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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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%. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]