FUND ACCESS

• The program co-financed around 1 Million Euros in two rounds of the competitive grant scheme in Shkodra and Lezha Qarks. The number of co-financed projects in both rounds was 23 out of 33 fully developed applications.  
• 21 out of 54 LGUs of the two beneficiary regions participated with at least one financed project (this accounts for around 40 % of the total number of LGUs in the region). The type of projects co-financed respond well to the concrete needs and priorities at local level. The projects included improvement of public services, promoting especially two important services such as interventions in waste management and improvement of information and communication services through one stop shop projects in 5 LGUs and urban planning.
• An estimated 189.637 persons (94237 women / 95400 men, 2603 disabled) have benefited and almost 200 LGU staff (68 women / 132 men) was trained in project cycle management, public procurement, etc.
• The use of existing national procurement and financial guidelines as well as treasury systems for the projects implementation has been of great importance to the Local and Central Government representatives. Hence, dldp applied on-budget support and e-procedures to improve procurement and service delivery (including interLGU procurement).
• dldp co-financed projects have been cost-effective. A cost-benefit analysis report was prepared for the dldp interventions. Selected indicators such as cost/m2 and cost/beneficiary in a sizeable sample of infrastructure projects compare quite well with other well performing projects in the country.
• Citizen participation in the grant fund was assured. Individual meetings, community groups’ meetings, public announcements, usage of Internet, traditional and social media web site, participation of community representatives in project monitoring were all methods for community information and mobilization used by the LGUs to enhance the citizen participation during the projects implementation. This included a full cycle of participation during the selection of the priorities, transparency and accountability during implementation, open discussions on the problems arising during the implementation and beneficiary satisfaction measurement at the end of the project. An average of 80 % of respondents on the beneficiaries’ assessment state that the quality of the project implemented is good or very good and more than 75 % of the asked respondents state that they were informed on the details of the project.