The National Association of Municipalities of Albania (NAMA) has launched the implementation of the project “Empowering Municipalities for Transparent Grants to CSOs”, an important initiative that aims to strengthen the capacities of local governments in the transparent and inclusive management of funds for civil society organizations (CSOs).
This project is supported by UNDP Albania within the framework of the ReLOaD3 Program, funded by the European Union. It will have a duration of 34 months, providing continuous support to partner municipalities in improving financing practices and providing better quality services to citizens.
The project focuses on:
• strengthening transparency and accountability in the distribution of grants to CSOs;
• practical implementation of the Local Democracy (LD) methodology;
• building sustainable partnerships between municipalities and civil society.
Within the framework of this initiative, the LSCC will train and professionally assist 6 partner municipalities: Bulqizë, Kurbin, Vorë, Has, Gjirokastër and Tepelena, supporting them in:
• competitive and inclusive management of grant schemes;
• increasing administrative and technical capacities;
• strengthening dialogue and cooperation with the civil community.
The first meeting of the project marked the official launch of its implementation and served as a platform for the presentation of the main objectives and activities. An important moment of this activity was the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the LSCC and the partner municipalities, formalizing the institutional cooperation for the implementation of the project.
This project constitutes an important step towards strengthening the cooperation between local government and civil society. In the subsequent phases, especially during the third year, the experience and good practices developed will be extended to other municipalities that have not previously been part of the ReLOaD program.