by Natasha Mistry *

04 October 2004

Bonn, Germany: When the Local Governance Programme (LGP) started its work in south-western Albania’s villages of Hekal commune, Fier region, the community was sceptical and reluctant to engage in discussion with outsiders about their economic and social future.

Albanian professionals joining the LPG as UN Volunteers were the people to turn the tide. Highly respected for their experience as engineers, economists, and teachers, as well as for their decision to volunteer at the local level, they convinced other community members to set up community based organizations (CBOs) to cooperate with local government authorities and thus have a say in the development of their villages. “We learn from example, “ says Ali Aliaj, coordinator of a CBO in Rromes, a village in Hekal commune. “When you see people that are motivated, like the UN Volunteers, trust builds and the community is more convinced that they too can volunteer and achieve something.”

Encouraging active citizen participation in development, community members and local authorities in Albania collaborate with the help of UN Volunteers under the LGP of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UNV. They jointly identify community priorities, implement projects and discuss ways to improve public services.

“Since the collapse of the Albanian pyramids scheme in 1997, people of our community have been more than cautious about investing money or trust into new ideas or projects,” Ali says. “We lost all our lifetime savings, our homes and dear possessions. But we also lost our ability to trust and to contribute in our own villages.” This has changed with the approach of CBO representatives partnering with local government and donor agencies involved in the LPG. “Now, I guarantee that if you go to any of the CBOs, they will for sure be ready to contribute to more projects in our commune,” he says.

UNV Regional Coordinator Natasha Mistry discussing the importance of citizen participation in development initiatives with local government members at a Fier Regional Council meeting, Fier municipality. Photo: UNV/Bujar Taho
 
The three-year pilot LGP project involves three of Albania’s 12 regions. To date, the programme has supported the voluntary establishment of more than 100 CBOs, helped to mobilize community members in assessing and prioritizing their needs, and supported some 50 infrastructure projects. Depending on the priorities identified, these projects range from ensuring water supply to village homes, to improving community access to healthcare, to providing basic school services for students.

In the Fier region itself, 60 CBOs have been established with the support of five UN Volunteers. “We are not only consultants or advisors for the community. We are advocates for volunteer action,” says Bujar Taho, a UN Volunteer for the promotion of volunteer action in his native Fier region. “We contribute to our own community development as volunteers, sharing our skills to improve local governance structures and conditions in the village. In a country where there is a high ‘brain drain’, our skills as UNVs are invested in our communities. It is this spirit of volunteering that is influencing our community.”

The UNV team in Fier is particularly proud that eight CBOs have mixed gender membership or are limited to women. LGP has placed special emphasis on the empowerment of women. The formation of CBOs and the establishment of micro-credit schemes for women enables them to have a say in community decision-making processes, gain access to professional training programmes, as well as establish their own saving-schemes. Coordinators of women CBOs have recently expressed great satisfaction in the increased respect they receive from the community, as men acknowledge the economic benefits brought about by their wives’ involvement in the programme.

Meanwhile, CBOs have developed and created their own by-laws and rules of conduct, while some have registered with the municipality. CBO members, usually 20 to 30 people, collect savings to use as loans to start small businesses, build homes, or construct wells. All CBOs in the region, some 1,350 members, have contributed financial or in-kind support for development projects in their villages, implemented in cooperation with local government bodies. “The main point of this programme is not to build local infrastructure but to bring the community to the realization that they together are responsible for their own development,” says Bujar.

He adds that given his country’s communist past, many Albanians assume that the government will take care of their needs; a belief that does not hold true. “People are disappointed when expectations aren’t met. Since working here in the villages for over two years, we see that attitudes regarding government roles are changing,” he explains. “CBOs provide a new forum for community members to voice their concerns and let their problems be known. Because they are volunteers and not seen as representing interest groups, trust is established, and there is greater respect for differences of opinion.”

The project has also introduced the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the local level by supporting government efforts to integrate the goals into the regional development strategy of Fier. “Our aim is to create a prosperous and healthy region so that Fier region and its people are secured a better life,” says Shaqir Kurti, Chief of the Regional Development Unit at the Fier Regional Council, the government authority representing the communes and municipalities at the national level. “I believe that the strategy we have created is a sustainable one because it involved all partners and representatives of Fier. For the first time, the government, NGOs, civil society groups, the private sector and general public sat together to create our long-term plan.”

The regional strategies pin local objectives to national goals set out in the National Strategy for Social and Economic Development and also pave the road towards integration into the European Union. CBO representatives in the Fier region, as well as local authorities, participated in meetings to draft community development plans with the goal of identifying the main problems in the community and prioritizing projects to improve larger-scale social and economic conditions.

Local government support was evident in the case of building a water supply network in Vreshtas, a village in Fier’s Cakran commune. To extend the supply line to all homes within the village, the commune increased its financial contribution from US$22,000 to US$30,000. Water now reaches all of the 200 homes.

“At the beginning of this project we faced many challenges, but through the cooperation and persistence of the CBOs, UN Volunteers involved in the LGP, and the local government, we succeeded,” says Kujtim Sherifaj, head of Cakran commune. “We are very proud of our achievements in Vreshtas and we use it as an exemplary model for other villages to show that through partnership and cooperation, we can improve the quality of lives.”

Nine local CBOs participated in ensuring the project’s completion. One of these was the women’s organization ‘Drita’. “The women of this village gained more from the water supply system project than the men,” says Katerina Sulemanaj, Drita’s coordinator. “We are the ones who walk many kilometres to collect drinking water at the source and carry the heavy weight back to our homes. The water supply distribution line gives us more time to do other chores and will save us from traveling far distances carrying heavy bottles.” Now with the completion of the project, families will receive clean water reducing illnesses from water-borne diseases.

“There have been valuable changes in the communities where we work,” says Bujar. “I suppose you can say that people acknowledge that community mobilization and active citizen participation in decision-making have sparked a positive change in mentality. Here in Albania we see that volunteering is a fundamental base for this change.”

* Canadian UN Volunteer Natasha Mistry is the UNDP Local Governance Programme Regional Coordinator in Fier, Albania.
_____________________________________________

1. A high-risk investment scheme offered by private companies, financial institutions, and charities joined by large parts of the population.