GovernmentDonorDialogue Issue No.61-Summer 2012.pdf

www.aidharmonisation.org.alwww.dsdc.gov.al

Stakeholders around the globe discuss United Nations reform

ISSUE No. 61, Monthly Newsletter - Summer 2012

A Joint Effort of the Department of Strategy and Donor Coordination and the Donor Technical Secretariat

The Government of Albania, United Nations representatives, experts, multilateral and bilateral coopera-

tion authorities from more than 40 coun-tries across the world were present at the 5th High Level Intergovernmental Con-ference on Delivering as One, held in Ti-rana from 27 to 29 June 2012. Over 200 participants discussed the lessons learned throughout the implementation of the UN reform process in several parts of the world, its impact at country level, regional and UN system-wide level, and the future of this initiative.

In 2007, the Government of Albania, along with the governments of seven oth-er countries – Cape Verde, Mozambique, Pakistan, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uruguay, and Viet Nam, volunteered to pilot the “Delivering as One” initiative to respond to the challenges of a changing world and

test how the UN family can provide devel-opment assistance in a more coordinated manner. Since then, this initiative has been voluntarily adopted by 21 other countries and a growing number of countries are asking to be included in the reforming process.

Present at the opening session on the first day, Prime Minister Sali Berisha noted that the Government is fully en-gaged and committed with great devotion to match the Millennium Development Goals with the integration objectives. “I assure you that my Government remains committed to further consolidate the One UN approach”, said Berisha.

A video message from the Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon was aired. In his video message the Secretary Gener-al amongst others underlined: “The UN can foster progress that cuts across differ-

ent areas, from human rights to economy, from social justice to the environment. I applaud the Delivering as One countries for their vision, leadership and determi-nation. Now that the pilot phase is com-ing to an end, we have to carry the reform to the next level. That will require all the leadership and determined action. I count on all of you to be part of this important drive for progress. Where we Deliver as One we can deliver better for all.”

The Chair of the United Nations De-velopment Group (UNDG), Helen Clark, was present during the three days of the event. At the opening session she highlighted:”Indeed, in the context of multi-dimensional challenges the world is currently facing, fragmented approaches and solutions are simply no longer accept-able...One of the Evaluation’s most signifi-cant findings is that through the Deliver-

Photo: Chair of UNDG Helen Clark, Prime Minister Sali Berisha and Minister of Innovation and ICT, Genc Pollo, at the opening session of DaO5 Conference, Tirana, Albania

In this issue• Stakeholdersaroundtheglobediscuss

UnitedNationsreform• ConferenceonRegionalDevelopment• AlbaniatowardsUNConferenceon

SustainableDevelopment,RIO+20• UNODCExecutiveDirectorpaysfirstvisit

toAlbania• Drugawarenessprogram• WorldBanksupportsmodernizationof

socialassistance• Italysupportsequipmentofpolyclinicsof

Tirana,Korça,GjirokasterandPeshkopia• MinistryofHealthlaunchesthe2012–

2016NationalStrategyforContraceptiveSecurity

• ItalylaunchesprojectSocialenterprise:instrumentofself-administrationfortheAlbanianpopulation–phaseI

• SwissCooperationEnsuresFurtherCloseCollaborationtoMinisterofHealth

• NationalGeographicpromoteAlbaniaandtheWesternBalkansRegion

• NewMulticulturalCentreandTouristInformationOfficeinPërmet

• SolarwaterheatingandphotovoltaicsystemsinstalledintheremotevillageofThethasasustainablemodelforfightingpoverty

• OSCE/ODIHRhighlightsimportanceofwomen’sleadershipinpoliticalparties

• UNWomenlaunchesmanualonCommunityBasedScorecards

• DonorspresentedwithconcreteresultstoadvancegenderequalityintheAlbanianStatePolice

• Conferenceco-organizedbyOSCEPresencehighlightsneedforparliamentaryethicsinAlbania

• NewWasteManagementSolutionsforRegionalandLocalGovernment

• EUandUNDPexpandtheirsupportfortheRomaandEgyptiancommunitiesinAlbania

• ActivitiesonInternationalChildren’sDay• AfieldvisitinElbasan:Aninsightintoa

localchildprotectionmechanism• FairofIdeasorganizedtoempowercivil

societyinruralandremoteareas• USAID-supportedorganizationto

strengthenjusticesectorinAlbania• Abetterprotectionsystemforwitnessesin

Albania• USAIDSupportsLawSchoolforJournalists• USAIDSupportsContinuingLegal

EducationPrograminAlbania• SidaInternationalTrainingProgramme• OSCEPresenceinAlbaniadonates

computers,trainsstaffofJusticeMinistry’sprisonservice

• EUfundsbringtheBankofAlbaniaclosertotheNationalBanksofEUMemberStates

• CoachingforEmploymentcreatesNewOpportunitiesforDisadvantagedGroups

• LaunchingofNutritionCommunicationActivities

• Partneringwithlocalgovernmentsandcommunitiestoestablishbabyfriendlycommunities

• SuccessStory:AlbanianorganicproductsclosertonicheEUmarket

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Photo: UN Resident Coordinator in Albania, Zineb Touimi-Benjelloun, Head of Division for UN, Simon Koppers, Chair of the UNDG, Helen Clark and Deputy Prime Minister of Albania, Edmond

Haxhinasto at the closing session of Delivering as One Tirana Conference.

ing as One approach the UN development system has been better positioned to apply the kind of integrated policy solutions and responses needed to address the multi-di-mensional and interlinked challenges of our time”. In his opening speech the Al-banian Minister of Innovation and ICT, Genc Pollo said: “The Albanian Govern-ment appreciates especially the new vision that the One UN initiative has brought the coherence and cooperation among UN agencies and national and international partners, thus guaranteeing full leadership of the government in the implementation of this initiative.”

  Throughout the conference, govern-ment representatives from more than 40 countries, representatives from donor governments and senior UN officials ex-pressed their strong commitment to take Delivering as One beyond the current stage and to bring about a more coherent, efficient and effective UN development system.

The final Outcome Document approved by all participants at the closing session of the fifth high level conference on De-livering as One in Tirana amongst oth-ers states: “We reaffirm that Delivering as One (DaO) constitutes an important and unique reform initiative for achiev-ing a more coherent, efficient and effec-tive UN, as the most legitimate, univer-sal and representative forum to address the global development agenda. Through sharing best practices and lessons learned, we have highlighted the benefits of the DaO process, have identified the challeng-

es encountered in its implementation and have built a process upon the experience gained, aiming at the same time to mobi-lize wide-spread support to those efforts in helping to reinforce delivering of better development results at country level.”

Pilot countries and self-starters have also expressed their determination to strongly advocate what DaO has achieved at the country level and its further poten-tial to deliver transformational develop-ment change and constitute a catalyst for UN reform if properly pursued and ex-panded.

Deputy Prime Minister Edmond Hax-hinasto, during his speech amongst others noted: “Today, with the outcome docu-ment that we have just adopted, we are developing a blueprint on how the opera-tional activities of the UN could be deliv-ered with higher efficiency in the benefit not only for a part of the member coun-tries but for the wider membership.” The Chair of the United Nations Development Group, Helen Clark, addressed the par-ticipants at the closing ceremony high-lighting the importance of the concrete recommendations adopted at the Tirana Conference while urging to resolutely mo-bilize support among the broad UN mem-bership to take the ambition forward in the upcoming discussions in the General Assembly on the Quadrennial Compre-hensive Policy Review of UN system op-erational activities.

For more information on Tirana Con-ference please visit:  www.dao5confer-ence.org

Photo: UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, Zineb Touimi-Benjelloun, Prime Minister  Sali Berisha, Head of Delegation of the EU, Ambassador Ettore Sequi,  and Minister of

Integration, Majlinda Bregu at the Regional Development conference.

Conference on Regional Development brings practical lessons and presents 40 regional projects

On 12 June 2012, the Conference titled: “Bringing Policy and Practice Together” highlighted the role of regions in driving development.

Attending the conference was the Head of the EU Delegation, Ettore Sequi, the UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, Zineb Toui-mi-Benjelloun, Minister of Integration, Majlinda Bregu, representatives from Department for Strategy and Donor Co-ordination, representatives of the local and regional authority, representatives from the relevant government ministries involved in regional development, the in-ternational organizations and those of the civil society. They came together to discuss the practical and policy aspects of regional development. Discussions focused on the importance of practical change as a way by which regions can progress and prosper.

Speaking to the conference, PM Berisha said that Albania has great potentials to make use in Albania regions. “Govern-ment and you are determined to deepen further the fiscal decentralization and we are prepared for a new package of fiscal decentralization that would increase all your activity”, said the prime minister. UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, Zineb Touimi-Benjelloun, amongst others highlight-ed:  “The regional communities need to take ownership and initiative of their own destiny. Empowerment of regions has to come from within. It has to come through practice.”

The event was organized by the Alba-nian Ministry of European Integration, the Department for Strategies and Donor Coordination, and United Nations Devel-opment Programme in the framework of “The Integrated Support for Decentraliza-tion” Project, financed jointly by the Euro-pean Union and UNDP.

Under this project, four regions of Alba-nia: Elbasan, Diber, Kukes and Berat have participated in strategic planning pro-cesses and regional projects development. Representatives of these regions, shared benefits and challenges faced through-out this process. The Project has also has worked at national and regional levels,

promoting a national response to region-al development and supporting prepara-tions for the Strategic Coherence Frame-work and IPA III (Regional Development). It has also provided financial support to specific infrastructure projects in the re-gions concerned. Over 40 regional proj-ects are presented to the government and donor community in Albania, with clear messages from the regions: “we can do re-gional development, what we need is your partnership and immediate support”.

Albania towards United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, RIO+20

A National Consultation Workshop was organized on 14 June 2012 to launch the stocktaking report for Albania to UN Conference on Sustainable Development,

known as RIO+20. The event was orga-nized by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Water Administration (ME-FWA) and UNDP Albania in cooperation with UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA).

The Albanian Stocktaking Report to RIO+20 presented reviews of strategic documents such as national strategies, ac-tion plans, laws and multilateral agree-ments, etc. and outcomes of consultations/interviews with national stakeholders in line ministries and other central and lo-cal government institutions, civil society, international organizations operating in Albania, etc. The report provides an as-sessment of the level of achievement of sustainable development objectives in Al-bania. Moreover reflections are provid-ed regarding Albania prospect to green economy, the main challenges of Alba-nia related to sustainable development

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Photo: UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, Zineb Touimi-Benjelloun, Minister of Environment, Forests and Water Administration, Fatmir Mediu and Deputy Minister of Environment, Forests and Water Administration, Taulant Bino at the National Consultation Workshop organized on 14

June 2012

such as ensuring better living conditions and addressing environmental pressures. Amongst others it is highlighted that the solution to these challenges should come without compromising growth, but rather generating sustainable economic opportu-nities for the business community and in-dividuals alike. This approach constitutes in establishment of the proper regulato-ry framework, creation of strong incen-tives for markets and innovation, lever-aging financial resources, and promoting entrepreneurship and greater public pri-vate partnership. UN Resident Coordi-nator and UNDP Resident Representa-tive, Zineb Touimi-Benjelloun, amongst others highlighted: “As a middle-income country, Albania faces many development challenges requiring the incorporation of social and environmental sustainability in national planning processes, ensuring ef-fective synergies between specific sector policies and creating a unique and inte-grated development approach. Such de-velopment is guided by the Government s vision and policies, which will ensure inte-grated development in both rural and ur-ban areas while also supporting environ-mental protection.”

UNODC Executive Director pays first visit to Albania

On 10 and 11 June 2012, on his first

official visit to Albania, UNODC Execu-tive Director Yury Fedotov met with the country’s top-level officials to discuss measures against organized crime, illic-it drug trafficking and cooperation with UNODC. Albania is a transit country for Afghan heroin smuggled to Western Europe. Mr. Fedotov recognized the ef-forts that Albania had made to curb illic-it trafficking and organized crime, such as the notable increase in drug seizures, arrests, and the setting up in March of a new drug dependence treatment centre

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in Tirana. Within the framework of the UNODC Regional Programme for South Eastern Europe (2012-2015), UNODC in cooperation with the World Customs Organization is launching the Container Control Programme in the Albanian port of Durres to improve inspection of sea containers which could be used to smug-gle drugs and illicit goods. Albania and Montenegro are the first countries from this region to join the CCP. “We hope that we can connect all countries along the route within the next 2 years”, said Mr. Fedotov.

Drug Awareness Program

On 21 June 2012, the US Ambassa-dor Arvizu hosted a special ceremony to launch the ACT Now! Initiative. The cere-mony was a call on Albanian leaders, civil society organizations, and citizens to be-come more active in addressing key issues facing Albanians today. Part of this event was the end of the awareness-raising pro-gram against use of drugs and other dan-gerous substances, implemented through-

Photo: The US Ambassador Arvizu hosted a special ceremony to launch the ACT Now! Initiative

Photo: UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov, during his first official visit to Albania in June 2012

Photo: Vehicle donated by the US Embassy in Tirana to the Albanian State Police. This vehicle will be used in awareness raising campaigns throughout schools.

out 9-year obligatory education schools in Tirana. On this occasion, a thematic ex-hibition of art works made by sixth-grade students, beneficiary of this program was held at the National Gallery of Arts. Part of these activities was also the donation of a vehicle by the US Embassy in Tirana to the Albanian State Police. This vehicle will be used in awareness raising campaigns throughout schools.

In his remarks, the Deputy Minister of Interior, Mr. Peka, appreciated the imple-mentation of this type of program in our country and considered it a direct display of the community policing philosophy as well as a very positive instrument in the protection of children, the family and our society from negative phenomena such as alcohol consumption, smoking, drug abuse, etc.

The US Ambassador Arvizu put a spe-cial emphasis on the importance of this program in raising the awareness of youth and in teaching them to say no to drugs, alcohol and smoking. He expressed his conviction that the successful experience witnessed in 40 schools around Tirana will expand throughout the country. Dep-uty Minister of Education and Science, Shamata considered the program an ex-ample of the cooperation between schools and police in the preparation of children to say no to drugs and the negative phe-nomena.

World Bank Supports Modernization of Social Assistance in Albania Loan Agreement for Social Assistance Modernization Project Signed Today

On 6 June 2012 the Government of Albania and the World Bank signed the agreement for the loan of  Social Assis-tance Modernization Project, totalling 38 million Euro.  The agreement was signed by Minister of Finance Ridvan Bode, and the World Bank Country Manager Kseni-ya Lvovsky.   

The objective of Social Assistance Mod-ernization Project for Albania is to support the Government’s reform agenda to im-prove the equity, efficiency, and transpar-ency of social assistance programs.  It will focus mainly on the poverty-targeted Ndi-hma Ekonomike (NE) program and the disability assistance. The project aims at improved equity by improving targeting,

eligibility and coverage for both Ndihma Ekonomike and Disability Assistance Pro-grams to ensure that resources are chan-neled to the most needy people. The cur-rent system of social assistance needs to be modernized and automated in order to improve the efficiency of both programs. This would help the current benefits ad-ministration to strengthen detection and remedying of fraud and errors and would allow the Government to make timely and informed policy changes. The project ac-tivities consist of two interrelated compo-nents:  (i)Strengthening the Implementa-tion and Performance of Social Assistance Programs; and (ii)Technical Assistance to Strengthen Implementation Capacity for Social Assistance Programs. It would also support improvements in transparen-cy which cuts across the key reform areas through proactive communications, mod-ernized information systems, and increased clarity on “rules, roles and controls.”“The Social Assistance Modernization Proj-ect would contribute to the reduction of poverty and vulnerability through more effective social assistance services and to

help Albania mitigate the impacts of the continued eurozone crisis”  said  Kseniya Lvovsky, Country Manager for the World Bank Office in Albania.

 The project support would be provided according to a results-based financing ap-proach which implies the partnership and engagement between the World Bank and the Government of Albania for co-financ-ing of major social assistance program and disbursing against measured improve-ments in implementation.

Signature of Memorandum of Understanding for equipment of polyclinics of Tirana, Korça, Gjirokaster and Peshkopia

On 12 June 2012, the Health Minister of Albania, Petrit Vasili, the Ambassador of Italy in Albania, Massimo Gaiani, and the Italian Regional Authority of Molise, signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the equipment of 2 polyclinics in Ti-ranë and 3 others in Korçë, Gjirokaster and Peshkopi with medical devices. The

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Photo: Minister of Finance Ridvan Bode, and the World Bank by Country Manager Kseniya Lvovsky signing the agreement for the loan of Social Assistance Modernization Project on 6 June 2012 

Photo: Health Minister of Albania, Petrit Vasili, and the Ambassador of Italy, Massimo Gaiani signing a Memorandum of Understanding on 12 June 2012

signature paves the way to the launch of tenders to procure equipments for the subject polyclinics, providing the needed technical assistance, including for super-vision and testing. The technical assis-tance will be delivered by the Italian Re-gional Authority of Molise, which builds on a solid experience of international health cooperation. All Parties expressed appreciation for what is considered to be a further tangible Italian contribution to the improvement of national healthcare services, in terms of access, quality and efficiency, for the benefit of a wide range of users.

The Memorandum marks an additional step forward for the long-lasting Italian-Albanian cooperation and falls within the broader programme “The reconstruction and furnishing of 5 health clinic (Tirana 2, Tirana 3, Korca, Gjirokaster, Pesh-kopi), funded by the Italian Cooperation with a soft loan of 5 million Euro.

Launching of project of NGO COL’OR “Social enterprise: instrument of self-administration for the Albanian population – phase I”

On 20 June 2012, the Italian NGO COL’OR launched the new project “So-cial enterprise – development for the Al-banian population – Phase I” with the participation of the Ambassador of Italy, Massimo Gaiani, and of the Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Equal Oppor-tunities, Spiro Ksera.

The project, co-funded by the Italian Development Cooperation, offers a two-

fold contribution to the development of social entrepreneurship in Albania. On one side, it foresees the start-up of four social enterprises working in the mecha-tronic (Tirane), catering (Shkodër), flori-culture (Elbasan) and laundry (Vlore) sec-tors. These entrepreneurial projects will provide job opportunities for long term unemployed people and women victim of violence or trafficking, identified by the lo-cal partner associations namely COL’OR Albania, Hapa të Lehtë, Tjetër Vizion, and Vatra. On the other side, the project will carry out advocacy activities, includ-ing an ad hoc working table, aimed at promoting an effective Social Enterprises legal framework facilitating the start up of new social entrepreneurial projects all over the Country. “Social enterprise: de-velopment tool for the Albanian popula-

tion – phase I”, is therefore a combination of several initiatives. It aims at creating better life condition and job opportunity, encouraging the endogenous local devel-opment processes, as well as supporting the access to the labour market for weak categories.

In the opening session, participating Authorities underlined how these alterna-tive forms of entrepreneurship can be sig-nificant for the development of the private sector and for the social inclusion, bring-ing positive spillover for the entire nation-al economy.

Ministry of Health launches the 2012 – 2016 National Strategy for Contraceptive Security

  On 24 July 2012, the Ministry of Health launched the 2012 – 2016 Na-tional Contraceptive Security Strategy, a result of joint efforts by Albanian and international experts with the support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Albania. This event was at-tended by Regional Directors of Public Health, specialists of the Institute of Pub-lic Health and officials of the Ministry of Health. The Minister of Health, Dr. Van-gjel Tavo and the UN Resident Coordi-nator and UNFPA Representative, Zineb Touimi-Benjelloun welcomed the strategy and recognized in their respective speech-es the progress done in the area of fam-ily planning in Albania over the past 10 years. They also emphasised that there is

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Photo: Ambassador of Italy, Massimo Gaiani, and of the Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Spiro Ksera during the launching of the project “Social enterprise – development for the

Albanian population – Phase I”

Photo: Launching of the 2012 – 2016 National Contraceptive Security Strategy on 24 July 2012

room for growth in increasing the contra-ceptive prevalence rate and in enhancing the status of reproductive health and fam-ily planning in Albania.

The main purpose of the new Albanian National Contraceptive Security Strategy is to ensure that men and women in Al-bania can choose, obtain and use modern methods of contraception and high qual-ity family planning services. The strategy aims to increase the demand and access to quality reproductive health and fam-ily planning services – through increas-ing the contraceptive prevalence rate, to reduce the number of abortions and to improve maternal and child health in Al-bania. The Reproductive Health Strate-gy developed for the period 2009 – 2015 prioritises family planning and provides a framework also for contraceptive se-curity and it sets the strategic goal to in-crease the contraceptive prevalence rate by 30% more than the 2008 levels (11%) by 2015.

The United Nations through the 2012 – 2016 Programme of Cooperation is committed to provide continuous sup-port to the Albanian Ministry of Health in strengthening Reproductive Health and Family Planning services.

National Geographic promote Albania and the Western Balkans Region

Thanks to the support of USAID, Alba-

nia is one of six countries featured in the Western Balkans Geotourism Mapguide – Land of Discovery, an interactive web-

portal hosted by the National Geograph-ic and available on http://www.balkans-geotourism.travel/ . The portal, publicly launched on 18-22 June 2012 at the head-quarters of the National Geographic in Washington D.C., presents the traditions, heritage, culture and exciting geotourism opportunities in the Western Balkans. Residents, visitors, tourism organizations, and local businesses in each country nom-inated the featured sites for travellers in search of unique destinations and authen-tic experiences. 

Through this partnership, USAID is helping the region benefit from the Na-tional Geographic’s considerable exper-tise in promoting the Western Balkans as a world-class destination, while contribut-ing to its economic health and encourag-ing sustainable tourism development ac-cording to the well-known principles of geotourism stewardship. 

Rritje Albania, USAID’s Competitive Enterprise Development project, promotes sustained, broad-based economic growth in Albania by expanding trade and invest-ment, increasing enterprise productivity, and improving Albania’s workforce. The project assists non-agricultural enterprises in becoming more competitive, increasing sales, and creating additional jobs.

Inauguration of Multicultural Centre and Tourist Information Office in Përmet, funded by Italian Cooperation

The Multicultural Centre and the Tour-ists Information Office of Përmet were in-augurated on June 9th at the presence of the Ambassador of Italy to Albania, Massimo Gaiani, the Mayor of Përmet, Mr. Gilber-to Jaçe, and the Director of the Italian Co-operation in Tirana, Mr Andrea Senatori. The Centre was established in the frame-work of the project “Support to the Tour-ism and Environment development of the area of Përmet and of its typical products” promoted by the Italian NGO CESVI and co-funded by the Italian Cooperation with a contribution of 840.000 Euro. The Dis-trict of Përmet is a rural area with impres-sive natural and touristic potential not fully developed, also due to the severe migration flows of the last decades. CESVI project in-tends to contribute to the assessment and valorization of local natural heritage and products, raising the awareness of local in-stitutions and civil society organizations on environment related issues. Through the promotion of the tourism industry in the area of Përmet, the project aims to

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Photo: Inauguration of the Multicultural Centre and the Tourists Information Office of Përmet on 9 June 2012

Photo: One of the guesthouses in Theth village equiped with solar water heaters

Photo: ODIHR presented its ‘Gender Equality in Elected Office: A Six-Step Action Plan’ at a roundtable discussion in Tirana on ways of enhancing gender equality in Albania’s political parties, 18 June 2012.

(OSCE/Joana Karapataqi)

tackle the high unemployment rates and to enhance the human and natural resources of the District.

Meeting Between Minister of Health and Swiss Cooperation’s Deputy Director Ensures Further Close Collaboration

On 17 July 2012, Swiss Cooperation’s Deputy Country Director, Anne Savary, met with the newly-appointed Minister of Health, Vangjel Tavo, to ensure fur-ther collaboration and understanding be-tween the two institutions. During this courtesy meeting both parties exchanged information and ideas about strengthen-ing common working projects, in partic-ular, the Professional Development Sys-tem, which is now on its second phase. From her side, Ms. Savary, gave a sum-mary of Swiss Cooperation’s health port-folio including programmes and projects that have been funded and implemented by this office in the last 15 years of work in Albania. She mentioned the continu-ing education programme and the sum-mer school for health management and public health which currently are essen-tial interventions of the Swiss Coopera-tion in the health sector. Minister Tavo ensured that all necessary measures will be taken for the purpose of establishing units at regional hospitals that will follow up and monitor the process of accredit-ing training programmes. At the meeting both parties also talked about creating further opportunities for collaboration in the future.

Solar water heating and photovoltaic systems installed in the remote village of Theth as a sustainable model for fighting poverty

On 20 July 2012, to promote the tech-nology of solar systems, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy, with the support of UNDP Climate Change Pro-gramme, Global Environmental Facility Small Grants Programme (GEF/SGP) and in collaboration with the German Interna-tional Cooperation (GIZ) and Procredit Bank inaugurated the instalment of solar water heating and photovoltaic systems in the remote village of Thethi as a sustain-

able model for fighting poverty in low-in-come communities in the Northern Alba-nia.

In 2012 GEF/SGP and UNDP Solar Water Heating project have provided 11 guesthouses with Solar Water Heaters that provide hot water for showers and other domestic use. 12 guesthouses and the lo-cal infirmary have been equipped with scalable photovoltaic systems that provide electricity supply for lighting purposes. The beneficiaries have co financed the cost of installation. These interventions aim to improve the lives of people in Thethi by invigorating the local economy through establishment of sustainable eco tourism. A significant investment to turn the area in a mountainous tourism destination by promotion of guesthouse tourism is done by GIZ and GEF/SGP for several years.

In 2011, 23 guesthouses were operation-al and 12,000 tourists visited Theth com-pared to 300 in 2006. Convincing real-life examples of the “green economy” have been promoted through this activity that demonstrate in quantifiable human terms that environmentally-friendly approaches can create growth, decent jobs and reduce inequality.

OSCE/ODIHR highlights importance of women’s leadership in political parties in Albania

Enhancing gender equality within po-litical parties was the focus of a roundta-ble discussion held in Tirana by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and

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Photo: UN Women in cooperation with the Municipality of Tirana launched “The Community Based Scorecards Manual” on 29 June 2012

Human Rights (ODIHR) and the OSCE Presence in Albania on 18 June 2012. The meeting brought together more than 40 representatives of Albanian political par-ties, parliament, local government and women’s advocacy groups to discuss volun-tary measures political parties can adopt to promote women as party decision-makers, leaders and candidates for public office.

“As crucial gatekeepers of democracy, political parties have a responsibility to in-troduce all necessary changes for increas-ing women’s participation in politics,” said Ambassador Eugen Wollfarth, Head of the OSCE Presence in Albania. “Creating equal opportunities for women to be full and active participants in politics is a key parameter of a modern democratic society.”

Sonja Lokar, Executive Director of the Central and Eastern European Network for Gender Issues, noted that the internal functioning of political parties directly im-pacts on women’s opportunities to stand as party candidates. “It is important for women members to understand party pro-cedures for recruitment, candidate selec-tion and the allocation of resources, in or-der to better plan their political careers,” Lokar said.

During the discussion, ODIHR Gen-der Adviser Kristin van der Leest present-ed Gender Equality in Elected Office: A Six-Step Action Plan, a study which high-lights different measures parties can adopt to promote women as decision-makers and candidates. “Political parties can introduce voluntary quotas or targets for women’s candidatures, develop gender action plans, or establish initiatives to support the cam-paigns of women candidates,” van der Leest said.

The roundtable discussion was to be fol-lowed by a two-day intensive training sem-inar attended by 35 women participants. The training is designed to enhance the leadership skills of women candidates from political parties, ahead of parliamentary elections in 2013.

UN Women launches manual on “Community Based Scorecards”

Making Women’s Voices Heard

On 29 June 2012, UN Women in co-operation with the Municipality of Tirana launched “The Community Based Score-cards Manual”, a “how to do CBS” based on the Albanian experience. “The main

purpose of this manual is to support the in-stitutionalization of constructive and open dialogue between the elected and the vot-ers to strengthen the accountability of pub-lic institutions to women’s needs,” said UN Women Representative in Albania, Semia Guermas,. The launching event was at-tended by local government authorities, civil society organizations, beneficiaries, as well as UN Agencies and International Or-ganizations.

On behalf of the Municipality of Tirana, the Deputy Mayor Jorida Tabaku, stressed that “the Community Based Scorecards process facilitates the building of such di-alogue and that is why we encourage the implementation of this methodology, as an extra contribution to our work”. For the Director of the Coalition for Enhanc-ing the Participation of Women and Youth in Politics, Altin Hazizaj “CBS is an effec-tive mechanism that gives voice to citizens’ needs and encourages their participation in decision-making, especially regarding un-der-represented groups such as women and girls”.“The Manual supports further the professional growth of civil society as it al-lows a more accurate reflection of the voice of the community” said the Head of Gen-der Alliance for Development, Mirela Arqi-mandriti. “In this regard, civil society is the connecting bridge between the communi-ty and the local government and CBS pro-vides for the professional facilitation of this process”. Whereas Klotilda Ferhati, Gender Expert, Association for the Integration of In-formal Zones, saw CBS as an effective tool to reach participatory democracy: “Citizens know what they want,” she stressed, “they are very clear on defining their needs. Lo-cal government structures are the ones that

should take into consideration their voice, by choosing among two needs, the one that is prioritized by the citizens themselves, when these two services cannot be carried out due to financial constraints.”

The Manual is made of two parts: the first part presents the complete basic CBS methodology in accordance to the World Bank practice, while the second part treats extensively the CBS model applied in Alba-nia. The Manual is available at the NPOs that were part of the process, at the UN Women office in Tirana, and online at the following links: www.un.org.alwww.uni-fem.sk andwww.platformagjinore.al

In 2011, the Community Based Score-cards was introduced for the first time in Albania in 7 regions of the country, with the support of UN Women and UNDP. Fourteen civil society associations used CBS as a means to enhance the dialogue on gender equality issues and to mobilize communities to assess and score the ser-vices provided by local governments, in ac-cordance with national and international legal obligations for gender equality. The results of the Community Based Score-cards process were published in the media, while during the local elections in 2011, the implementing organizations lobbied with political parties and their candidates, in an effort to include the identified needs and priorities in the electoral platforms.

Community Based Scorecards (CBS) also known as “the voice of the commu-nity” provide citizens the opportunity to share their opinion with the local authori-ties on the availability, quality, sustain-ability and efficiency of public services (health, education, public transport, water supply, waste management and shelters).

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Photo: Representatives from the governments of Norway, Finland, Belgium, Australia and Sweden presented with concrete results to advance gender equality in the Albanian State Police

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Donors presented with concrete results to advance gender equality in Albanian State Police

Representatives from the governments

of Norway, Finland, Belgium, Australia and Sweden visited the Academy of Police on the last day of the “Delivering as One UN” conference that was held in Tirana from 27-29 June 2012. The aim of the visit was to show some tangible and vivid cases of changes brought to women’s lives that were made possible by the UN Joint Pro-gramme on Gender Equality (2008-2011). During the visit, the General Director of the State Police, Hysen Burgaj exposed the situation since the launching of the “Only-Women” recruitment campaign at the Academy of the Police. He highlighted that a number record of 1650 applications was registered for the academic year 2012-2013 while for the first time, out of 200 students, half are female. The Vice Direc-tor of the State Police is a woman as well. The objective is that by the end of 2013, the number of women at State Police reaches 30% from 9.6 percent actually.

Another component of the Diversity and Gender Equality Action Plan imple-mented by the State Police is strengthen-ing capacities on domestic violence (DV). With the help of UN, a number of 800 officers have been trained on DV, while some pilot programs have been estab-lished in cooperation with other institu-tions and communities for a coordinated response to this negative phenomenon. “The role of women and girls is indis-pensable in the police force” said Burgaj, who assured the guests that the policies for achieving gender quality in the police structures will continue. Finally, some stu-dents and police officers shared their ex-periences in the police force. It is impor-tant to note that in the framework of the 2012-2016 GoA and UN Programme of Cooperation UN agencies will continue supporting the Albanian State Police to (i) ensure measures are taken to increase re-tention rate for women (ii) enhance leader-ship skills for women in decision-making levels (iii) adopt a policy on safe working environment (iv) strengthen the police academy curriculum on GEL and non-discrimination (v) increase the capacities of the police forces in responding to DV; and (vi) start awareness and knowledge

on the UN SCR1325 on Women, Peace and Security, among others.

Conference co-organized by OSCE Presence highlights need for parliamentary ethics in Albania

Standards and regulations to ensure parliamentary ethics, as well as their im-plications for the wider legislative, anti-corruption and integrity framework, are the focus of a two-day conference that started on 16 July 2012 in Tirana. The event was organized by the OSCE Pres-ence in Albania and the Albanian As-sembly, with support by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and funds from Germany. The conference aimed to facilitate a discus-sion about parliamentary ethical stan-dards and codes, a fundamental issue at the core of Albania’s reform efforts and of the OSCE Presence’s mandate to pro-mote democratization and consolidation

of democratic institutions in the country. Participants in the conference included Members of Parliament, parliamentary staff, experts in the field of ethics, and representatives from other state institu-tions and the international community.

Addressing the participants, the Head of the OSCE Presence, Ambassador Eu-gen Wollfarth, said: “Albanian citizens rightly expect that their elected represen-tatives abide by high ethical standards when acting in the public interest. Poli-tics is also about moral integrity.” “The hard work and dedication shown by the Albanian Assembly’s leadership from all political sides has contributed to prog-ress in revising rules and procedures. It must now lead to the next step: the de-velopment of standards of parliamentary ethics and codes. I would thus like to en-courage Members of Parliament to begin discussions towards a Code of Parliamen-tary Ethics,” he added. Assembly Speaker Jozefina Topalli and German Ambassa-dor Carola Müller-Holtkemper also ad-dressed the event.

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Photo: Conference discussing new Waste Management Solutions for Regional and Local Government, held on 3 July 2012

Photo: The artisan fair organized in the Korça traditional market. 

tian Communities of Albania (SSIREC). The event hosted by Municipality of Ko-rça , was attended by representatives of re-gional and local authorities, in particular from the three project regions, representa-tives of line ministries, international do-nors, NGOs involved in social inclusion, business associations, academia and the media. The new project aims at contrib-uting towards social, economic and politi-cal empowerment of Roma and Egyptian communities in Albania. Implemented in the regions of Berat, Korça and Vlora over the course of two years, the project main components include infrastructure development, capacity building for civil society organizations and entrepreneur-ial support. SSIREC project will also as-sist the MoLSAEO`s Technical Secretariat for Roma to strengthen its capacities for implementing and monitoring social in-clusion policies.

Deputy Minister of Labour, Social Af-fairs and Equal Opportunities, Filloreta Kodra, highlighted: “This project will help to improve the life of Roma and Egyptian communities and will also assist in ex-panding and consolidating the monitoring system of the Action Plan for the Roma Decade”. UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, Zineb Touimi-Benjelloun, amongst others high-lighted: ”We should work with a multi-di-mensional approach to address issues re-lated to social exclusion. This project will enable the implementation of national pol-icies and strategies for the benefit of Roma and Egyptian communities. In this regard, the cooperation between local and central authorities is of essential”.

Mr. Francois Begeot, Head of Econom-ic Reform and Infrastructure department, EU Delegation in Albania, during his re-

ipants with examples presented by Swiss and Albanian experts. During the event, a new publication on “Manual on Waste Management Planning” was presented, which is expected to help local and re-gional authorities in carrying out practical steps towards improving waste manage-ment and territorial cleaning. In addition, several examples from within Albania and other countries were discussed as models that can be used by local and regional gov-ernment elsewhere in the country.

EU and UNDP expand their support for the Roma and Egyptian Communities in Albania

On July 2012, the European Union Delegation in Albania, the United Na-tions Development Programme and the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities launched in Ko-rca, a Joint Project which will support the Social Inclusion of Roma and Egyp-

New Waste Management Solutions for Regional and Local Government Presented at National Conference

Introduction of modern and effective waste management solutions was the topic of a conference organised on 3 July 2012 under the care of the Swiss Cooperation Office and the Ministry of Interior. Rep-resentatives from central government, re-gional and local governments, public and private institutions, and international do-nors were present at the event where ex-amples of successful and effective waste management practices from the regions were shared and discussed. “Waste man-agement is a key aspect that calls for more action and initiative from elected authori-ties at regional and local levels”, said the Swiss Ambassador, Yvana Enzler. She em-phasized that the Swiss program for de-centralization in Albania is in full harmo-ny with the Government’s priorities as set out in strategies and plans, including the issue of waste management. “Local gov-ernment units must be able to administer their territories themselves”, said Depu-ty Minister of Interior, Ferdinand Poni. “This requires commitment from both citizens and the authorities”.

Thematic sessions during this confer-ence were led by the Ministry of Environ-ment and the Ministry of Transport and Public Works, and focused on planning and implementing waste management at local level (municipalities and communes), as well as on the organisation of waste col-lection and transport at regional level (Qa-rks and Prefectures). Cost reduction was a particularly interesting topic for partic-

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marks at the launching ceremony noted: ”The European Union attaches particular importance to human rights protection, including protection of minorities and anti-discrimination, which represent one of the 12 key priorities of the European Commission s opinion on Albania s appli-cation for EU membership”.

An intercultural artisan fair was orga-nized to mark the beginning of the proj-ect. Roma and Egyptian artisans from the Korça region displayed their crafts at the city s traditional market place. The products prepared by the Roma/Egyptian women and men artisans included a vari-ety of craft pieces, made of diverse mate-rials such as pottery, paper, wood, glass, metal, and cotton. In a separate corner of the fair, some artisans were crafting their works and training other young talent-ed Roma in craft-making. Young Roma/Egyptian activists were also present at the fair with a variety of presentations and ar-tistic performances, under the Roma tra-ditional rhythms thus bringing “the fla-vour of Roma” throughout the market place of Korça. The project has a total budget of around 1.7 million Euro, with the contribution of the EU, UNDP and the Government of Albania.

International Children’s Day on 1 June 2012

On 1 June 2012 – the Internation-al Children’s Day - the State Agency for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SAPRC) supported by UNICEF orga-nized the national conference “Children’s rights – a key priority towards EU integra-tion”. Participants from central and local government institutions, non-government organizations as well as donor agencies participated.

“The Government has adopted a new Strategy and Action Plan for children. A wider reform of social services is being dis-cussed and underway. The UN Commit-tee on the Rights of the Child will review the Albania report on the implementation of Children’s Convention in a few weeks, and make its recommendations, hopeful-ly after more progress has been reported. However, there is room for improvement until all children can enjoy their rights as enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Albania has taken the presidency of the Council of Europe,

and declared the human rights of chil-dren as one of its priorities. The eyes of the world will be on Albania to see how such noble goals are turned into reality. But the window is short - until the end of the year - and it requires extra effort, speed and determination. If we keep the ener-gies focused, at central and at local level I am confident that much significant and tangible progress can be made” said De-tlef Palm, UNICEF Representative, in his address.

A Field Visit in Elbasan: An insight into a local child protection mechanism

Representatives from the Austrian De-velopment Agency, UNICEF, the Swiss Development Cooperation, Heks, the State Agency for Child Rights and Pro-tection at MoLSAEO, and the EU Dele-gation in Albania, joined the Delegate of Terre des hommes (Tdh) in Albania for a project field visit in Elbasan, to gain deep-er insight into the functioning of a local mechanism for the protection of children. This field visit, in one of the regions where Tdh is implementing its “Developing a Child Protection Safety Net” project, was a unique opportunity for participants. They were able to further learn of the role and action of the Child Protection Unit and its Worker. They heard and discussed on some of the daily challenges faced by this Unit and its key collaborating actors -like the multi-disciplinary group for man-

aging cases- in identifying, supporting and responding to cases of children at risk or victims of abuse, neglect, exploitation, and trafficking. Participants also joined the CPU Worker in a family visit in Beqir Dardha neighbourhood, where they met with local beneficiaries of child protective services, in particular vulnerable children and Roma communities, and were able to examine local needs and difficulties faced by these families, in relation also with the reform of social services in Albania. At last, they exchanged ideas with local ser-vice providers offering direct services with an aim to reinforce the protection of hu-man rights notable for children and Roma populations.

In particular during this field visit, par-ticipants learned from Ms. Nadire Kre-ka on the process of case management of identified cases of children in need or at risk of abuse, violence, exploitation or ne-glect.

The Child Protection Unit in Elbasan was established in October 2006 within the framework of its TACT III project. At operational level, the Child Protec-tion Unit has been able to identify and follow-up 214 children mainly with social problems, victims of abuse, exploitation, neglect and trafficking, and out of these 214 identified case, the CPU Worker has referred 167 of them to benefit from ser-vices provided by other local actors such as legal support, school integration, kin-dergarten integration, daily centre, voca-tional training, orphanage registration, etc. The Unit has also conducted 407 fam-

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Photo: Representatives from the Austrian Development Agency, UNICEF, Swiss Development Cooperation, EU Delegation in Albania and MoLSAEO, joined the Delegate of Terre des hommes in

Albania for a project field visit in Elbasan

ily visits for social counselling and follow-up aiming to assess the situation of chil-dren in need and their families and has provided support with various types of as-sistance to 57 families and 100 children. At advocacy level, the Child Protection Unit of Elbasan has actively contributed to present the voice of children in the Social Area Plan aiming to establish integrated child friendly services for them; has en-sured the payment of the kindergarten fee for 15 children from the municipal budget for the year 2011-2012; and has been able to help re-establish in close collaboration with the Regional Directorate of Educa-tion and A2B NGO, the Second Chance Program, an educational program provid-ing support to students with an aim to im-prove their school performance and edu-cation.

Fair of Ideas organized to empower civil society in rural and remote areas

On 13 July 2012, Civil Society Orga-nizations (CSOs) from rural and remote areas from the regions of Lezha, Elbasan, Berat and Gjirokastra presented their ideas and initiatives empowering civil so-ciety in rural and remote areas at the Fair of Ideas “Good Governance and active citizenry”. The event was organized un-der ECSRA Project (Empowering Civil Society in Rural & Remote Areas) that is implemented by the Institute for Democ-racy and Mediation (IDM) with the sup-port of UNDP Albania. The Fair of Ideas aims to encourage concrete initiatives that will be jointly implemented under ECSRA

Project with local CSOs in the target re-gions. It also strives to present to a broader audience – Albanian CSOs, state actors, donor community, media and private sec-tor representatives etc. – an inclusive ap-proach and possible practice that would be taken further by civic and other actors to address “fragmentarisation” of Alba-nian civil society’s inputs and thematic / geographical coverage.

During her speech UNDP Country Di-rector, Yesim Oruc highlighted: “Experi-ence from other countries suggests that lo-cal partnerships between civil society and authorities for local decision making and service delivery, must start as early as pos-sible to prepare for EU accession.

ECSRA initiative has naturally fol-lowed the impact of another successful project carried out by IDM with UNDP

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Photo: Minister of Justice, Eduard Halimi and Andrew Maybrook from the USAID/Albania delivered the opening addresses at the first meeting of licensed mediators.

Photo: Civil Society Organizations from rural and remote areas of the country presenting their initiatives at the Fair of Ideas

support two years ago –the Civil Society Index (CSI) for Albania – offering in ad-dition a wide body of knowledge and rel-evant evidence for civil society stakehold-ers. The missing civic contribution to the improvement of communities’ lives in Al-bania’s peripheral areas was identified by CSI as a major challenge that needs to be addressed jointly by civil society, state ac-tors and the donors’ community.

USAID-Supported Organization to Strengthen Justice Sector in Albania

The first meeting of the licensed me-diators in Albania, organized on 19 June 2012 by USAID in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice, marked the beginning of a concerted effort to establish the Na-tional Chamber of Mediators in Albania. At the event Albania’s Minister of Justice, Eduard Halimi, recognized the role medi-ation is now playing to reduce lengthy and costly court proceedings and reiterated the Ministry’s commitment to support the expansion of mediation and the further development of this profession in Albania. Based on the law, the Mediators’ Licens-ing Commission has provided to date 51 mediation licenses, 50 for physical per-sons and one for a juridical person in the framework of which 21 mediators are ap-proved to work. These licensed mediators come from Tirana, Durrësi, Kavaja, Kru-ja, Elbasani, Vlora, Korça, Bilishti, Përme-ti, Gjirokastra, Kopliku and Shkodra.

Photo: Albanian journalists at the ceremony after receiving the certificate for the successful completion of the “Law School for Journalists” funded by the USAID (Credit: AIIS).

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USAID, through the Albanian Justice Sector Strengthening Project (JuST), has supported family and commercial me-diation services through expanding the court-connected Mediation Centre at the Durrës District Court and establishing another such centre at the Korça District Court. It has also conducted training of mediators and public outreach efforts to increase awareness about mediation and its advantages.

A better protection system for witnesses in Albania

On 18 June 2012, a conference was held to take stock of the achievements in framework of the 0.55 million Euro twinning project funded by the EU to en-hance the operational and logistical ca-pacities of the Directorate of Witness and Special Persons Protection. The EU fund-ed project provided support to the coun-try’s Criminal Justice Sector regarding the implementation of new law on wit-ness protection and to build long-term capacity within the Albanian State Po-lice Directorate for Witness Protection, the Office of the General Prosecutor, the Court and the Prison Service.

During the conference, the Head of the Operations at the EU Delegation to Al-bania, Luigi Brusa underlined that “it is part of European Standards to consider as unacceptable for the criminal justice system to fail to bring defendants to trial and obtain a judgment because witnesses have been effectively discouraged from testifying freely and truthfully”. “The efficiency of the fight against Organised Crime cannot be considered as complete if the victims and witnesses of crime can-not feel safe to collaborate with state in-stitutions. Advancing Witness Protec-tion is therefore paramount in advancing the Rule of Law in Albania and further increase capacities to fight organized crime”, said Brusa.

The twinning with the Hungarian Na-tional Bureau of Investigation and the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau as junior partner started 16 months ago. The project complemented other EU as-sistance on the matter still ongoing: the provision of IT communication system for Witness Protection Directorate, a project of approximately 125,000 Euros, the provision of Vehicles 266,000 Euros,

and an EU Regional Project for Witness Protection in the Fight against Serious Crime and Terrorism (WINPRO), which gives support to the all Western Balkans countries in this field with 4 million Eu-ros. This EU funded twinning project and the WINPRO Regional project pro-vided also recommendations for the fu-ture functioning and the restructuring of the Witness Protection Unit and the Wit-ness Protection Directorate hopefully to be soon implemented by the Albanian au-thorities.

USAID Supports Law School for Journalists

On 9 July 2012, twenty-one journalists were recognized as the graduates of the “Law School for Journalists” supported through a grant from the USAID’s Alba-nian Justice Sector Strengthening Project (JuST) to the Albanian Institute for In-ternational Studies (AIIS).     Progamme participants come from Tirana, Korça, Gjirokastra, Elbasan and Shkodra, and work in local and national media, print and broadcast, such as: Top-Channel, Vizion Plus, ABC News, News24, TVSH, +2Radio, Shqip Newspaper, Standard, Shekulli Newspaper, Mapo Newspaper, Panorama Newspaper, TV Ora Gjioro-kastra, Gazeta Shqiptare, ATSH Shko-dra, TiranaTimes, ATSH Korça, Alba-nian Screen, among others.  More than one-third of the graduates of the program are women.

The Law School for Journalists  con-

ducted  ten training sessions between May 4 and July 6, 2012.  It included sub-jects related to the justice system, from the basics, such as an introduction to the justice system, the principles of the Alba-nian procedural law, to more specific top-ics such as freedom of information and the right of privacy in trials, as well as case studies. The last session was a field trip to one of the courts in Tirana, where the participants were able to attend a court session and meet with lawyers and judges.

USAID Supports Continuing Legal Education Program in Albania

On 3 July 2012, legal education in Albania celebrates the successful com-pletion of year one of the first Continu-ing Legal Education program (CLE) for Lawyers and Assistant Lawyers. In a cer-emony organized at the National Cham-ber of Advocates (NCA), the Chairman Maksim Haxhia and the USAID Albania Mission representative Marc Ellingstad, recognized the lawyers and assistant law-yers that were able to take full advantage of the CLE program.  

Last year, on May 12, 2011, USAID and NCA signed a Memorandum of Un-derstanding to establish this program as an important step in training legal profes-sionals and bringing Albania in line with virtually all other European countries in the field of legal education.  The first year of the CLE program piloted in the

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Photo : USAID held a recognition ceremony for the completion of the first year of the Continuing Legal

Education Program for Albanian lawyers and assistant lawyers (Credit: USAID JuST)

regional chambers of advocates in Vlora and Durrës has included over 160 training sessions for a total of 12 credits. Classes by well-known Albanian professors have covered 12 legal subjects including civil, criminal and commercial law, ethics, legal writing and reasoning. Over 320 lawyers and assistant lawyers have attended these classes, a number which constitutes over 70% of all the lawyers and assistants reg-istered in the Vlora and Durrës chambers.

Meeting with Albanian participants in the International Training Programme

On 08 June 2012, Patrik Svensson, Chargé d’Affaires, and Britta Olofsson, Counsellor and Head of Development Cooperation, at the Embassy of Sweden in Tirana hosted a meeting with the partici-pants in the International Training Pro-gramme of 2010 and 2011. The partici-pants from Albania had participated in a three-four phase training programmes in different areas, such as EU Local Environ-mental Management in Urban Areas, EU Strategies for Chemicals Management, In-tegrated Water Resources Management, EU Environmental Governance and Man-agement, which were held in Sweden and in other countries. The meeting was orga-nized to exchange views with the partic-ipants, to have their feedback, their sug-gestions on the training programmes they had, as to better contribute to the future Training Programmes.

Chargé d’Affaires, Mr. Svensson, made a short presentation of the Swedish con-tribution to Albania focusing mainly on the International Training Programme of-fered by Sweden, saying that the training the Albanian participants had, had hope-fully better qualified them to contribute to institutional strengthening and to run processes of change in Albania, which are really important for Albania, especially in relation to the EU integration process.

The participants were provided with Training Feedback questionnaires, the re-sults of which showed a very high apprais-al of their respective training programmes, meeting their expectations and very use-ful to their work. Unfortunately not all of them had managed to implement the in-dividual or group project, which is an im-portant part of the training programme. Some suggestions were made, including

more hands-on training, longer study vis-its, more lab work. They also mentioned that these training programmes have en-abled a good network with their counter-parts in other countries.

This meeting has initiated annual meet-ings with the International Training Pro-gramme participants.

OSCE Presence in Albania donates computers, trains staff of Justice Ministry’s prison service

On 20 July 2012, the OSCE Presence in Albania donated today several computers to the Albanian Justice Ministry’s Internal Control Service of Prisons (ICSP) as part of an OSCE project which also includes assistance with amending internal regula-tions, training staff and implementing an electronic monitoring project. The dona-tion ceremony was attended by the Head of the OSCE Presence, Ambassador Eu-gen Wollfarth, Albanian Justice Minister Eduard Halimi and ICSP Director Denion Meidani. “Through today’s donation and staff training that will follow, the OSCE Presence seeks to make a tangible contri-bution to the work of the Internal Control Service of Prisons,” Wollfarth said. “We pledge to continue our close co-operation and srong partnership with the Justice Ministry and support it in its key judicial and legal reform initiatives.”

Following the ceremony, Wollfarth and Halimi visited the facilities of the ICSP and discussed current and future co-oper-

ation, based on the mandate of the Pres-ence, on judicial and legal reform. The OSCE Presence’s assistance in these fields will be delivered in close co-operation with the Justice Ministry and internation-al partners.

Coaching for Employment Creates New Opportunities for Disadvantaged Groups

Swiss Cooperation’s AlbVET pro-gramme organised a promotional event on 12 July 2012, to celebrate the closure of its successful Coaching for Employment project and to showcase its work towards improving the employment potential for vulnerable and disadvantaged sections of Albanian society. Important guests at the event included Swiss Ambassador, Yvana Enzler, the Deputy Mayor of Elbasan, as well as representatives from the Swiss Co-operation Office, the National Employ-ment Service, University of Elbasan, lo-cal business representatives, etc. “I remain confident that the groups of coaches who received training designed and implement-ed with the technical support of the Uni-versity of Lucerne, will be well equipped to better serve to special need groups con-cerning their insertion into the labor mar-ket”, said Swiss Ambassador, Yvana En-zler during her speech.

Both the coaches trained and the benefi-ciaries who participated in the course shared their experience and told their success sto-ries in finding new employment. More than 80 individuals from disadvantaged groups

Photo: Launching of Nutrition Communication Activities on 18 July 2012

‘Tomadhea’ employees collecting Monarda plants at harvest time

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including Roma communities were coached for a period of nearly 20 months in improv-ing their skills for entering the labour mar-ket. The event also marked the beginning of another phase of coaching for employment which will last for 2 years and target similar disadvantaged groups.

Launching of Nutrition Communication Activities on 18 July 2012

On 18 July 2012, as part of the Pro-gramme “Reduction of Malnutrition in Albanian Children”, the Ministry of Health launched new interventions in support of the awareness campaign for new and better ways for infant and young child feeding in Albania. The pro-gramme is implemented by the Alba-nian Government, jointly supported by UNICEF, WHO and FAO and funded by the Spanish Fund for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The campaign aims to improve and sus-tain good practices for infant and young child feeding (IYCF) within communities, supported by better counselling skills of health personnel.

In addition to new TV and radio spots on breastfeeding and complementary feeding, an innovative way to encourage mothers and other caregivers to get more information on good infant and young child nutrition was the launching of the competition “10 mothers of the year”. As part of the campaign, Mrs. Roza Anag-nosti, a well-known artist, made herself available as a “super grandmother” and champion and advocate for improved in-fant and young child feeding practices.

Partnering with local governments and communities to establish baby friendly communities

From 6 to 11 August 2012, the Ministry of Health, the Institute of Public Health, the Regional Public Health department in Durres, the Albanian IBFAN, all with the support of the UNICEF Tirana, cel-ebrated the annual Breastfeeding Week with the theme “Understanding the past, planning the future – Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Global Strategy of In-fant and Young Child Feeding”. Notable

achievements have been made in Alba-nia. The rates of exclusive breastfeeding have increased from 6 per cent in 1999, to 39 per cent in 2009. However, chal-lenges remain regarding the implementa-tion and monitoring of the law on market-ing of breast milk substitutes, increasing the number of maternity hospitals that implement the necessary steps to success-ful breastfeeding as part of their service standards, and further increasing exclu-sive breastfeeding rates.

The activities in Durres focused on: Es-tablishing a supportive environment for breastfeeding in health facilities; Encour-aging communities to establish mother-to-mother support groups for counsellingon breastfeeding; Ensuring engagement of

the local government in expansion of the Baby Friendly Initiative from the health fa-cilities to the community – establishment of Baby Friendly Communities

Increased community participation, es-pecially through the mother-to-mother support groups and involvement of lo-cal authorities is considered important to change the political and social norms that will create more friendly communities to infants, ensuring optimal growth and de-velopment. At the end of week-ling activi-ties, three communities were certified as Baby Friendly and agreements were signed between local governments, regional Pub-lic Health Department in Durres and UNICEF to further support improved in-fant and young childnutrition.

‘Tomadhea’ employees collecting Monarda plants at harvest time

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EU funds bring the Bank of Albania closer to the National Banks of EU Member States

The 1 million Euro twinning between the Bank of Albania, and the nation-al banks of Italy and France was com-pleted on 17 July 2012. Over the past 20 months, the twinning has improved the working practices of the Bank of Albania in line with the practices of the European System of Central Banks. Concretely, ex-

perts from Banca d’Italia and Banque de France have worked side by side with the Albanian counterparts, and members of staff of the Bank of Albania have received trainings to assist the country’s economic integration with the Union.

During the launch ceremony, the Head of the European Union Delegation to Al-bania, Ambassador Ettore Sequi noted the importance of a reputation of trust and reliability of central banks for the econ-omy. On the one hand, he said, that re-quires a commitment to independence and

on the other it requires “trust in the pol-icies and actions of a central bank relies on the technical capacities of that bank, the skills of its workforce, the operation-al tools at its disposal”. He recalled that “Central banks try to do the best analysis they can and must be prepared to stand or fall by the quality of that analysis - that is what we have helped with through this twinning. We have enhanced the capacity of the Bank of Albania to deal with data, to analyse risks so that it may be better equipped to react effectively”.

SUCCESS STORyAlbanian organic products closer to niche EU market

Although Albania has a rich variety of wild plants, medicinal herbs and forest products due to the many mountains and hills, their use has been limited for commercial purposes. That is, only until recently, because com-panies such as ‘Tomadhea’ have succeeded in generating income and em-ployment from production and trading of such products. Agim Pudja, the company’s owner, started this business in 1998 after noticing the value and potential of various plants and herbs he came to contact with during his work as agronomist.

The company had 7 full-time employees and nearly 76 seasonal workers in 2011, most of them women living in poor remote areas of the country. In 2005 it was one of very first Albanian companies to be certified by Bio Su-isse, the federation of Swiss organic farmers.

In addition to collecting plants and herbs that grow naturally ‘Tomadhea’ started also the cultivation of several other products. One of the most inter-esting was Monarda, a highly valuable plant used in cosmetics and food industries. Previously other bigger exporters had tried to produce and mar-ket this plant but had failed. The odds seemed against Agim Pudja as Mo-narda poses unique technical cultivation and production difficulties while a market and buyers still had to be found. He did not back off: he was aware of the high potential this plant has due to its niche market. “I had no doubt in my mind that we would succeed”, states Agim looking back at that time.

Starting in 2007, an initial surface area of 0.1 ha was cultivated as a pilot phase. He went to Switzerland to look at equipment and technology and re-alized that the key to success was to produce seedling locally as importing them would increase costs immensely.

The breakthrough came when the Swiss Cooperation’s project on sus-tainable agriculture provided technical assistance and funding to ‘Tomad-hea’. Out of a necessary 13,000 Euro investment, the project provided 5,700 Euro, plus procurement, capacity building and packaging assistance. This enabled the company to purchase a new drying machine, improve working conditions for women employees, expand its production, improve its pack-aging and become more reliable for foreign buyers. “Swiss support was a comprehensive package”, says Agim. “It included workforce training, tech-nical know-how, packaging skills, and market exposure”.

The investment also made possible expansion into other valuable or-ganic products including Edelweiss and Sambucus. Further trust was built with foreign buyers and three new contracts were signed during the Biofach fair in 2011. As a result of increased production volumes and increased sales, the workforce benefited a 30% increase in their income levels and the number of seasonal employees grew to 100. On the marketing side, 8 additional buyers expressed interest in working with ‘Tomadhea’. There is also the ecological benefit: organically cultivated areas have increased and that is good news for the eco-system.

For Agim Pudja the main future challenge lies in him being able to meet increased market demands without compromising the high quality that made him successful in the first place. He already has plans to introduce Saffron and expand wild mushroom supplies.

“The support we got from the Swiss Cooperation’s project was decisive for our business. It

enabled us to develop our workforce, technology and marketing.”

Agim PudjA

The Swiss Cooperation Office supports Albania in its efforts towards European integration by contributing to the improvement of governance and rule of law and to the competitiveness of economy. Strengthening rural economy has been an important contribution that has aimed at increasing employment, improving living conditions and introducing organic agriculture.

Summer | 18

World Bank

Programmatic Governance and Growth development Policy loan (PDPL), Pre-Appraisal Mission took place from 25 to 29 June 2012. The main purpose of the mission was to re-view the mid-year budget review. The mission will also take stock on progress in implementation of the GAC DPL pol-icy matrix.

albania Education Excellence and Equity Project (Credit No. 4180-ALB), Implementation Support Mission, took place from 12 to 20 June 2012. The aim of the visit was to review the over-all project implementation progress and bottlenecks. A focus of this review will be on the current and projected impact of the current debt ceiling in project im-plementation in 2012 and 2013. Our team is also planning on visiting schools throughout the country to have a sense of the Project’s impact at the school lev-el, as well as to oversee compliance with environmental safeguards.

Water resources and Irrigation Proj-ect, Pre-appraisal Mission, took place from 13 to 29 June 2012. The proposed project aims to improve the quality of water services delivery through the re-habilitation of reservoirs and irriga-tion and drainage facilities (component 1); support for irrigation and drainage service provision in project areas (com-ponent 2); and strengthening of institu-tions responsible for Integrated Water Resources Management (component 3). The objective of the mission was to evaluate the financial, economic, insti-tutional, technical, environmental, and social aspects of the proposed project to meet its stated objectives. The mission were focused in particular on the fol-lowings: (i) review the proposed invest-ment sub-projects in dam and irrigation system rehabilitation; (ii) complete the economic and financial analysis and prepare detailed cost estimates; (iii) re-

view safeguard instruments including dam safety, environmental impact as-sessment and resettlement; (iv) finalize project implementation arrangements and finalize the magnitude and mecha-nism for stakeholder contributions; (v) finalize the results framework and ar-rangements for monitoring and evalua-tion; (vi) prepare the draft Operation-al Manual and agree on TORs for key assignments; (vii) finalize the needs for technical assistance for implementa-tion of the project; and (viii) agree on the next steps and timeline required to complete appraisal and negotiations of the project.

albania Improved natural resourc-es Management, Implementation Sup-port Mission, took place from 11 to 15 June 2012 The overall objective of the mission is to assist the Project team and the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Water Administration (MoEFWA) with the starting up the activities of the Swedish Grant on Improved Natural Resources Management Project and to monitor the completion carbon seques-tration of activities, in preparation of the full periodic verification of the As-sisted Natural Regeneration Project, planned for July 2012 and follow-up

As of 1 January until 31 December 2012, the EU Delegation is the Chair of the Donor Technical Secretariat.

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In-countryMissions

on the implementation of the PROFOR Grant on Innovative Financing for Sus-tainable Natural Resources Manage-ment in Albania.

land administration and Manage-ment Project (LAMP, Implementation Support Mission for Component A, Security of Tenure and Registration of Immovable Property Rights, took place from 11 to 15 June 2012. Following the previous mission in March 2012, there was concern that the activities relating to First Registration were behind sched-ule and that there was little chance of meeting the targets for this activity un-der the project. There are also ongo-ing activities relating to development of the information system, approving the strategy for the protection of prop-erty rights and developing a business plan for the Immovable Property Reg-istration Office as they move towards a self-funding status. The team will be assessing the good progress of these ac-tivities, noted between the previous vis-it and the upcoming one, as well as the other activities being implemented un-der the project, to ensure that the proj-ect objectives and targets can still be re-alized during the remaining time frame of the project.