Sunday, October 30, 2016

The Academy of Political Studies (APS) in cooperation with Albanian School of Public Administration (ASPA), launched a new training cycle for local authorities. The first course was held on 28-29 October 2016 in Durres, with the participation of representatives of the municipalities of Shkodra, Vau Dejes, Puka, Fushe Arrez, Malesia Madhe, Korce, Maliq, Pogradec, Devoll, Pustec and Prrenjas, with the aim to gather municipal authorities from different political affiliation and geographical position, but share the same challenges and problems. The program is supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation in the framework of its support for democratization reforms of local government.

The training aimed to increase knowledge of the political staff of municipalities (mayors, deputy mayors, councilors and administrators), as a complementing of the trainings conducted by ASPA for periodic assessment to acquire additional knowledge of the staff of the LGU under civil servant status.

The program of the first day of the course focused on the competencies of the new legislation for local government planning and local and regional development. Mr. Enea Hoti, advisor to the Minister of Local Affairs, explained these functions in the first year of implementation of the administrative-territorial reform. Discussions also focused on innovations as results of draft law on local finance, which is expected to further support the new municipal functions. The second module of the training focused on public policies development and local operational plans preparation as a main mechanism for the sustainable local and regional development.

The second day of the course dealt with the topic of European Union funds and other options for local funding. Ms. Greta Gjoncaj, program manager at “Albanian Fund for Development” presented a detailed list of possible donors for local governments. The approach was very practical with the aim of informing the participants on possible calls for application, but also finding potential partners in public institutions, other local entities or nonprofit organizations. The last module of the course tackled the consultation process and promotion of public participation in local decision-making. Mr. Alban Bala, PR expert, presented the best techniques of national and foreign communications campaign very evaluated by the participants for the practical reference to their daily work.

Participants were awarded with a training certificate registered in the database of the Albanian School of Public Administration. According to the request of the participants were distributed to them all the presentations and other publications suggested by the experts. The trainings cycle for local authorities will continue aiming to increase the knowledge of over 120 employees of local government units.