Transition Initiatives: Albania Field Report
June 2000
Program Description
Initiated during the Kosovo crisis in May 1999,
OTI's Albanian Transition Initiative (ATI) works to promote a
sense of hope for the future within Albanian communities. As a first
step towards re-building a vibrant civil society, the project has
the following objectives:
- demonstrate the power and possibility of
local civic action in Albania through concrete community
projects;
- instill principles of accountability of
democratically elected local governments to their
constituencies, particularly as they approach local elections
scheduled for late September and early October; and
- through the local media, publicize
models of effective civic action throughout Albania to ensure
that the broadest population as possible is exposed to the
powerful experiences of local communities engaged in civic
action.
In support of these objectives, OTI supports two
complementary program components: 1) community organizing with
community improvement projects; and 2) a coordinated media campaign.
The $3.8 million program is scheduled to closeout in December
2000.
Country Situation
Debate between the two leading political
parties--the ruling Socialist Party and the opposition Democratic
Party--regarding the rules surrounding the October municipal
elections continue to dominate and saturate national news. Both
parties accuse the other of "destabilizing" the country.
Acrimonious debate between these parties characterizes every step
along the road to the elections.
Albania's ties with its neighbors are
progressively deepening as demonstrated by several cooperative
initiatives. Working with the Montenegrins, Macedonians, Bulgarians
and Croatians, the Government of Albania is working to improve
trade, transportation and telecommunications. The long-standing
effort to construct a port-highway linking Albania to its neighbors
appears to be gaining momentum. In addition, Albania is moving
towards a new association and stabilization agreement with the
European Union.
USAID/OTI
Highlights
A. Narrative Summary
Community Organizing: During the month
of June, ATI held over 40 meetings with community groups and
local governments to discuss local priorities. One particularly
important meeting was held in Kukes, a remote city in northern
Albanian known for its lawlessness. Thirty-eight members of the
town came together to discuss community priorities including
teachers, doctors, members of the business community,
journalists, a human rights activist, and students. The Mayor
introduced ATI, but otherwise remained a spectator in the
meeting, allowing the citizens to control the decision-making.
The discussion was highly participatory, with towns-people
offering a number of suggestions that included street lights,
park repair, and creating some sort of memorial to the Kosovar
refugee crisis. The group clearly appreciated the opportunity to
express their opinions as citizens of Kukes, and eagerly agreed
to meet again to finalize the discussion of possible projects.
The uniqueness of this public event stimulated major media
coverage. A television crew from KTV in Kukes shot the entire
meeting and aired the piece four times that night during their
news program. KTV's coverage extends from Prizren, Kosovo
to Podgorica, Montenegro.
Media Campaign: The four-week visit of a media consultant and the hiring of
a new media team marked the start of ATI media campaign in June.
In addition to the press generated by ATI projects to date, the
media team will develop specific feature programming following
the themes of the project. As elections approach, the media team
will concentrate efforts on encouraging debate of local issues
to ensure more informed voting by target communities.
Program Management and Implementation: In June, the ATI added two new
expatriate staff members to its team-- a community organizer and
a media campaign manager. In an effort to better acquaint the
new ATI team with a variety of approaches to community-based
programming, OTI/Kosovo sponsored for them a weeklong study trip
to four regional offices in Kosovo. This experience allowed the
new ATI team to exchange ideas and approaches with a much larger
pool of colleagues, which will help them greatly in their work
in Albania.
B. Grants Activity Summary
To date, OTI has completed 43 community improvement
projects across 13 regions of Albania, for a total of $1.42 million.
During June, ATI completed 6 rehabilitation projects for a total of
$95,500. Four projects estimated at $205,000 are currently ongoing.
These include:
- The community of Manza is raising
$2,500 towards the rehabilitation of restrooms in the school
that ATI is remodeling.
- The refurbishment of the kindergarten
in Kucova includes a unique form of community contribution: the
community is storing the school equipment and furniture in their
homes to protect it during the project work.
- The production team of the weekly,
nation-wide television program, "Heroes of Albania"
hopes to complete eight programs prior to going on-air. To date,
they have four episodes ready to broadcast.
- ATI is matching funding with other
donors and USAID contractors for the construction of a small
portion of road in Tirana's District 50.
C. Indicators of Success
Speed: The
District 50/Tirana Project effectively captures many elements of
the ATI program objectives (see full description in "Annex
A: Success Stories"). ATI became involved with this effort
as part of a multi-donor effort. The speed of OTI's
commitment ensured that a small media event (the opening of the
first part of the road), became a major media event by including
OTI's pledge of an additional $50,000 towards the effort.
The increased media coverage resulting in more Albanians hearing
the message: "communities can organize themselves for real
change".
Resource Leveraging: To date, ATI projects have received $101,942 in
contributions from other donors. An example of other donor
support during June occurred when Mercy Corps International
supplied furniture, playground equipment, television sets,
computers and other educational toys to the ATI-rehabilitated
Children's Mental Health Center in Shkodra.
D. Program Appraisal
In order to enhance OTI's impact in Albania,
the ATI program has been slowly shifting its priorities away from an
activity/project-focus towards a process to build local capacity and
ownership for the needs and accomplishments of the communities. This
transition has been slower than hoped, as it requires a good deal of
discussion and hands-on coaching from OTI program managers. Given
the lack of in-country OTI management, the coaching has only taken
place during the ad hoc, monthly visits of the Kosovo-based program
manager. The shift in emphasis has also generally slowed down the
completion of projects, as OTI requires increasing community
participation before, during and after project implementation. With
the new team in place, an upsurge in project activity is
expected.
NEXT STEPS/IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES
- With three months left until municipal elections scheduled for early October, a critical near-term priority for the ATI will be to tailor and adjust programs to maximize citizen understanding and informed participation in these elections.
- To ensure resources are maximized during the remaining months of the project, the ATI team will select eight to ten communities to concentrate efforts and resources. This selection process will need to be balanced to reflect political and demographic considerations.
- Regular engagement and dialogue between the new ATI team and OTI management (both in the field and D.C.) is critical to ensure that the project remains focussed and on track, particularly given the lack of a permanent OTI Country Director. With the move of the Kosovo-based program manager back to the U.S., email and telephone communication will become even more important.
Annex A: Albania June Monthly Report
ATI Program Success Stories -- District 50 in
Tirana
In the summer of 1999, residents of District 50 in
Tirana began a bold community-led effort to improve the common space
in their neighborhood. The effort began when the community received
funds from UNHCR for sheltering Kosovar families in their own homes.
Rather than using these funds for individual benefit, the community
decided to pool the money together and use it for a collective good
to solve one of their most pressing problems: open sewage flowing
through the dirt roads surrounding their homes.
To begin constructing a sewage system, the
community collected $45,000 in cash and another $44,000 in kind and
thus were able to complete the sewer system through their own
initiative. This demonstration of community spirit quickly attracted
attention of other donors, including the USAID-funded Public
Administration Project, which donated $70,000, and the British DFID,
which donated $80,000 toward road repairs in the district. These
repairs were completed in late May.
During the ceremony recognizing the completion of
the repairs, US Ambassador Limprecht captured the essence of this
project's success in his statement: "The real story of
this project is even more significant than the excellent streets and
sidewalks. The really important story is that this project was
undertaken and accomplished thanks to the initiative, the determined
efforts and the community spirit of the families living here. You
did not wait for the government or the international organizations
to solve the serious problems of this neighborhood. You joined
together as a community and began to solve them
yourselves."
The impressive display of citizen initiative
shown by the community in District 50 attracted the attention of
ATI. ATI's pledge of $50,000 to expand road repairs was announced at
the recognition ceremony. The timing of ATI's pledge greatly
increased the newsworthiness of the event, expanding coverage of the
District 50 story to several nation-wide newspapers and thereby
ensuring that citizens around Albania heard the story of how one
neighborhood in Tirana managed to leverage great success through
effective community action.
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