STAR 3 - Sustaining and Advancing Local Governance Reform
 

What is the Project about?

STAR3 “Sustaining and Advancing Local Governance Reform” Project has been developed as a collaborative effort in consultation and agreement with the Ministry of Interior and the Project Development Partners. 

STAR3 aligns development partners in supporting a further consolidation of the results, especially through building upon STAR2 achievements to date, but also with a view to better respond to the Action Plan of the NCSDLG, in consideration of the current context of development assistance. The new project builds on the good experience and results of its predecessor and the Government renewed commitment reflected in the updated Action Plan for advancing the Decentralization and Local Government reform.

The project's overall goal is to strengthen local government effectiveness and efficiency through enhancing STAR3 the supporting framework, consolidating systems, standards and organizational capacities in place, expanding and sustaining service delivery innovation and best practices, and institutionalizing local government accountability to women and men for enhanced participatory governance.

The overall objective is supported by the following specific objectives:

1. Local government participatory governance practices are in place and functional and encourage civic engagement
2. Municipal systems and standards are enhanced, expanded, and consolidated for improved service delivery and overall municipal performance
3. Government institutions, responsible for decentralization and local government, are capacitated to effectively drive policy development, coordination, and monitoring

As part of the implementation principles the project plans to peruse the following:

Partnership: The project built as a partnership involving development partners and Albanian institutions at central and local level and CSOs.

The Ministry of Interior will be the highest-level partnership and project counterpart, as this institution has the overall mandate and oversight role on Local Governance and Decentralization reforms while it will work in partnership and close collaboration with several public offices and agencies.

Albanian municipalities will be the main counterparts and beneficiaries of the project assistance. Their commitment and absorption capacities critical for the successful implementation of the activities as well as for the sustainability of the interventions envisaged by the project.

Synergy, complementarity, and coordination with other funding partners and ongoing development initiatives is considered crucial for maximizing impact of project activities. Although each of the main development initiatives has its own and specific areas of work, several ones find themselves in some common areas contributing from different perspectives. Typical field receiving contributions from several partners are local finances, development of systems of performance indicators, local democracy, as well as capacity building of local administration. The project envisages increased consultations at technical level to integrate and optimize approaches and interventions in benefit of local government in these specific areas and other relevant ones identified during the project implementation. Part of these efforts will be also regular exchange of experiences and information.

Cross-cutting Issues such as and gender equity, social inclusion, environmental considerations are central to the activities of the project while supporting local government to improve systems for service delivery and its democracy.

Gender mainstreaming is planned to be integrated in all the project activities. During development of detailed approach for the project intervention are considered gender equity challenges and acquisition gender disaggregated data. Gender markers are part of the monitoring framework of the project as well.