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National Volunteer Conference 1.0

On May 31, 2021 was organized the National Conference of Volunteering 1.0, by Beyond Barriers PVN Albania and Progress
Development Center. The conference brought together about 100 representatives of important actors of state institutions at national and local level, civil society organizations, business representatives and citizens.

As part of the Conference Panel, Ms. Ariola Agolli, Manager of Resource Centre, discussed volunteerism in the perspective of CSOs: (non) enabling environment, infrastructure, capacity, challenges and opportunities for the development of volunteerism in the country!

For all those interested, find here once again, the full Opinion on the legal framework for Volunteering in Albania. In cooperation with Beyond Barriers and other organizations part of the initiative for the development of volunteerism in Albania, the Center remains committed to advancing dialogue in the sector and with institutions for a more enabling environment. For more about the Conference

Networking Event – The Sustainability of Youth Organizations in the Pandemic and post pandemic period

Based on the issues raised by NPOs at the National Conference of Civil Society in December 2020 and the interest of organizations participating in the thematic workshops of the conference, on March 10, 2021, the National Resource Centre and Partners Albania organized the online networking event “Sustainability of Youth Organizations in the Pandemic and post-pandemic period”.

Over 80 representatives of NPOs, donors, representatives of central and local institutions in the country, academic institutions and the media participated in the event and discussed the challenges, addressing them and strategies to provide support to youth CSOs in the country.

The situation of Covid-19 has been accompanied by changes in the programs and field activity of CSOs and has affected their financial sustainability, especially of local organizations.

The participants in the networking event brought an overview of the situation during the last year of youth organizations and their activity, presented some success models and shared information on programs and strategies of institutions and organizations and youth networks. Invited to the event were also government representatives at the central and local level, Ms. Aspasiana Kongo, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth, Ms. Anisa Subashi, Director of Social Services in the Municipality of Tirana and Mr. Engjell Gjugja, Municipality of Shkodra, which shared with the participants some of the strategies undertaken by state institutions in the country in support of youth, youth organizations, affected by the Covid-19 pandemic situation.

The event created networking opportunities for CSOs and other participating institutions, offering them the opportunity to generate contacts, present their work and specifically discuss promoting dialogue and cooperation of all stakeholders and groups of interest in creating an enabling environment on this issue.

Networking Event “Volunteerism & Solidarity- Practices, Challenges and Future Development”

The National Resource Center for Civil Society (NRC) in cooperation with the Association Beyond Barriers (BBA) organized on 23 and 24 July 2020 the Networking Event ” Volunteerism and Solidarity – Practices, Challenges and Future Developments”.

The activity follows the work of several months of Beyond Barriers and the National Resource Center to identify and assess the problems and challenges that civil society organizations and informal groups face during the implementation of the legal framework for volunteering.

The wo day online event, brought together 163 youth civil society organization representatives, activists, donors, and public institutions , in four panels to discuss on important issues concerning volunteering: Legal framework, policies and structures for volunteering in EU and Western Balkan countries; Albanian legal framework, policies and structures in place for their implementation; Civil Society Organizations Practices of Volunteering and Solidarity in the country; Supporting and encouraging volunteering and active citizenship.

Part of a series of activities on this issue, this event contributes to the debate on the further development of volunteering in Albania, bringing an overview of the legal and regulatory framework of volunteering in the country, countries of the region and some European Union countries.

The event created networking opportunities for CSOs and other participating institutions, offering them the opportunity to generate contacts, present their work and specifically discuss and encourage dialogue and cooperation of all stakeholders and interest groups in creating an enabling environment. Read more about the event and panel discussions.

Networking Event “Youth Empowerment”

National Resource Centre for Civil Society and  Partners Albania organized on September 20, 2019 the Networking Event “Youth Empowerment”.

The event organzied at the premises of Apollonia Archaeological Park, in Fier, brought  together about 180 participants from youth organizations, activists, donors, and public institutions in four panels to discuss on important issues concerning youth such as: Transforming education; Youth volunteering and mobility Economic empowerment, social and cultural inclusion; and Youth participation in decision making.

The networking event aimed at exchanging information among participants on these issues and sharing of their experiences and good practices from their work whether of NPOs, public institutions or donors and development organizations. This event provided CSOs the opportunity to generate contacts and connections for future networking and partnerships.

An information and promotion youth CSOs’ Fair was organized as a side event, showcasing materials and products from CSOs activity all over the country.

On the Assessment of the 2019–2023 Roadmap on Government Policy for an Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development and Drafting of the 2024–2027 Roadmap

To: Ms. Albana Koçiu, Minister of Health and Social Protection Subject: On the Assessment of the Roadmap for Government Policy Towards an Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development 2019–2023 and […]

On the Monitoring of the Roadmap for an Enabling Environment for Civil Society

On June 22, 2022, was held the meeting of the National Council for Civil Society (NCCS).

Present at the meeting, in addition to the members of the NCCS and to the Agency for the Support of Civil Society (ASCS) which plays the role of the Secretariat of the NCCS, were also representatives of four organizations that had expressed interest in attending, among them representatives of the National Resource Centre for Civil Society, Partners Albania for Change and Development.

In accordance with the agenda of the meeting, as part of it, a presentation was held by the General Directorate of the Policy Unit, Prime Minister’s Office, on the monitoring of the roadmap for the government’s policy “On the creation of an enabling environment for civil society 2019-2023”, the strategic document that aims to strengthen the role of civil society in co-governance through the creation of an enabling environment for civil society in the country and in increasing of dialogue and cooperation between the sector and governing institutions.

While we appreciate the government’s willingness to monitor the implementation of the Roadmap and share the monitoring results, we must emphasize that there were several issues with this presentation:

First, the monitoring process was not carried out in cooperation, with the contribution, and the involvement of civil society organisations (CSOs) at the country level, as stipulated in the Decision of Council of Ministers (DCM) No. 539, dated 25.7.2019 “For the Approval of the Roadmap for Government Policy Towards an Enabling Environment for the Development of Civil Society 2019-2023, Revised”. During these years, there was no monitoring process happening with the involvement of civil society. Such a process has not happened and there have been no initiatives for the solicitation of civil society input with regard to this important document pertaining to it. Even the representatives of the civil society in the NCCS were not involved in this process.

Secondly, the presentation shows that the three strategic priorities have been achieved to the extent of over 50%, respectively:

– Strategic Direction 1 of the Roadmap “Institutionalized Government-Civil Society Cooperation in Policymaking and European Integration” has been implemented to the extent of 85%;
– Strategic direction 2 “Enabling the legal environment & data governance” has been realized to the extent of 64%; and
– Strategic direction 3 “Favourable fiscal and funding framework” has been implemented to the extent of 63%.

Meanwhile, in all recent years reports on the monitoring of the enabling environment for civil society in Albania (Monitoring Matrix on the Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development, Country Report for Albania 2020), in the European Union’s Progress Report for Albania, and other reports that focus on this issue, it has been emphasized that there is no or very little progress in terms of the implementation of the roadmap and the realization of the measures it envisages.

During the last three years, there has been a constant lack of public information on the progress of the implementation of the Roadmap by all responsible institutions. Since the start of the implementation of the Roadmap, this is the first meeting where is provided information on the monitoring of the Roadmap and the progress so far.

Thirdly, the presentation held by the General Directorate of the Policy Unit, Prime Minister’s Office focused on the % (percentages) of the implementation of the measures and not on concrete indicators that reflect progress, showing insufficient transparency with regard to this monitoring. There is no public information on how the assessment of this progress was made and what are the evidences for the implementation of measures and indicators. From the presentation, it is found that in some cases the measurement of the progress is based on achievements that are not related to the indicators of the relevant measure. Partners Albania for years now monitors the enabling environment for civil society in the country and prepares annual reports in this regard. Based on all the publicly available information and on the information declared by the institutions as part of our monitoring work, as well as the CSOs work practice, for a significant part of the measures and indicators, the presented result has not been achieved.

In this table are presented some of these measures, and the implementation percentage presented by government representatives, as well as comments from the monitoring of Partners Albania for these measures.

Acknowledging the importance of the implementation of the Road Map and of the periodic monitoring process in cooperation and with the contribution and involvement of CSOs at the country level, we invite the responsible institutions to be more transparent in sharing information on this process and the actors involved, as well as in sharing a full report regarding the implementation and progress of the measures, following the presentation at the NCCS meeting.

On Volunteerism and its further development in Albania

For several months, Beyond Barriers Association in cooperation and with the facilitation of the National Resource Centre for Civil Society and the participation of a group of civil society organizations from different municipalities of the country, have undertaken an initiative for further development of volunteerism in Albania and an environment legal and regulatory enabler that would contribute in this regard.

During this period, we have held several meetings and discussions with CSOs and CSO networks, focusing on the issues raised by the legislation and its implementation.

Following the discussions, through an open letter we addressed the institutions to start a dialogue that will pave the way for concrete proposals for improving the legal and regulatory framework for Volunteering in Albania.

On Volunteerism and its further development in Albania

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The National Resource Centre in cooperation with Beyond Barriers has continued to work during these months to identify the problems and challenges that informal organizations and groups face during the implementation of the legal framework for volunteering. Following meetings with CSOs and institutions responsible in the country for the implementation of the legal framework, an online roundtable discussion was organized on January 21, with about 40 representatives of organizations and legal experts.

Lawyer Ardjana Shehi, presented to all participants an analysis of the legal framework, meaning and obligations that arise for the respective entities according to the provisions of Law no. 45/2016 “On volunteering”.

For more on the legal framework issues and recommendations for further addressing, find here the full opinion.
The Resource Centre, Beyond Barriers and the Grouping of Organizations that have joined the initiative to contribute to the development of volunteerism in Albania (read here the public statement of the group), will continue meetings with institutions to discuss some concrete proposals that address the problems of the law.

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On Volunteerism and its further development in Albania

For more than a year, the National Resource Centre and Beyond Barriers have been engaged in a process for analyzing the legal framework of volunteering in Albania and its implementation, and have held a series of meetings and discussions with organizations from all over the country and institutions responsible for implementation of the Law on Volunteerism.

Although the legal framework has been completed for two years now, it is not implemented and has not affected at all to the creation of an enabling environment for the development of volunteerism in the country. On the contrary, it has become a burden on CSOs and informal groups by hindering them in their activity.

During these months, meetings were held once again with senior representatives from the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the National Agency of Employment and Skills (NAES) to promote a concrete decision-making on the law: setting up a cross-sectoral working group to improve or repeal it of the law based on its non-implementation as well as the problems and uncertainties it carries and which are discussed again in these meetings. We are still waiting for a decision on our request and if there is no response we will soon come up with a public position on this issue.

Online consultation with civil society organisations on the priority areas of the 2022 Calls for proposals – Civil Society Facility – Human Rights and Democracy Programme

Consultation with civil society organisations on the priority areas of the 2022 Calls for proposals

– Civil Society Facility and Media Programme
– Thematic Programme on Human Rights and Democracy

The Delegation of the European Union to Albania would like to invite civil society organisations, based on their respective fields of expertise, to give their views/feedback on the priority areas identified for the EU-funded 2022 calls for proposals organised under the Civil Society Facility and the Human Rights and Democracy Programme (successor of the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR)).

First area of support (Civil Society Facility 2022): Good Governance and Rule of Law (including anti-corruption)

The expected outcome in the first area of support is to establish coalitions/platforms of CSOs able to address in a professional and sustainable way – in collaboration with other CSOs and the relevant governmental counterparts – issues related to good governance, justice and corruption.

Good governance: the needs pre-identified relate to the improvement of the quality and accountability of administration, transparency, professionalism and de-politisation, more transparent management of public finances, and better services for citizens.

Rule of Law/justice: the needs pre-identified relate to a greater cooperation with civil society in conceiving, implementing and monitoring justice related measures.

Anti-corruption: the needs pre-identified relate to an increased involvement of CSOs on prevention of corruption, awareness raising and monitoring of anti-corruption measures.

Second area of support (Civil Society Facility 2022): Environment

The expected outcome in the second area of support is to strengthen the role and capacities of CSOs to influence, monitor, advocate on environmental, climate change and conservation issues.

The pre-identified needs relate to the reinforcement of the role and capacities of CSOs to fight environmental and climate degradation and environmental crime, strengthening of the cooperation among CSOs and other stakeholders, increasing of the protection of environment and biodiversity and of more actions against climate change as well as increasing awareness on environmental and climate protection.

Third are of support (Human Rights and Democracy Programme on 2021-2022): Integrity of elections processes

The expected outcome is to contribute to the strengthening of an environment conducive to the promotion and protection of human rights and to peaceful elections.

The pre-identified needs relate to the reinforcement of the role, capacities and networking of CSOs and media actors in civic education, awareness raising, and domestic observation, inclusive process and participation in policymaking.

Fourth area of support (Human Rights and Democracy Programme on 2021-2022): Media

The expected outcome is to provide reliable information to the Albanian society by strengthening public broadcaster and journalism in Albania.

The pre-identified needs relate to the improvement of media professionalism and standards including Public Broadcaster Journalists and digital technology, freedom of expression online and offline, inclusive dialogue, policy reform advocacy including online self-regulation, media education, fighting online disinformation.

Please send your input by 4 March, 2022 to this functional mailbox:

DELEGATION-ALBANIA-Consult-CSF-EIDHR-2022@eeas.europa.eu