» More transparent and accountable governance

European and Euro-Atlantic integration, along with comprehensive, rapid and sustainable growth, remain overarching goals for Albania. Therefore, socio-economic development, strategic planning, sound public finance and external assistance management, anti-corruption, powered by an increased use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for development, represent major national priorities.

The United Nations is providing the Government with assistance in carrying out reforms, developing policy, translating international commitments to national programmes, supporting service delivery and decentralization, meeting gender equality commitments and supporting a market economy.

The UN system is providing assistance to ensure that national development priorities are more strongly based on qualitative and quantitative analysis of data, and will aim to strengthen capacities for its collection and use.

UN Agencies support Government efforts to formulate and implement policies that address capacity gaps and sustainability in the public sector. Some of these programmes, such as the Brain Gain, promote policies and provide incentives to increase Albanian Diaspora involvement in the country’s development, in both the public sector and academia.

The One UN Programme includes contributions to the Integrated Planning System (IPS), a Government initiative aiming to improve linkages among programming, budgeting, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation processes. Through a multi-donor programme, working with the Department for Strategy and Donor Coordination (DSDC) based in the Office of the Prime Minister, the UN has provided the Government with a set of operating principles and supporting structures to ensure that government planning, implementation, and monitoring takes place in an efficient and harmonized way. This project has equipped the Government with the basic tools to link development and integration (Millennium Development Goals, Stabilisation and Association Agreement among others) with the National Strategy for Development and Integration (NSDI) into a holistic national development framework.

Through this project, the DSDC has established its main functions and processes, main outcomes and performance measures, and internal relationships. Also, the DSDC has advanced significantly with its overall donor coordination function and related issues.

The Government has benefited from business processes that have enabled key central institutions - the DSDC, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Integration, and the national Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) to support each other, work effectively together on a daily basis, as well as support line ministries in order to ensure successful implementation of the IPS.

The multi-donor support programme led by the UN is being followed by World Bank coordinated support.

Support is also going towards increasing the effectiveness of the public administration through implementation of the national ICT strategy. Strengthening of the newly created National Agency for Information Society (NAIS), a wireless broadband network providing subsidized access to all public institutions in the country, government e-services and initiatives, remain the main areas of e-governance.

UN assistance will be provided to strengthen governance structures and mechanisms to implement the NSDI that adequately respond to gender and minority equality, decentralization, the environment, reproductive health, child rights, and migration and asylum seekers. This includes the coordination, monitoring and revision of policies at national, regional and local levels.

The UN system supports the Government to address challenges arising from the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), the World Trade Organization, and trade agreements. Capacity building and policy support will continue to enable the Government to develop trade and exports, and attract foreign direct investment. The Trade Promotion and Foreign Direct Investment project focuses on the development of industrial and business parks in Albania as well as creating incentive packages attractive to international investors.

The private sector is being encouraged to engage in socially inclusive activities and promote Corporate Social Responsibility. Support will also continue to go towards implementation of the Culture and Tourism Development Strategy.

Economic Governance support will be focusing on continued policy advice to Government reforms in addressing extra-legality. Specific interventions in support of reforms are being identified through a series of consultations with key stakeholders.

In response to the privatization and decentralization of utility services, UNDP and the World Bank have teamed up to start a joint programme to establish a new regulatory regime for utilities in Albania. UNDP will focus on ensuring public consultations at the local level in favour of pro-poor tariff setting as well as raising capacities for consumer protection with the Ministry of Economy.

The Brain Gain programme has provided the UN with an entry point for policy advice in public sector reform and capacity development.