LOCAL GOVERNANCE MAPPING IN ALBANIA 2020 Funded by the European Union Governance Perception in a Reforming Albania Nationwide Local Governance Mapping in Albania 2020 AUTHORS IDRA Research & Consulting and Human Development Promotion Center (HDPC) Funded by the European Union Disclaimer STAR2 - Consolidation of Territorial and Administrative Reform - is a project funded by the European Union, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland, USAID, UNDP and the Government of Albania. The project's implementing partner is the Minister of Interior. The project is implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Oce in Albania. This report has been drafted in the framework of the above project by IDRA. The presented results are obtained from the calculation of the perceptions and evaluations expressed by the participants in the assessment, selected through the procedure described in the Methodology of this study. The views, comments and opinions expressed in this report do not necessarily reect the views of the aforemen- tioned institutions. 4 LOCAL GOVERNANCE MAPPING IN ALBANIA ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This report is funded by STAR2 and implemented by a consortium composed of IDRA Research & Consulting (leader), Human Development and Promo- tion Centre - HDPC (member – involved in data analysis and report writing) and Gender Alliance for Development Centre – GADC (member – involved in data collection). The report acknowledges the joint eorts of all organiza- tions involved. The authors would like to thank UNDP Albania local governance team, STAR2 project sta, the Ministry of Interior and the Agency for Support of Local Self-governance in Albania for their valuable guidance on the local governance mapping methodology, coordination with dierent central government and municipal stakeholders and helpful comments and suggestions throughout the exercise. The local governance mapping would not have been completed without the commitment and active participation of the municipal stakeholders, which include mayors, heads of key municipal departments and administrative units and civil society organizations in the various discussions and consultations. Special thanks are due to the people of Albania across the 61 municipalities who willingly participated in the process of mapping, sharing their perspectives and aspirations. The local governance mapping was undertaken as part of UNDP Albania’s STAR2 project and is funded by the European Commission, the governments of Sweden, Italy, Switzerland and USAID. LOCAL GOVERNANCE MAPPING IN ALBANIA 5 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS A Accountability CD Community Dialogues CRC Citizen Report Card CSOs Civil Society Organizations DLP Detailed Local Plan DR Desk Research E&E Eectiveness and Eciency GIS Geographic Information System GLP General Local Plans GRB Gender Responsive Budget LG Local Government LGB Local Government Barometer LGM Local Government Mapping LGUs Local Government Units MFG Municipal Focus Group MoFE Ministry of Finance and Economy MoI Ministry of Interior NCSDL National Cross-Cutting Strategy for Decentralization and Local Governance 2015-2020 MTBP Medium Term Budget Programme NTPA National Territorial Planning Agency P&CE Participation and Citizens Engagement TAR Territorial Administrative Reform T&RoL Transparency and Rule of Law UNDP United Nations Development Program 6 LOCAL GOVERNANCE MAPPING IN ALBANIA TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................................ 12 General ndings ............................................................................................................................... ................... 14 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... .......................... 17 1. Background : Albania’s governance context and local governance mapping........................................ 21 1.1 Local governance reforms and challenges in Albania .............................................................................................. 23 1.2 STAR2 project context .......................................................................................................................................................... 27 1.3 Obje ctives of the Governance Mapping Exercise ...................................................................................................... 28 1.4 Gene ral Description of Albanian Municipalities ......................................................................................................... 29 2. Mapping Methodology .............................................................................................................................. 33 2.1 Analytical Framework for Local Governance Mapping ............................................................................................ 34 2.1.1 ..................................................................................................................................... 35 2.1.2 Transparency and Rule of Law ................................................................................................................................ 36 2.1.3 Accountability............................................................................................................................................................... 36 2.1.4 Participation and Citizen Engagement................................................................................................................ 37 2.2 Resea rch Methods ................................................................................................................................................................. 37 2.2.1 Secondary Data ...........................................................................................................................................................38 2.2.2 Primary Data............................................................................................................................... ...................................38 2.2.3 Citizen Report Card Survey...................................................................................................................................... 39 2.3 Scoring approach............................................................................................................................... .................................... 40 2.4 Prole of Respondents ........................................................................................................................................................ 41 3. L ocal Governance mapping: Findings.......................................................................................................45 3.1 An Overview of Local Governance ............................................................................................................................... ... 47 3.2 ............................................................................................................................................... 52 3.2.1 Vision and Planning of local administration ...................................................................................................... 58 3.2.2 Financial Management............................................................................................................................... ................ 61 LOCAL GOVERNANCE MAPPING IN ALBANIA 7 3.2.3 Informed Decision Making ....................................................................................................................................... 65 3.2.4 Coordination and Cooperation ............................................................................................................................... 68 3.2.5 Level of Satisfaction with Services ....................................................................................................................... 72 3.3 Transparency and Rule of Law ........................................................................................................................................... 85 3.3.1 Transparency ................................................................................................................................................................. 90 3.3.2 Rule of law ...................................................................................................................................................................... 97 3.3.3 Incidence of corruption............................................................................................................................................. 101 3.4 Accountability ......................................................................................................................................................................... 108 3.4.1 Checks and balances .................................................................................................................................................. 112 3.4.2 Local Government Recourse Mechanisms........................................................................................................ 117 3.4.3 Government Responsiveness ...............................................................................................................................120 3.5 Participation and Citizen Engagement ........................................................................................................................123