LOCAL THIRD SECTOR ORGANIZATIONS: A MISSING LINK IN GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT The case of Albania Lorna Qesteri The Bartlett School of Planning, University College London (UCL) This thesis is submitted in support of the Ph.D. degree 23 July 2020 1 I, Lorna Qesteri, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. London, 23 July 2020 Signature: 2 Abstract Global development started nearly seventy years ago, led by global north governments towards the development of the global south, continues to generate heated debates regarding its most effective approaches. These approaches have changed significantly from the initial growth- centered and linear to become more human-centered and context-driven, including a new array of actors from global south governments themselves, to private and third sectors. The latter grew particularly in size and relevance in the early nineties with the fall of communist regimes across Central and Eastern Europe and the economic crisis in Sub - Saharan Africa. At this time international third sector organizations became the main channel of absorbing and implementing bi-lateral funding in the global south. The rise of the third sector has also been accompanied with increased skepticism from both the media and the public regarding its efficiency and effectiveness. Examples include their high administrative costs (as a ratio to their activities) or being donor-led as compared to needs-led. While research and data on international third sector organizations are increasing, very little is known about local third sector organization and their role in development. This research investigates local TSOs roles, their approaches as well as places them in the broader global development project. This is done by focusing on Albania, a country that comes from a long suffered communist regime and with a fairly new local third sector, emerged in 1992 and active in addressing local issues in the absence of the public sector. This research investigates the typology of local third sector organizations, approaches employed over the course of years, cooperation with other development actors and lastly their role in global development. This is done through a series of in-depth case studies, interviews with practitioners and review of secondary data. 3 Table of Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 3 Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... 4 List of Figures and Tables .......................................................................................................... 7 List of Acronyms ......................................................................................................................... 8 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 10 1.1. Local third sector’s place within the global development project .................... 10 1.2. Why this research? ................................................................................................ 14 1.3. Research Question and Methodological Consideration .................................... 17 1.4. Key concepts and underlying theory ................................................................... 18 1.5. Structure of the thesis ........................................................................................... 21 PART 1 – .................................................................................................................................. 23 DEFINING THE RESEARCH TERMS ..................................................................................... 23 CHAPTER TWO. Development as a global project ................................................................. 24 2.1. The Birth of the global development project ............................................................ 24 2.2. Development today – a volatile project .................................................................... 26 2.3. Development definitions ............................................................................................ 27 2.4. Development Theories ................................................................................................ 28 2.5. Development Impact ................................................................................................... 31 2.6. Regional and local development ............................................................................... 33 2.7. Decentralization ......................................................................................................... 40 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................ 41 CHAPTER THREE – The rise of third sector in development ................................................. 43 3.1. Definitions .................................................................................................................... 43 3.2. The rise of Third Sector in the global south ............................................................. 45 3.4. Third Sector typologies and approaches to development ..................................... 48 3.5. Third sector criticism .................................................................................................. 49 CHAPTER FOUR. Methodology .............................................................................................. 51 4.1. Research Question and objectives ........................................................................... 51 4.2. Selection of Research Methods ................................................................................. 54 4.3. Sampling ...................................................................................................................... 57 4.4. Data collection methods ............................................................................................. 61 4.5. Key themes emerged .................................................................................................. 65 4 Part 2 ........................................................................................................................................ 67 Analyzing local third sector in Albania ..................................................................................... 67 CHAPTER FIVE. Context Analysis .......................................................................................... 68 5.1 The case of Albania ..................................................................................................... 68 5.2. Definition and key developments in local development in Albania ....................... 71 5.3. Key Actors ................................................................................................................... 74 5.3.1. Public Sector ........................................................................................................ 77 5.3.2. Other actors in local development in Albania .................................................. 82 5.3.3. Private Sector ...................................................................................................... 94 5.4. Third sector ................................................................................................................. 95 5.5. Third sector contribution to local development in Albania .................................... 98 5.6. Local Government’s role in local development ..................................................... 100 5.7. Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 101 CHAPTER SIX. Characteristics of Local Third sector in Albania ........................................... 103 6.1. Why and how local TSOs emerged? ....................................................................... 103 6.2. Typology of third sector organizations .................................................................. 106 6.3. Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 113 CHAPTER SEVEN. Who has benefited and how? ................................................................ 114 7.1. Understanding beneficiaries .................................................................................... 114 7.2. Third Sector Local Development Approaches ....................................................... 120 7.3. Third sector successful local interventions ........................................................... 126 7.4. Sustainability ............................................................................................................. 129 7.5. Cooperation with local governance ........................................................................ 131 7.6. Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 133 CHAPTER EIGHT: Discussion and conclusions .................................................................... 134 Key conclusions: ............................................................................................................