Project “Support for Strengthening the National Association of Municipalities”
Since February 2026, the National Association of Municipalities (NAM) has launched the implementation of the Project “Support for Strengthening the National Association of Municipalities” with the support of NALAS and with the funding of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation as part of the multi-year support for unifying the voice of municipalities in a consolidated National Association of Municipalities. The project will be implemented until September 2026.
The project aims to strengthen the representative, advocacy role and expansion of services for the Association’s membership, serving the NAM’s 2030 Vision for an efficient and effective local government. Based on the consolidation of the NAM’s membership base and the organization and internal functioning, this project focuses on strengthening the institutional and operational capacities of the Association as well as its thematic forums.
The main components are:
Support to the decentralization process
Based on the Cooperation Agreements for decentralization in the sectors of agriculture, health and education between the relevant ministries and the municipalities of Shkodra, Berat, Divjaka and Kolonja, the Association will support the dialogue with the central government, the analysis of problems and the identification of spaces for further decentralization based on these pilot models of cooperation. Policy documents will be drafted for each of the sectors, ensuring that the experiences and challenges of the municipalities directly inform the reforms at the national level.
Support to Technical Forums
Thematic forums will be supported to identify common priorities of municipalities across the country, with particular attention to smaller municipalities. These priorities will be translated into medium-term work plans for some of the forums. During the project, work will be done with:
Local Finance Forum, for the review of the unconditional grant formula, grants for capital investments and local borrowing.
Urban Mobility, Energy and Climate Forum, for the preconditions that need to be met to enable municipalities to prepare Municipal Climate Change Adaptation Plans starting from 2027.
Human Resources Forum, for the organizational development of municipalities, including administrative management, dependent institutions, number of employees dependent on services, etc.
Urban Planning Forum, for the revitalization of abandoned or long-term unused assets.
Support for local democracy
The National Forum for Local Democracy as one of the main platforms for dialogue brings together mayors, central government officials, members of Parliament, international partners, etc., to address the challenges and opportunities faced by Albanian municipalities. This year’s edition will address the topics of European Integration, Administrative Reform and Decentralization.
Inter-Municipal Cooperation
The project will engage in finding good practices of inter-municipal cooperation, with a focus on benefiting from European Union funds. The association will support the replication of good practice in interested municipalities.