution silver bullets and instead smartly invested in Kosovo's long-term air quality management infrastructure.
They implemented concrete actions, like:
Adding in new air quality monitors AND relocating existing government air quality monitors in more scientifically strategic places that provide finer-grained, more actionable air quality information
Adding air quality data communication infrastructure that allows data to be transferred wirelessly and continuously, powering a real-time open data platform run by the Government of Kosovo
Building an air pollution emissions inventory for all of Kosovo through partnership with the Kosovo Environmental Protection Agency and inputs from JICA
Bringing in and funding multiple sectors and community-level organizers who are often the best suited to engage the public on air quality through their "Dig Data" challenge on air quality
It's an impressive suite of accomplishments, done with a relatively small monetary investment.
Read more about Millennium Foundation Kosovo's air quality work.
