DLDP holds first constitutive meetings for Centers of Competence

Also, consultative meetings with experts of Centers of Competence and the Network of Women in Politics on the new organic law of local government.

In the framework of DLDP activities, in Tirana was held the meeting of Centers of Competence. 

Centers of Competence are an important instrument of the DLDP program to distribute the knowledge achieved, to consult products and to exchange experiences. This meeting, the first as regards Centers of Competence after June 21st local elections, had a special importance, because now DLDP will identify its partners for the two coming years in each of its supporting field. By means of a selection process, the municipalities not only expressed their willingness to cooperate with the program, but also identified the field where they need to receive support and at the same time are ready to offer expertise. By filling in membership questionnaires, each municipality delegated in respective Centers of Competence their own specialists. 

At the inaugural meeting of September 25th, DLDP brought together experts from local administration engaged in fields such as: strategic and financial planning, fund accessing and management through projects, public services (specifically waste management) and administrative services, as well as 22 women members of the local councils, included in the Network of Women in Politics. There were in attendance also representatives of DLDP partner organizations and line ministries. Being that the State Minister on Local Affairs has already distributed the draft of the law on “Organization and Functioning of Local Government”, DLDP invited participants to fully thematically discuss in the first session of this consultative platform such as the Center of Competence.

The focus of this consultative platform was the presentation of new features of the draft-law on the “Organization and Functioning of Local Government” affecting local government and discussing with participants the possibilities for improvement. 

In the first session, DLDP invited some of the experts who worked on the preparation of this draft-law or that have participated in the consultative tables, to present their views, explain specifics, and give recommendations for improvements.

Mrs.  Albana Dhimitri, local government expert, presented the general framework and the new features this law would bring, by giving a summary of the need, situation and steps undertaken for the changes made by stressing the amendment of an organic law, which will implement a new normative framework for the organization and functioning of the local government. 

The participants asked questions and discussed on the new typology of the local government competencies, on the new features of the administrative organization, and in particular on how the new organic law addressed the new municipal functions. This presentation was followed by the presentation of Mrs. Saemira Pino – Gjipali, an expert of gender equality, who discussed the draft-law through gender optics. She stressed the main points that the draft-law guarantees equality from a gender perspective, but in the conditions when gender discrimination exist, the legislation must aim to encourage and promote really gender equality. Mrs. Gjipali gave tangible evidences for the promotion of the equality and the participation of women in public life. In the end of her speech, she stressed among other things that positive experiences of NGOs supported by international organizations must be turned into law as regards the narrowing of gender distinctions, and especially as regards the promotion of gender equality in local level, such as: the strengthening of the role of women councilors, gender budgeting and gender analysis, local administration capacities’ increase, and so on.

The implications for local finances as regards this draft-law, were clearly deconstructed by the expert on public finances, Mr. Fran Brahimi, who after a description of principles of local government financing, income from local sources, local municipal taxes, income from national sources, etc., spoke at length on new features of this draft-law, such as the materialization of internal auditing by establishing a Commission of Finances as an internal auditing mechanism of the municipalities, the issue of the formula, transfers, and the right to establish taxes and tariffs, the way of calculation, gathering and administration inside boundaries and according to criteria described by law, etc.; and these issues caused prompted many questions and discussions among participants.

The presentations of the panel of experts were closed with the speech of public services experts, Mr. Eduart Cani, who discussed the new organic law as regards public services, specifically in the sector of urban waste. An important part was the new features this draft-law brings, such as the principle of multitudes of ways to carry out services, starting from internal structures of the municipality itself to the specifics of public-private partnerships, the sanctioning of the obligation to set up standards on performance management for each of the public services and the obligation for their monitoring, more rights to municipalities by giving way to the freedom of action beyond Qark – level sanctions, etc.

The meeting of the Centers of Competence continued its work in parallel separate sessions according to thematic, where members of the Centers of Competence had the possibility to express their opinions in front of DLDP experts, including their experiences, concerns and recommendations on issues of waste management, finances, funds access, gender equality, as regards the new organic law.

A new feature in this meeting was the establishment of the Center of Competence with the participation of the Network of Women in Politics, as another possibility to strengthen the role of women councilors in their municipalities. 

DLDP, in the spirit of this meeting, will organize a number of consultative platforms, making possible the collection of their results in a list of recommendations, which will come from platforms and different sources of information. These recommendations will be presented to actors that will finalize the new organic law on local government.