Development assistance and humanitarian aid went hand in hand in 1999 due to the refugee crisis. Over 180 international NGOs poured into the country to assist the ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo, and the donors already present allocated millions of dollars in emergency aid in addition to their development initiatives. It is fair to say that development activities virtually came to a standstill from the initiation of NATO air strikes on Serbia and Kosovo in late March. UNHCR was the overall lead agency, with other key players being IOM, WFP in food distribution and UNICEF in mine/UXO awareness, education, and Child Friendly Spaces initiatives. The primary education sector was hit especially hard by the crisis, as refugees were placed in school buildings in many districts forcing Albanian students to end their school year early. The Ministry of Education, with the help of the Albanian Education Development Project (AEDP - Soros Foundation/Open Society), scrambled to offer summer school programs to both local and refugee children.

UNDP partnered the Government through support to the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Trade – which had the role of aid coordination – and to the Emergency Management Group (EMG) which was established in the Prime Minister’s office to serve as a liaison between the Government and donors. UNDP also allocated grants to local NGOs to implement initiatives benefiting both the local and the refugee population through its Gender projects.

When the peace agreement was reached in mid-June, the refugees began an unexpectedly quick mass exodus back to Kosovo, despite warnings of mines and booby-traps from UNHCR. By mid-July, UNHCR estimated that just under 50,000 refugees remained, and Albania moved into a post-crisis rehabilitation phase. UNHCR allocated US$3.3 million for 52 Quick Impact Projects (QIPs) to mitigate the damage to infrastructure, agricultural land, and public buildings damaged by the refugee presence and to reward and thank Albania for its cooperation throughout the crisis. Other donors, including OFDA, ECHO, DFID, NATO, and many more, allocated millions of dollars in emergency aid funds on rehabilitation efforts. A large number of NGOs also remained to spend their remaining budgets on programs for the local population.

In early September, UNHCR estimated that less than 7,000 refugees remained in Albania, most of these being vulnerable individuals who for health, economic or other personal reasons could not, or did not wish to, return to Kosovo. Although rehabilitation initiatives continued through the autumn, long term development initiatives again became the driving force of the international presence. A positive legacy of the crisis is that dozens of international NGOs that arrived to help the refugees have remained in Albania, realizing the urgent need for development aid here. UNDP in November took the lead role in NGO coordination through support to the Humanitarian Information Center (HIC).

Donor support for Albania in 1999 was unflagging. The major bilateral donor in Albania continued to be Italy, followed by the USA, Greece, and Germany. The main multilateral donors also remain constant: the World Bank, IMF, European Union/Phare Programme, and the Council of Europe. The United Nations system, of course, plays a more politically neutral but equally incisive role. It was noted early in the year that disbursement rates for ODA were quite low when compared to program schedules. This brought about increased concern both on the part of the Government and the donors with regard to Albania’s limited ability to absorb development aid. Therefore 1999 has seen a renewed commitment to institutional and public administration reform, and also to the fight to establish law and order (an imperative which many donors link to the availability of funds), and the fight against corruption. Furthermore, the decentralization policy of the central government has lead to an increase in projects supporting regional and local structures in general.