Projects

Short Description:

Overall goal

The overall development objective is to improve access to public services at central and local government level and the quality and efficiency in their delivery, through innovation.

Expected results

The expected results of the project are

• Public Service Delivery Policy Development and Implementation.

• Front Office - Back Office separation and the establishment of the service delivery standards for citizens and businesses.

• The Agency for Delivery of Integrated Services of Albania is supported and operational.

• Innovative solutions are promoted sustainably for the public service delivery reform implementation.

• E-government agenda activities with high impact on service delivery reform are implemented.

• Support to the Albanian reform programme management is provided.

Target group / Beneficiaries

The main partners and beneficiaries of the project will be the Deputy Prime Minister and its Agency for Delivery of Integrated Services (ADISA). DPM will be the primary interlocutor institution as the designated National Implementing Partner on behalf of the Government of Albania. ADISA represents a main target in terms of institutional and operational capacity building. Other key partners will be the National Agency for Information Society (AKSHI), the Minister of State for Local Issues and other line ministries, who provide administrative services to citizens directly or through their dependent agencies and institutions, high level committees as well as at the technical level involving their operational and service provider offices. Local government units will increasingly become partners as well. The final beneficiaries are the citizens and businesses in Albania. The number of directly impacted beneficiaries is estimated to be over 1.3 million, out of which 50.6% is female, 45.1% rural, 16.3% over 65 years of age, and 6.9% affected by some level of handicap.

Activities

The Project focuses on institutional capacity building and coordination, policy development, piloting of good practices and support to reforming the provision of services innovatively. The project will support the development of a Public Service Reform Policy, with a Result-based Framework (data gathering mechanism and reporting dashboard to inform the reform progress as well as decision- making).

The annual survey “Trust in Governance” will be carried out in the framework of the Open Government Partnership to capture the citizens’ perception of the performance of public institutions and service delivery.

Other main activities include the adoption of good practice in standardized service delivery, and customer care standards. The project will provide the environment and the organizational support for ADISA (equipment for the Head Office, capacity building for regional offices, establishment of the institutional framework for implementing the duties).

The project will also promote innovative solutions for public service delivery, with special consideration of the interaction between central and local government. The establishment of an Innovation Lab and the regional distribution of central government services will be supported.

Another focus will be on IT solutions such as nationwide broadband access and digitalization to improve the services for the beneficiaries.

Permanent technical expertise will be provided to strengthen the coordination of the various reform program components and of the project activities. An important component of this assistance is communication and outreach to ensure both awareness of reform benefits and engagement by the beneficiaries.

Context

Obtaining the status of the European Union candidate country in June 2014 has given an added impetus to the reforms in Albania. To achieve sustainable economic and social development, as set out in the National Strategy for Development and Integration (NSDI) 2015–2020, the Government of Albania (GoA) has identified six national strategic priorities, one of which is Innovative Good Governance, whose focus is the transformation of service delivery in Albania through a citizen-centric approach.

While government institutions are mandated by law to provide services to citizens and businesses, beneficiaries often encounter problems with these institutions due to a lack of information, transparency, accountability and efficiency and due to corruption.

Launched in April 2014 the reform of public service delivery has been fast paced with considerable progress. The reform, now led by the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) consists of a customer-oriented approach with different channels of public service delivery and takes advantage of innovative and ICT solutions.

The ISDA Support Project, a multi-donor mechanism managed by UNDP, was started in mid-2014 and is a critical financing mechanism to support the reform strategy and management capacities of the DPM as reform leader.