PROJECT NUMBER: ALB/95/002

This UNDP project is implemented in collaboration with IFAD, Dutch SNV and the Government of Albania. The project includes assistance in the preparation and execution of the Annual Work Programmes, budgets, and in monitoring and evaluation procedures. The project provides assistance in the revised implementation approach and continues to find operational modalities for the credit component and for the establishment of Water Users Associations through support to the Water Users Development Section. The project cooperates with the SSIRP Project Coordination Unit located in Tirana, but it interacts with the Government and project staff posted in the four districts in which the SSIRP operates, i.e. Mat, Mirdite, Bulqize and Diber.

PROJECT NUMBER: ALB/95/003

EXECUTING AGENCY: Government of Albania

IMPLEMENTING AGENCY: Ministry Public Works and Transport

APPROVAL DATE: November 1995

BUDGET: TRAC 1.1.1&1.1.2 - US$ 360,000

The aim of this project (first phase) is to assist the Government of Albania through its Ministry of Construction and Tourism for the preparatory works for the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (HABITAT II) held in Istanbul between 3-14 June 1996, which was successfully implemented and was finalised with the participation in HABITAT II Conference and preparation of the Albanian Report. The second phase of the project will assist in guiding the Government of Albania to gather and process data to better address settlements, shelter and urbanization issues and to introduce new principles and commitments to guide a coordinated national action on human settlements for the coming decades. The project has been extended to support implementation of national policies with the principles adopted in the HABITAT II Conference, improvement of cost-efficiency at the household level and to upgrade the Technical Archive of Construction. Two other components are introduced:

National Heating Agency, which by the end of the Project will prepare a long term National Energy Policy, with a full set of indicators, very useful for the housing problem.

Upgrading of the Technical Archive, which is in the implementation phase. The Archive has finished with the training programme and has prepared a detailed list of equipment necessary for its modernization.

The UNDP policy of collaboration with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Albania has resulted in significant initiatives to support the role and activities of such organizations. Collaboration with NGOs has centered on poverty alleviation and linkages to environmental sustainability.

The PDP II implemented in Albania seeks to better include the NGOs within the overall development of the country, strengthen their capacity to work with the community, and facilitate the networking among CSOs (Civil Society Organizations) and the Government of Albania.

As UNDP moves its contribution upstream into the areas of policy development and capacity building, cooperation with CSOs must become an integral element of this strategy. There are three closely interrelated goals proposed by the Government of Albania and UNDP Tirana to be taken under consideration in this project extension:

Improving policy dialogue between government and CSOs and fostering enabling environments for CSO involvement in sustainable human development;

Meeting the capacity-building needs of civil society through small grants for local CSO initiatives, so that it may effectively promote sustainable human development.

Strengthening the institutional capacities of the NGO Department in the Ministry of Labour for a better promotion of CSOs and NGOs in the sustainable human development framework.

The Special Programme on Food Security project is a result of the global FAO initiative for developing food security strategies in several countries. Through the joint efforts of the FAO, UNDP and the Albanian Ministry of Agriculture and Food it has been made possible to draft and start the implementation of such a project in Albania since June 1998.