Thursday, April 02, 2009

Albanian School of  Polical Studies organized a seminar on the “Role of Civil Society in Democracy” with the guest speakers the Ambassador of the United Kingdom in Albania, H.E. Mr Fraser Wilson and Mrs Lindita Xhillari Board Chair of the Open Society Foundation in Albania. On 26 March 2009, the Albanian School of Political Studies organized a seminar on the “Role of Civil Society in Democracy” with the guest speakers the Ambassador of the United Kingdom in Albania, H.E. Mr Fraser Wilson and Mrs Lindita Xhillari Board Chair of the Open Society Foundation in Albania. In his speech “Civil Society and Democracy”  Ambassador Wilson lectured on the importance of a strong, independent and effective civil society and the special role it has to play in holding government to account. Turning to Albania, Ambassador Wilson underlined that the development of civil society is hugely important if Albania is to complete the transition to a mature, functioning democracy.While addressing several problems of the third sector in Albania, he pointed out in particular to the high degree of dependence of local NGOs on foreign sources of funding and sometimes on single sources of funding, which in turn raises awkward questions about both the long-term sustainability, and the independence, of civil society. Ambassador Wilson emphasized that only by ensuring self-sustainability and safeguarding independence can civil society fulfill its mission and make society stronger and healthier. Mrs Lindita Xhillari, Board Chair of OSF Albania and executive director of the Human Development Promotion Centre think tank, made a brief presentation of findings and recommendations of “Third Sector Development in Albania: challenges and opportunities” report, prepared in the framework of the Project “Building from Within: Reuniting Europe by Strengthening and Connecting its third sector” financed by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and implemented by Euclid Network and its partners in Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro. In addition, Ms Xhillari oriented the discussions on the problems that the civil society is facing in during two decades of pluralism in Albania and the ways to adress them.