UNDP in Albania and the Minister of State for Youth and Children signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The main scope of this MOU includes:

• Support the Minister of State for Youth and Children to adopt and improve the regulatory framework regarding public financing of civil society organizations.
• Strengthen the capacity of national institutions to implement transparent public funding instrument for civil society organizations.
• Enhance capacities of National Youth Agency to implement grant schemes and deliver good quality and gender responsive projects that generate greater youth engagement in local/national affairs.
• Enhance capacities of national institutions to generate greater youth engagement and promote public dialogue on youth related affairs.

“I am very happy of the partnership with the Minister for Children and Youth and through this MoU, we can move forward with tangible actions and interventions in a number of pillars such as: democracy, promoting peace with civic participation in local and national level, environment, volunteerism and other relevant topics for young people and their communities”, said Monica Merino, Resident Representative of UNDP in Albania, while signing the MoU to extend the cooperation on several important issues related to youth development agenda.

Bora Muzhaqi, Minister of State for Youth and Children underlined:” I look forward to our concrete actions implementing the MoU in tangible actions that impact the youth organizations and Albanian Youth. I’m sure this will help us deliver better results for youth”.

This new initiative is added to other current interventions undertaken by UNDP and other UN agencies in partnership with the Minister of State for Youth and Children such as the implementation of Peace Building Fund Regional Youth Joint Programme, the ReLOaD programme funded by the European Union and supporting the Minister of Youth for the Development of the National Youth Strategy 2022-2029.