Newsletter no. 8

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

National Competition of Best Local Practices 2016

2 DLDP Center of Competence on urban waste sector - study visit in Slovenia

2 Training for Module III on

Urban Waste Management: Model of calculating cost and tariffs

3 Ensuring that the reforms achieve improved governance and development in Albania

4 Dldp Coordination Committee meeting in Malësia e Madhe

VIII-th edition OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2016

National Competition of Best Local Practices 2016

Seven municipalities win awards for Best Practices in implementing decentralization and the Territorial Administrative Reform.

After the implementation of the Territorial Administrative Reform, the 61 municipalities of the country have more competencies, territories, and populations, as well as having more opportunities and challenges in the economic and social sectors and in offering services to citizens.

The Swiss program dldp since a decade is working with units of local government in the north of Albania, supporting the raising of capacities of LGUs and financing local projects. Dldp has also supported a series of national reforms and policies and legal frameworks that impact local governance. In November, in cooperation with the State Ministry on Local Affairs, dldp carried out the National Competition of Best Local Practices for 2016 with the aim to highlight the efforts of the municipalities to respond to challenges stemming from the implementation of the reforms, and to reward some of the best initiatives from these municipalities in regional scale.

46 municipalities participated in this competition, which presented their best practices, and 4 awards were given to: Region 1 - Shkodër Municipality with the project “Integrated One Stop Offices”; Region 2 – Tirana Municipality with the project “My Tirana”; Region 3 – Skrapar Municipality with the project “Development of tourism and area promotion”; Region 4 – Fier Municipality with the project “Establishing of a day-care centre for handicapped children and youth”.

The National Competition of

Best Local Practices for 2016 closed on December 14th in a special ceremony held in Hotel Sheraton in Tirana, where the 4 winners were announced, whose best practices included improved tourism services, one stop shops, centres for handicapped persons, as well as information and communication for citizens.

Three awards of 10,000 Swiss Francs each were given to Roskovec, Vau i Dejës, Tiranë and Lezhë for initiatives evaluated in national level, while four awards of 5,000 Swiss Francs each were won by Shkodër, Tiranë, Skrapar and Fier municipalities, chosen as having the best practices in regional level.

“With your participation in this competition you have shown ambition and drive to present examples from you work and efforts”, Mr. Christoph Graf, the Swiss Ambassador, told to the mayors and municipal staffs through a video-message. He congratulated Minister Çuçi for the work done on the reform and especially for the willingness to monitor the process through third parties. “Continue to improve local governance – it is the backbone of democracy”, concluded his message Mr Graf.

In his remarks, the State Minister for Local Affairs, Mr Bledi Çuçi, underlined: “The best practices that municipalities have carried out only 1 year after the large reforms we have undertaken, decentralization and territorial reform clearly show the reaching of the objective to have municipalities that function many times better than their predecessors and that are able to make great changes in the life of citizens. I am convinced that each of the 61 new municipalities has brought great changes in their communities, though we have promoted only 7 of them today.

The success of these 7 municipalities is firstly the success of new staffs and mayors that receive our maximal praise and well-wishing for them to be inspiring to other municipalities”.

In this activity it was presented the report of decentralization process monitoring – a work done by the dldp. The report shows the course of decentralization and describes the level of achievements and challenges the new municipalities are currently facing.

DLDP Center of Competence on urban waste sector - study visit in Slovenia During October 24-26th, 2016, the Decentralization and Local Development Program (DLDP) organized a study visit in Slovenia. The main focus of this visit was the urban waste management.

DLDP choose Slovenia as an EU-member regional country with a very high quality of providing public services that also has positive practices in setting up public enterprises, high degree of waste recycling and service financing.

Participants in this study visit were members of the dldp Center of Competence in the urban waste sector. Centers of Competences are platforms where local experts share and exchange experience, knowledge and achievements, increasing their technical and managerial capacities. Part of the delegation were also representatives from the municipalities of Berat Qark, where the Swiss Government, through SECO, will finance a large project on urban waste management, representatives from Rrogozhinë, Peqin and Himarë municipalities, where GIZ has initiated a project on urban waste management, representatives from Environment Ministry and State Minister on Local Affairs, as well as from the Prime Minister Office, the Coordinator on Environment issues. The objectives of this visit, except exposing the members of the Center of Competence with best models and practices in our region, were also strengthening the capacities and networking of local experts, increase of exchanges local government – national government, and also enriching the

planning process - started in dldp partner municipalities - with findings and teachings from the most advanced experiences and practices.

During the three days of the visit, participants got to know the legislation on waste in Slovenia, sharing of competencies between municipalities and companies offering the service, financing of the service or objectives to increase the recycling degree up to “Zero waste!”. From the look of it, it was clear that Slovenian municipalities have been well-funded in the recent 10 - 15 years. This was not due to some direct input from outside, but from a very clear vision of the political establishment of the unit and a high degree of awareness of the employees in these units.

The visit in RCERO plant, in Ljubljana, left a good impression on the visiting team. Put to service in 2015 after a huge 120 million euro investment, the state-of-the-art plant besides treating waste produces bio-gas and green energy.

Of great interest for the delegation were the meetings held with representatives of Slovenska Bistrica municipality, which has problems, possibilities and infrastructures similar with the typical unit in Albania. The mayor, Dr. Ivan Žagar, and the director of the communal enterprise (the company for managing urban waste, water utility, greenery, public lightning and road maintenance), Mr. Blaž Gregorič, presented their experience, on how a small municipality like theirs managed to advance immensely in the field of urban waste

management. “Only 20 years ago we also faced the acute problems of waste management, as your country is facing now”- said Dr. Žagar. “We worked hard to implement IPA-funded EU projects and then other projects, in order to make possible the improvements in infrastructure and offering services.

“The citizens come first - this is our motto in offering the services”- adds Mr. Blaž Gregorič.

The next station in the visit of the Albanian delegation was Maribor city, the second city in Slovenia after the capital. Here, the director of municipal public services, Mr. Vili Eisenhut, presented the link of the municipality with the municipal enterprise, while Eng. Branko Kosi, from Snaga Maribor, presented besides the effects of the circular economy, the organization and vision of the company, as well as the project on constructing of a powerful plant for separating and processing waste.

The delegation from Albania closed its visit by having a very positive impression about the progress Slovenia has made in the sector of urban waste management. “Awareness, investments, management and transparency”- were the keywords accompanying Albanian experts during their visit in municipalities and municipal enterprises of Ljubljana, Slovenska Bistraca and Maribor.

Training for Module III on Urban Waste Management: Model of calculating cost and tariffs In the framework of the annual program on experts capacity raising in public administration on “Urban Waste Management”, dldp in cooperation with the Albanian School of Public Administration held a training on Module III on “Calculating Cost and Tariff” in Saranda on October 5-7th.

Being that the LGUs established after the implementation of the territorial reform have different levels of offering the service and different approaches on the way of covering the costs of the service, this module is very important and serves the municipal employees for getting to know the instrument for calculating costs and tariffs in the new LGUs. Module III of the Annual Program of Training on Urban Waste Management had as a primary objective the financing of the service and calculating costs and tariffs.

During the first day of the training, the dldp engaged experts presented these topics: - Management systems and budgeting models.

- Main elements of waste management costing as

well as the legal framework, principles of financing, costs items and their comprising elements.

- The model of cost calculation and exercises based on this model.

During presentations there were also open discussions from the participants as well as illustrations with similar cases from LGUs with experience in this field.

In the second day of the training, presentations were focused on: - Possibilities of going from cost coverage.

- Main elements of waste tariffing as well as the legal framework, principles on establishing the tariff, tariff’s items and comprising elements, finding data, costs and tariffs in the landfill illustrated with the case of Bajkaj landfill.

The findings from the work of different municipalities in financing the service and covering costs through tariffs or other resources caused a lively debate and discussion among participants and experts. The former had the possibility to test the model of cost and tariffs calculation and gave

examples on different cases from their work and experience in the municipalities they are working.

The training was closed with a visit in Bajkaj landfill, where the participants got to know another model of urban waste management. The management of Bajkaj landfill from a special enterprises depending from Qark’s Council, difficulties in covering the additional treatment costs regardless from the payment of dues from Saranda, Delvina, Finiq, and Himara municipalities, the process of treating water after processing waste, etc., were topics of interest for the people present in this training.

Ensuring that the reforms achieve improved governance and development in Albania Main latest achievements of dldp 3 Responding to urgent needs from local to national level Due to the implications of TAR and decentralization reforms dldp consolidated and disseminated the revised thematic packages on a national level through Albanian School of Public Administration (ASPA).

Dldp reviewed and updated the curricula on local waste planning and disseminated through national trainings organized through ASPA, in cooperation with line ministries.

38 experts are certified in national trainings

organised with ASPA, in cooperation with Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Urban Development, on SDPeMTBP and GLPs.

From technical staff to beneficiaries In 2016, the previously developed Functional Area Program was fully mainstreamed into 5 general local plans (GLPs) that are supported by the national government (implemented through dldp in 2016) and in 3 territorial strategies supported and implemented through dldp. A total of 8 territorial strategies (5 of which are

integrated in the GLPs, plus 3 additional ones) were linked with MTBP 2016.

The OSSH model was upgraded into an Integrated OSSH in 5 LGUs, as a response to TAR, enabling service delivery to new administrative units and consolidated through grant fund support.

List of administrative services identified by

dldp and reflected in national documents as a standard was enriched in 2016 with additional identified services, including those deriving from newly decentralised functions.

Expanding our knowledge in Swiss projects There is a great interest for the know-how dldp has developed on waste management from regional institutions like NALAS, as well as international partners including other SDC funded projects implemented by HELVETAS (i.e. PSI Kyrgyzstan, GAM Bolivia, DEMOS

Kosovo). Knowledge sharing on waste management also took place through national and regional exposure visits (Slovenia, Montenegro, Macedonia), as well as the Centre of Competence. For purposes of knowledge sharing, a draft curricula on

integrated One Stop Shops (Integrated OSSH) and administrative services was developed and validated with the Centre of Competence.

Influencing national policy throughout consolidated platforms Dldp has contributed substantially to all elements of the reform package and plans to support the elaboration of the required bylaws in 2017-18. Two Centres of Competences have been active on PFM and GLP aiming to exchange experience and develop solutions for the transition period post-TAR, and providing policy recommendations for the new law on local finances, new function allocation, development policies on planning for areas with limited development potential, as well

as identifying changes necessary in the existing training curricula. The experience gained by dldp on PFM throughout the years was converted into a significant contribution to the draft of the new law on local finances.

The law was developed together with the Ministry of Finance, with contributions from PLGP/USAID (revenue part) and dldp/SDC (PFM part).

The annual report of the decentralisation strategy (monitoring strategy supported by dldp), complemented with best practices of

LGUs 2016 supported by dldp, inform the public about progress of such reforms. The report on the new allocation of functions to local governments, which dldp contributed substantially to, also contributes to the advancement of such policies. The recommendations of this report are included in the new law on local finances.

Supporting drivers of change and fostering leadership In Klos and Shkodra municipalities, the fiscal package 2016 was gender sensitive to an extent – i.e. it includes a provision for reduced taxes and tariffs for widows. The Women in Politics Network at the national level provided feedback on the new law on

local finances; their recommendations are included in the draft law.

Dldp facilitated strengthening relationships between women local councillors with their women national MPs, facilitated by the Swiss

Embassy. Six women councillors were supported to participate in the Political Academy of the Council of Europe.

Dldp Coordination Committee meeting in Malësia e Madhe During 25th of October dldp has organised the meeting of Coordination Committee in Malësia e Madhe. The meeting was attended by the Swiss Ambassador in Albania, Mr Christoph Graf and the Minister of Urban Development in Mrs Eglantina Gjermeni.

Mr Graff highlighted the importance of the Territorial and Decentralisation Reforms and announced the financial support for two new municipalities of Klos and Vau Dejës, to be implemented by the support of dldp Program.

The Agreements between Ministry of Urban Development, respective Municipality and the implemented dldp Program has been signed during the meeting.

“The Preparation of the General Local Plans is a historical process. These are strategic documents that will serve for the development of the area we live.

The General Local Plan is a very important instrument that will determine the vision and the rules, for a stable

development for the urban and rural areas. From this point of view, I seek the maximum engagement from the Municipality and the experts involved through the donor that under the monitoring of National Agency for Territorial Planning to build an inclusive

process of consultations with all the actors and interest groups.”, stressed in the meeting the Minister of Urban Development, Mrs Eglantina Gjermeni.