After working from May 2016 the project ‘Albania Speaks’ by the Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM) presented its first results in trying to create ‘community structures’ in Albania. 

The Municipality of Berat was the first to adopt this concept and establish its first community structures. Swiss Ambassador Christoph Graf stated that time is gone for the extremes of forced collectivisation or wild individualism and Albanian citizens must act by taking responsibility at their local level and by working together. 

“It is time to reach an optimal match about what is the public and what is the private sphere. I strongly believe that a good democratic society starts at the local level, at our town, village and neighbourhood”, said Ambassador Graf. 

Mayor of Tirana Erjon Veliaj spoke about the progress made in Tirana in establishing council units for apartment blocks which will be followed by signing contracts with the elected administrators within this year. 

“We have allocated a fund for around 200 community projects. This means that through the building administrators inhabitants can apply to renovate their building’s façade, as well as for renewable energy, for solar panels or for aesthetical effects, for which the Municipality will pay half of the investment”, said the Mayor. 

The Executive Director of ‘LëvizAlbania’ – the Swiss-funded project in support of local democratic actions – Valbona Kuko stressed the importance of citizens’ role in local decision-making. 

“The Administrative Reform brought about the enlargement of municipal territories and thus revealed the absence of a strong connection between councilors and citizens, distanced the citizens’ voice in decision-making and increased the non-representation”, said Ms. Kuko. 

“Berat municipality has integrated IDM’s suggestions on the functioning of community structures and I take this opportunity to invite and appeal to other municipalities to follow this example”, continued the Executive Director of LëvizAlbania. ‘Albania Speaks’ began with a study on how public institutions and individuals view the concept of community structures. The findings from 10 municipalities reveal that interest for self-organised structures varies from ‘skepticism’ to ‘appreciation’ and to actual ‘implementing initiatives’. 

Since the new Law on Local Self Government came to force and in particular Articles 68 and 69, there is a legal basis to create community structures. These are neighbourhood councils that inter-connect with the main municipality and can implement projects that benefit citizens. 

The law charges municipal councils with the authority to delegate functions to these community structures. However, there are still a lot of challenges in applying visible examples of such structures. The conference highlighted the need for central and local authorities, civil organisations and donors to work together in creating a more favourable environment for communities to self-organise and undertake local functions.