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Closing Thoughts on Women, Peace, Security Closeout

I’m pleased to share with you our final project newsletter, bringing a successful close to the one hundred and five months of PLGP’s work in Albania […]

PLGP Chief of Party
Youth Boards: Empowering Youth for a Better Future

Although youth in Albania are recognized as agents for social change, they continue to be largely excluded from local governance and face a daunting lack of […]

Women’s Small Business Program Paves the Way for Transformation

With a total area of 37.18 km2, the Municipality of Kamza is nestled into the capital Tirana. A medium-sized city with 125,632 inhabitants, Kamëz is 100 […]

Formalization, Commodities, and Increased Access Empower Women Producers

USAID’s Planning and Local Governance Project (PLGP) conducted the first-ever Gender-Sensitive Value Chain Analyses in Albania in 2019. Throughout this process, different barriers to women’s inclusion […]

Strategic Fiscal Planning Empowers Local Governments to Increase Citizen Support

Budget Reallocation Provides Access to Food Aid in Times of Crisis A government must be responsive to the needs of its citizens, throughout times of crisis […]

Youth Programming Builds Resiliency and Cultivates Leaders

Youth in Albania unfortunately encounter aggression, violence, and other risk factors for various types of abuse in many homes and communities. Increased awareness of risk factors, […]

#YouAreNotAlone – Opening the Door for Victims of Domestic Abuse

As the world reacted to newly implemented health and safety measures, some families in Albania became more at-risk for a sadly familiar, insidious danger of domestic […]

Building Bridges: Reflecting on the Past and Looking Ahead towards Continued Growth

Anyone familiar with the phenomenon will tell you: Preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) is complicated. In Albania, factors creating violent extremism have shown to be […]

Gender-Sensitive Value Chain Analysis in Albania

By Erald Lamja Women are present in all Albanian value chains and markets carrying out important functions. Although both the public and private sectors have numerous […]

Supporting Women’s Inclusion and Value Chain Development in Albania

A Guide for Practitioners and Interested Stakeholders By Erald Lamja As a result of laws, policies, and programs, Albania has seen improvements in various aspects related […]

National Conference “Unlocking Potential: Gender-Sensitive Value Chain Analysis to Develop Better Economic and Development Policy and Programs”

By Erald Lamja On March 5th, the USAID Planning and Local Government Project (PLGP), in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD), organized […]

Supporting Women’s Economic Empowerment in Value Chains

By Erald Lamja Economic growth, and the markets that enable that growth, are one of the well-documented drivers in reducing poverty. Markets are the main means […]

Municipalities and citizens’ safety

Nineteen municipalities across Albania receive basic training in tackling root causes to prevent radicalization and violent extremism. By Robert Korkuti and Diamanta Vito Municipalities today are […]

Political Will to Achieve Greater Equality

Mayor of Bulqiza commits to work towards gender equality on International Women’s Day By Monika Kocaqi and Dolly Wittberger Equality of women and men is a […]

Youth empowerment through self-defense programs

By Laureta Memo Youth in Albania often encounter aggression and violence and are exposed to other risk factors leading to various types of abuse. However, an […]

Empowering women through local incentives

Partner municipalities approve groundbreaking reduction in local tariffs for women- and youth-owned startups. By Diamanta Vito and Erald Lamja Increased agency amplifies the abilities of women […]

Reforms in Albania informed by Regional Best Practices

By Elton Stafa Albanian local governments face many challenges as they work to fulfill their responsibilities in education, social protection, and healthcare. Key obstacles include inconsistent […]

Early Childhood Education at the Intersection of Municipal Finance and Governance

By Elton Stafa PLGP’s recently finalized policy paper: “Early Childhood Education at the Intersection of Albanian Municipal Finance and Governance,” aims to improve Albanian policymakers’ understanding […]

Financing social protection – the key to improving quality of life for the most vulnerable

By Elton Stafa In 2016, Albanian local governments became solely responsible for providing protection and social services to some of the most disadvantaged groups and individuals […]

Cross-Border Cooperation to Support Vulnerable Communities

Representatives from Albanian Municipalities and Civil Society Organizations share best practices with Northern Macedonia counterparts – by Robert Korkuti Social, economic, and physical isolation are some […]

cross border management
Strengthening community resilience – saying No to violence against women

By Monika Kocaqi and Dolly Wittberger Violence against women is a violation of women’s human rights. Its different forms, including domestic violence, cause serious short- and […]

16 ditët e aktivizmit
Women’s Economic Empowerment

Building a Grassroots Approach with Municipal Support In 2019 the PLGP began to focus on one of the pillars of the Women, Peace and Security framework […]

For Effective Municipalities, Active Communities, Safer Citizens

Front-line actors utilizing a Guide to address causes of radicalization and violent extremism In the same manner that the central government develops national policies and coordinates […]

Asset Management – The Art of Balancing Performance, Risk and Cost

Water utility companies are under more pressure than ever to improve their overall performance and cost efficiency. The aging system makes it increasingly difficult for water […]

Albania’s New Roadmap to Strengthen Local Government

Updating the Decentralization Action Plan The PLGP is supporting the Ministry of Interior (MoI) to update and extend the Action Plan of the National Cross-Cutting Strategy […]

Transparent Government Is Good Government

Facilitating Citizen Advocacy Efforts and Participation In Decision-Making We at the PLGP strongly believe that transparency is a key element for good and accountable government. In […]

Better Policies Lead to Better Services

By Elton Stafa Preschool education finance reform, creating a more inclusive and resilient society Early childhood education is particularly important for improving the educational opportunities and […]

Intergovernmental Dialogue and Consultation Lead to Better Policies

Reinforcing Dialogue on Local Government Finance Reform An open and inclusive dialogue based on timely, accurate and reliable data between the national government and local self-governments […]

A Mayor’s Role in Economic Development

By Peter Clavelle Governments (national and subnational) and citizens, in countries in all phases of the development process, are recognizing the paramount importance of sustainable development. […]

From Hope to Goals

PLGP supports the Water Utility of Saranda to develop for the first time a Five-Year Business Plan and a Performance Improvement Action Plan When the PLGP […]

Strengthening Future Communities through the Youth of Today

Youth in Albania are a prominent influencing force in society today. Despite this, they still lack recognition from local governments and are therefore unable to reach […]

Transforming Lives Through Better Services

By Erald Lamja and Diamanta Vito –  This summer the Municipality of Elbasan began interventions in improving the irrigation and drainage systems across its territory. Mechanical […]

Bulqiza Youth Board, A Mechanism to Revitalize Community Life in Bulqiza

By Edison Balla –  Bulqiza is a town in northeastern Albania. Like a considerable number of small municipalities, this town “suffers” from scarce activism and lack of […]

The Importance of Local Safety Councils and the Role of Youth as Promoters of Change

By Robert Korkuti –  Confronted by the need for better coordination between state, non-state, and civil society actors, several municipalities established and formalized Local Councils for […]

Local Detailed Planning: From Design to Development Opportunities

By Ledio Allkja dhe Rudina Toto –  Territorial planning has evolved in Albania in recent years to make a qualitative leap forward towards integrated spatial development. […]

Improving the Quality of Tourism Offer

By Erald Lamja dhe Nevila Popa –  Berat Economic Development Advisory Council dedicates efforts to the specific demand of the Asian tourism market Berat is an […]

Supporting Municipalities in Accessing Funds for Strategic Projects

By Ledio Allkja dhe Rudina Toto –  Preparing successful fundable projects for support by financial or donor institutions remains a challenge for Albanian municipalities. Effective projects […]

Municipality Delivers on Promises

Nga Erald Lamja –  On December 9, 2018, Patos Mayor Balilaj handed over the keys of 10 apartments to women in need. “I have struggled my […]

Korça Study Tour Serves as a Knowledge-Sharing Opportunity for Staff of Other Water Utilities Across Albania

By Valu Add Management Services and Erald Lamja –  The water sector in Albania faces a pivotal moment. The Government of Albania (GoA), in line with […]

Support to Reduce Non-Revenue Water in Albania

By Valu Add Management Services –  The Government of Albania has identified improvement of water supply and sewerage services as one of its five crucial pillars […]

Energetic and Motivated

By Silvana Meko and Erald Lamja –  Technical Capacity-Building of New Recruits in the General Department of Property Tax Property tax reform constitutes a major development […]

Better Systems – Better Services

By Erald Lamja and Genc Radovicka –  Thanks to the support of USAID, the Municipality of Elbasan can now issue accurate and fair property tax bills, […]

USAID-Funded Tax Administration Systems as Instruments to Increase Own Source Revenues

By Erald Lamja and Genc Radovicka –  “Familiarization with the various reporting instruments provided by the TAIS system facilitates the work on tax administration and local […]

Advancing Fiscal Decentralization Reform

Nga Elton Stafa –  Albanian municipalities to receive for the first-time shares of the revenues collected from the National Tax on Personal Income The USAID’s Planning […]

The Law on Annual Budget for 2019 Is Approved. Any Implications?

By Elton Stafa –  On December 4th, Parliament approved the Law on the Annual Budget for 2019. The Ministry of Finance and Economy (MoFE) highlighted that […]

Intergovernmental Dialogue and Consultation Lead to Better Policies

By Bekim Murati and Elton Stafa –  An open and inclusive dialogue between the national government and local self-governments is key to improving both service delivery […]

USAID Leads Efforts to Improve the Quality of Preschool Education in Albania

By Elton Stafa and Erald Lamja –  “Equal access to relevant, quality education creates pathways for greater economic growth, improved health outcomes, sustained democratic governance, and […]

Vora’s Increased Own Source Revenues Provide Improved Local Services

By Erald Lamja and Silvana Meko –  As a result of steady increase of OSR, the Municipality of Vora has made significant investments in upgrading its […]

Building Skills for Labor Market Needs

By Erald Lamja and Nevila Popa –  With almost 16,000 families, the Municipality of Elbasan has some of the largest numbers of poor families that live […]

What Experience Teaches

The latest data show that, over the past two years, revenues from property taxes and recurrent fees increased 58% in Albanian municipalities which implemented tax management […]

Training a New Generation

The USAID Project’s sharing and free dissemination of its training and technical assistance materials make a lasting impact in Albania When Greta Kukeli began her degree […]

Ajdi and Fatri, Two Youngsters – One Vision

By Robert Korkuti and Lori Memo – The Pivotal Role of Youth in Improving Local Communities Ajdi and Fatri are students of excellence and active youngsters […]

Local Plans to Boost Development

By Tony Favro – In Albania, there are two major planning instruments, which municipalities use for their planning and land development tasks: 1) the General Local […]

Quality Service Improvement Program

By Lori Memo – Public services are a core responsibility of central and local institutions and quality public services are crucial to citizen wellbeing. For government […]

Personal View…

By Tony Favro – Financial instruments for land development are used extensively by cities all around the world to raise funds to build infrastructure. But just […]

Increasing the Predictability and Reliability of Local Budgets

The Ministry of Finance and Economy Prepares for the First-Time Multiyear Projections of the Unconditional Grant for Each Municipality. The adoption of the Law on Local […]

Fostering Intergovernmental Dialogue and Consultation

Albanian Mayors and Minister of Finance and Economy Discuss on Key Achievements and Next Steps for Fiscal Decentralization Reform. On April 17th, on the first anniversary […]

Local Governments’ Own Source Revenues for More and Better Local Services

For the second consecutive year, the 12 partner municipalities assisted by the USAID Planning and Local Governance Project have increased their revenues by more than 30%. […]

From Local to National

The USAID Project’s materials prepared to assist its partner municipalities are further developed and used by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy for all water utilities […]

Economic Development Advisory Councils – Engaging the Private Sector to Improve Municipal Policies

With the implementation of decentralization reforms, municipalities have the opportunity to improve the quality of life of their citizens. Decentralization positions municipalities to improve the delivery […]

Elbasan Water Utility is 1st

In light of the Territorial Administrative Reform (TAR), the territory of the new Municipality of Elbasan increased considerably, resulting to a larger administrative service area. The […]

Property Tax Reform: Improve Dialogue and Consultation between Local Government Units and the Ministry of Finance and Economy

During its seven years of work, the USAID Planning and Local Governance Project has supported the municipal finance and tax administration departments/staff of its partner municipalities […]

USAID Planning and Local Governance Program (PLGP)

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