Newsletter - Jannuary-March 2016

Newsletter

Dldp aims through this newsletter to share to the readers the main achievements of each quarter as well as the main activities planned for the next quarter.

This format further enriches the ways of transmitting information through our website www.dldp.al

CONTENT 1 First dldp Steering Committee for 2016 2 Projects supported by the DLDP Grant Fund 3

3

Dldp continues its support on the new Law of Local Finances Territorial Strategies development

Integrated One Stop 4 Shops, a success story!

4 Main activities dldp organized among first quarter 2016

V-th EDITION JANNUARY - MARCH 2016

First dldp Steering Committee for 2016 dldp will future contribute in the consolidation phase of Municipalities through the grant fund scheme and insure the sustainability of the results Dldp Steering Committee meeting, as one of the highest cooperation and management structure of dldp programme organized on January 13th, 2016, the 1st meeting for 2016.

Participants in this meeting were representatives from Swiss Embassy, national government, other programs and partner municipalities.

Meeting was co-chaired by Swiss Ambassador Mr. Christoph Graf and the representative from Prime Minister’s Office, Mrs. Lorena Goxhobelli. Minister for Innovation and Public Administration, Mrs. Milena Harito, Deputy Minister of Environment, Mrs. Olijana Ifti also attended the meeting.

In the opening speech the Swiss Ambassador stressed out that the cooperation of Municipalities and central institutions with dldp is very much appreciated, because the role of dldp has been very active in the context of a number of reforms going on during this period in Albania. Dldp has supported LGUs in 5 Qarks in the north of Albania as well as line ministries and national institutions, serving as an exchange platform between local and national level.

The work of dldp was appreciated also from the Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister, Mrs. Lorena Goxhobelli who encouraged dldp to continue its work with local level, in supporting them to consolidate after the implementation of Territorial and Administrative Reform.

Mrs. Milena Harito, Minister for Innovation and Public Administration, congratulated dldp work, especially in two main directions: For a very good cooperation with ASPA for building capacities for local gover nments; and for a good understanding towards engagement in public services for citizens, where a common approach is expected.

The role of dldp in influencing the national level and the reforms undertaken by the Government of Albania (GoA) was pointed out from Mrs. Oriana Arapi Head of Strategic Planning Unit at the Department of Development Planning, Financing and Foreign Aid. Role of local level in regional development is seen as very important by GoA. The contribution of dldp in Regional development is considered as very important and the program is invited to be active in this area. Mrs. Valbona Karakaçi, dldp Programme Manager, presented the main changes in the program documents, which are results of the Medium Term Review Process (MTR), undertook by SDC in December 2015. MTR considered the achievements of dldp in the first two years and laid out the necessary revisions to be made to the main documents of the programs.

The main discussions during the meeting

were opened by Mr. Enea Hoti, Counselor to the Minister of State for Local Issues who stated that dldp has opened the way towards facing the challenges of the important reforms undertaken by GoA. Concerning the services to citizens there should be evident a dual approach: administrative services and utility services.

There are three models of Integrated One Stop Shops prepared but still remains the challenge of consolidation of public services. Special congratulation was given from him for the contribution foreseen for the process of drafting of the Law on Local Finances as well as the review of the fiscal package.

Mr. Fran Brahimi, from the Ministry of Finance, appreciated the collaboration with dldp. GoA will very soon start the drafting of the law on local finances, so we are just in time for a comprehensive discussion of the financing schemes for local level. With dldp we have established a good cooperation in the frame of drafting annual and mediumterm budgets of LGUs. The organic law of the budget will be approved within the first quarter.

Mrs. Olijana Ifti from ME thanked the program for its support and collaboration.

Waste sector is very important and dldp is quite relevant in this frame. The program and the ministry have agreed on issues like training and capacity building, and will cooperate in terms of legal initiatives. We would appreciate the orientation of the program towards the building of landfills or closing of dumpsites.

Mrs. Voltana Ademi from Municipality of Shkodër has worked for a long term with the program and benefitted a lot from it.

She emphasized as very important to assure the owning by LGU and practitioners of the various instruments developed by dldp. It is also very important to assure an integration of such instruments with those instruments established by the national level and the donors. It might be advisable to not stress the importance of a single standard or instrument in the territory, but instead create the proper ground for integration of such instruments and standards, based on the legal frame.

Mrs. Aida Martiro from the Ministry of Urban Development (MUD) appreciated

the good cooperation with dldp in the waste sector. MUD has created a digital map of disposal sites, and it is imperative that local level is very well acknowledged with this tool.

Valbona Karakaçi took the floor and addressed some of the comments made during discussions, such as: The dldp programme will be engaged in 2016 in the monitoring of new functions; dldp acknowledge that the country is in an intermediary phase, especially from the institutional point of view. This has made the programme to be cautious with the definition of standards without having clearness of local finances. Standards can be established and we are well advanced as concerns the administrative services, where costing is possible. Dldp has also adopted the approach with administrative services and community services.

Mrs. Deborah Kern also stressed that the comments by participants shown that there is established a good cooperation with dldp.

SDC has already approved the grant scheme for projects which have been selected through a participatory process (citizens and technicians) in the frame of Functional Area Program (FAP). As per the issue raised in respect to the dldp’s involvement with standards we will encourage the review of dldp’s logframe as to better accommodate such issue.

SC meeting was closed by approving dldp’s Report on achievements until December 2015 as well as the Yearly Plan of Operations for 2016.

As closing remarks Mr. Graf laid out that all members come to a common agreement that dldp will future contribute in the consolidation phase of Municipalities through the grant fund scheme and support; ensure sustainability of results is very important and achievements of dldp; Further development and deepening of the good practices in the frame of decentralization strategy implementation; Increased dialogue at the national level, referring mainly to local financing and regional development.

There should be a mainstreaming of an excellent partnership spirit and a participatory approach of the program in the intervention strategies in the future.

Projects supported by the DLDP Grant Fund In the framework of cooperation with DLDP partner units, during the first tremester of this year 7 agreements have been signed on the financing of projects deemed as priority from DLDP partner municipalities.

In summary, the co-financed projects from the DLDP through the Grant Fund and Municipality budget are: 1. Name of project: “Strengthening of the waste management system in Peshkopi Municipality”, Dibër Qark.

2. Name of project: “Reconstruction of the bridge connecting Jubë and Rrushkull villages” in Durrës Municipality, Durrës Qark.

Location: Peshkopia city, administrative units Maqellarë, Melan and Tomin, as well as covering areas of touristic significance such as Muhurr, Arras, Kastriot and Kala e Dodës.

Location: Unit Katundi i Ri, Jubë village, with Unit Sukth, Rrushkull village.

Aim of investment: The project will contribute to the improvement and quality increase of public services offering, turning Dibra in a clean and healthy place.

Direct beneficiaries of the project: Area inhabitants (about 80 % of Dibra inhabitants and 78 % of households will benefit).

Businesses (1.344 businesses, out of which 1.018 in the Peshkopi Municipality).

Institutions (50 such, including institutions of the line ministries, health centers, LGUs, etc., with about 3249 employees and 44 schools).

Budget of the project: 25.000 € Peshkopi Municipality; 100.000 € DLDP

3. Name of project: “One Stop Shop in Klos Municipality”, Dibër Qark.

Location: Klos city and 4 its administrative units: Klos, Suc, Gure, and Xibër.

Aim of investment: The main aim of the project is to contribute to the improvement of the services' quality of citizens and the best communication between local government and citizens.

Direct beneficiaries of the project: 20,208 Klos inhabitants and especially 10,380 inhabitants of the rural area of this unit.

236 registered businesses and over 340 other informal businesses that would enable the application for licenses and permissions.

Budget of the project: 25,000 € Klos Municipality; 100,000 € DLDP

Aim of investment: The project will contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of Jubë and Rrushkull village inhabitants. This will be made possible by linking the seaside line in all its length, in the Northern part of Durrës municipality and further, as well as by developing infrastructure in this seaside line with touristic and agricultural features.

Direct beneficiaries of the project: 18,000 inhabitants of Jubë and Rrushkull villages.

Businesses and farmers of these villages.

Vulnerable groups such as women, children, elders, who use the bridge.

Budget of the project: 37.500 € Durrës Municipality; 150.000 € DLDP

4. Name of project: “Reconstruction of the Social Center in Kukës”, Kukës Qark.

Location: Kukës city, near the city center.

Aim of investment: Improvement of the quality of life of vulnerable groups in the territory of Kukës Municipality by offering a qualitative service with high standards through visible improvment of the social center and infrastructure.

Direct beneficiaries of the project: Children and youngsters with disabilities.

Women victims of violence and trafficking.

Alone and abandoned elders.

Budget of the project: 25,000 € Kukës Municipality; 100,000 € DLDP

5. Name of project: “ One Stop Shop in Mat Municipality”, Dibër Qark

6. Name of project: “Urban requalification of Bajram Curri city center and construction of the artisan crafts market” in Tropoja Municipality, Kukës Qark.

Location: Mat Municipality and 7 its administrative units: Lis, Bazë, Ulës, Rukaj, Derjan, Komsi, and Macukull.

Location: “28 Gushti” District, Bajram Curri, Tropoja Municipality.

Aim of investment: The main aim of the project is to contribute to the improvement of the services' quality of citizens and the best communication between local government and citizens.

Aim of investment: The project will contribute to the improvement and increase of the quality of public services and physical and social infrastructure in all the territory of Tropoja Municipality.

Direct beneficiaries of the project: 38,463 Mat inhabitants and especially 22,380 inhabitants of the rural area of this unit will directly benefit from this project because will receive timely online services.

896 registered businesses and over 640 other informal businesses that would enable the application for licenses and permissions.

Direct beneficiaries of the project: 1,980 inhabitants of “28 Gushti” District, or 473 households of Bajram Curri city (or more than 25% of the whole city) About 450 housewives, 300 children and youngsters (up to 18 years old), 143 elderly.

320 producers and sellers of artisan products from the city and from Tropoja administrative unit.

Budget of the project: 25,000 € Mat Municipality; 100,000 € DLDP Budget of the project: 25.000 € Tropoja Municipality; 100.000 € DLDP

7. Name of project: “ One Stop Shop in Vau Dejës Municipality”, Shkodër Municipality, Shkodër Qark.

Location: Vau Dejës Municipality and 6 its administrative units: Vau Dejës, Bushat, Vig-Mnelë, Hajmel, Temal, and Shllak.

Aim of investment: The main aim of the project is to contribute to the improvement of the services' quality of citizens and the best communication between local government and citizens.

Direct beneficiaries of the project: 48,966 inhabitants of Vau i Dejës (according to the civil register), because they will receive timely online services.

640 registered businesses and over 340 other informal businesses that would enable the application for licenses and permissions.

Budget of the project: 91,800 € Vau Dejës Municipality; 73,900 € DLDP

Dldp continues its support on the new Law of Local Finances With the beginning of New Year 2016 dldp has been preparing its internal reflection for positioning strategically the programme at local and national level based on the recent legal changes as well as the updated demands at local level.

For this reason a mission of Stefan Pfaeffli, dldp international back stopper in Public Finance Management from University of Luzern, Switzerland, was held during January 2016.

Main goal of the mission was to support and to revalidate dldp entry points at local and national level due to landscape changes in order to assure sustainability of dldp results and identify new entry points or/and strengthen existing ones.

During the mission several meetings were held with different local and national actors involved in PFM processes. Meeting were organized with dldp service providers in order to discuss different products that are in process of elaboration and to give them inputs from international good practices applicable in the Albanian context. Two workshops were held to discuss on the new law on local finances and function allocation with the participation of experts from Ministry of Finance, Minister of State for Local Issues, other line ministries, donor organizations and programs, and other local and national actors involved in the PFM. During the mission it was made possible to participate in the international workshop on “Best Practices in Local Government Finance Legislation: the SEE Experience and the Challenges Facing Albania” organized from NALAS and PLGP/USAID, that brought together Albanian elected officials, policy makers, and association representatives with their counterparts from select other countries in the region including Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. At this workshop, municipal finance experts from select member-associations of NALAS discussed with their Albanian peers the strengths and weakness of their local government finance laws. The workshop provided Albanian national and local government officials with in-depth comparative knowledge about how key municipal finance issues are regulated in other countries, as well as with information about what solutions seems to have worked best. The workshop helped the Ministries of Finance and Local Government begin drafting Albania’s new legislation by providing them with detailed, comparative information about the structure and content of local government finance laws. Dldp results of the previous workshops on law of local finances and function allocation were introduced during the panels of this two days’ workshop.

Territorial Strategies development During 2015, dldp has developed Functional Area Programs for 9 municipalities, identifying as well a list of projects for enhancing economic development, service optimization and organizational set-up.

Municipalities reshaped after territorial and administrative reform had to start a strategic planning process referring to a new, bigger territory.

Government of Albania initiated a process of preparing the General Local Plans, intending to support local governments through national and international expertise. Such process goes through a two-step approach, which intended firstly to address a “fast track” groups of municipalities composed of 26 municipalities and afterwards continues with a second “slow track” group of municipalities. Partner municipalities of dldp which already had the Functional Area Program Document fall under both groups. Thus dldp started since 2015 a process for transforming FAP documents into Territorial Strategies for 5 Municipalities part of the “fast track” group. The process has been wellcoordinated with the Ministry for Urban development and the National Territorial Planning Agency (NTPA). Documents of the Territorial Strategies for municipalities of Durrës, Shijak, Dibër, Kukës and Lezhë have been finalized during January and February 2015.

Dldp assisted these municipalities also in their public consultations of the Territorial Strategies. In all these five municipalities during the public consultations were involved the experts of the municipalities, experts from de-concentrated agencies and other institutions, associations of producers, members of civil society organizations, citizens and independent experts of the respective areas. Elaborated Territorial Strategies have been handed over to each municipality from NTPA for further use in the process of preparation of the General Local Plans.

The same approach will be used by dldp with the other 4 municipalities which belong to the “slow track” group. Dldp will support preparation of Territorial Strategies for municipalities of Malësi e Madhe, Tropojë, Klos and Mat. Territorial Strategies Documents will be further elaborated by dldp trying to link them with the budgeting process. Considering that Territorial Strategies serve as an instrument of strategic planning, provide for a range of interventions which need financial means in order to be implemented. Dldp has continuously supported partner municipalities in the budgeting process, by providing assistance in development of various budget components, fiscal packages, communication platforms for public participation, as well as common platforms with Ministry of Finance for a better understanding of the regulatory frame. In this regard, the intervention of dldp is completed by linking the content of the Territorial Strategies with the financial component and assuring the feasibility and the implementation of the vision and objectives of the municipalities. The financial component extended in a three to four years planning, through the preparation of Medium Term Budgets, assures the sustainability of the interventions as well as the transparency and accountability of the municipalities towards their citizens.

The process will start in April for the 9 municipalities, where 5 from 9 already have developed the Territorial Strategy Document, while for the other 4 municipalities the process will start in parallel, with the preparation of the Territorial Strategy.

CoE, PLGP/USAID, STAR/UNDP

Integrated One Stop Shops, a success story!

Main activities dldp organized among first quarter 2016

Representatives of the government and the international community get briefed on positive practices and the strategic vision of Shkodra Municipality on the consolidation of the territorial reform.

14 January 2016: Presentation of the Draft of the Territorial Strategy.

15 January 2016: Meeting with the Ministry of Finance and 61 municipalities on drafting the local budget for 2016.

On the initiative of the State Minister for Local Affairs and with the presence of the Swiss Ambassador in Albania, Mr Christoph Graf, the donor's group composed of representatives of SDC, USAID, UNDP, PLGP, Cooperation Office of Italy and Cooperation Office for Development of Sweden, conducted the first informative visit for the presentation of the Model and Integrated OneStop Shop System (municipality-administrative unit) in Shkodra Municipality. This model is one of the main success stories of the local government after the implementation of the territorial reform.

The administrative services in Shkodra Municipality are offered through the system of One-Stop Shops (OSSH), where citizens can deposit their requests in the relevant spots set up in this municipality, to currently receive 74 different services. The model was made possible with the support of dldp, financed by the Swiss Government, and has been piloted since December 2015 in the city of Shkodra and Dajç and Velipojë administrative units, to be then implemented in all administrative units of Shkodra Municipality.

This instrument serves directly in the territorial consolidation of new municipalities, as well as toward their development. For this reason, representatives of the Albanian Government and of the international community were interested to closely monitor how these offices offering services operate, which are developed from three local governance programs: Decentralization and Local Development Program (dldp), UNDP STAR program, and USAID PLGP program. The dldp-supported model was closely observed in Shkodra Municipality, where the integrated system of one stop shops is operative.

The visit of the delegation started with a trip to Dajç administrative unit, where the functioning of the OSSH was demonstrated by the employees, as well as the offering of the 74 services to Dajç inhabitants, and the direct demonstration of offering a service.

Then the delegation continued its visit to Shkodra Municipality, where the Mayor, Mrs Voltana Ademi, presented the benefits and results achieved since the implementation of the pilot-system, stressing the increase of citizens' satisfaction in receiving services and the commitment to extend the service all over the municipality within a short time-frame.

05 February 2016: Women in Politics Network selected 5 Councilors to attend the Academy for Political Studies of CoE supported by dldp.

11 February 2016: Dldp internal workshop to draft the Communication Strategy for 2016.

12 February 2016: The Swiss Ambassador visited AU of Sukth in the Qark of Durres, attended the public hearing of Territorial Strategy for 2015-2030 for Durres Municipality and met the Women in Politics Network with Councilors and Member of Parliament of Durres Qark.

16 February 2016: SDC Albania visited Dldp programme and participated in discussions on local budget planning for 2016 with Shkodra Municipality experts.

17 February 2016: Dldp co-organized the public hearing for the Territorial Strategy in Peshkopia Municipality.

18 February 2016: The Working Group started the consultations on drafting the integrated plan on solid waste in Municipalities of Lezha, Shijak, Shkoder, Puke, Diber.

19 February 2016: Dldp co-organized the public hearing for the Territorial Strategy 2015-2030 in Shijak Municipality.

23 February 2016: Dldp co-organized the public hearing for the Territorial Strategy 2015-2030 in Lezha Municipality.

26 February 2016: Dldp co-organized the public hearing for the Territorial Strategy 2015-2030 in Kukes Municipality.

26 February 2016: Dldp organized a two-days’ workshop with Women in Politics Network with the Municipality Councilors of Lezha Qark on ”The role of women councilors in local governance and gender budgeting” 29 February 2016: Dldp Programme Manager participated in the conference on “Collaborative Governance for Inclusive Urban Development in South-East Europe” organized in Austria. Mrs. Karakaçi raised issues on economic development and democracy in local level advocating for a better law in local governance. The new Mayor of Shkodra Municipality, Mrs. V. Ademi shared the experience in partnership with dldp on service management and its impact in local autonomy.

02 March 2016: Dldp working group meeting on Management Cycle of Local Finance in order to contribute in the new draft Law for Local Finances.

07 March 2016: Meeting with local businesses in Velipoja administrative unit for drafting the Urban Waste Management Plan.

10 March 2016: Dldp participated and contributed in SDC Network for Decentralization and Local Development training course focused in issues of local finances and organized in Brighton, England.

17 March 2016: Dldp co-organized the meeting with national and international community for the presentation of the Territorial Strategy 2015-2030 in Kukes Municipality.

25 March 2016: Meeting held in Malesia e Madhe Municipality for drafting the Urban Waste Management Plan.