SHUKALB Introduces Two Position Papers for the Water Sector in Albania

On 25 March 2021, SHUKALB organized a virtual stakeholder meeting to discuss on two position papers, “Better Integration of Capacity Development into Capital Investment Plans” and “Application of the Asset Management Products and Capacity Development for Local Government Units (LGUs) / Public Utility Companies (PUCs)”.  The meeting was organized in framework of the “Regional Capacity Development Network for Water and Sanitation Services (RCDN)” Project.

The virtual “round table” was attended by various representatives from central and local government institutions, to include the Water Regulatory Authority of Albania, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy, the Association of Albanian Municipalities and the Association for Local Autonomy, Bilateral Projects in the Water Sector and Donors, water and wastewater utilities, who shared their perspectives on the topics discussed in the position papers, while emphasizing at the same time the need to further address and discuss these issues in the broader context of the water sector challenges.  The meeting was moderated by Mihallaq Qirjo, Director of the Resource Environmental Center, Albania.

Both position papers highlight the need for the technical assistance, provided by donors and International Financial Institutions, as well as other forms of assistance that accompany most of the capital investments in the water sector in Albania (including capacity development), to better align and benefit from the existing resources and ongoing initiatives in the water sector.  More specifically, it would be beneficial for this assistance to rely on the experience and expertise created by SHUKALB through the years, in the areas of:

• Capacity building for PUCs to fill capacity gaps at the local level, through the assistance of expert groups and bilateral twinning;
• Asset management to enable PUCs to apply integrated information technologies, essential in improving the management and efficiency of water supply and sewerage services.

During the moderation Mihallaq Qirjo, stated that: “The Position Papers in their assessment and in the perspective of capital investments related to the accompanying measures are of great importance, now that the local government has an even greater important role to play”.

The meeting clearly emphasized the need to have a register of capital investments and assets, where the development of human resources and their evaluation have a very important place.

Elisabeta Poçi, Deputy Executive Director of SHUKALB, expressed that the expertise built over the years by SHUKALB, including 46 training courses, the expertise of its 126 subject matter experts, and a range of programs in the framework of regional capacity development partnerships, can best support and complement the component of accompanying measures as part of capital investment projects in the sector.

During the meeting several messages were conveyed and other important issues for advocacy were reinforced such as the need to aggregate the water supply and sewerage services to improve efficiency and address the lack of experts at the local level; the low performance of the sector; the need to further promote the experience of SHUKALB to LGUs; as well as need to strengthen the role of LGUs in the good management and monitoring of PUCs.

The two position papers are directed to both levels of government as well as to the donors and International Financial Institutions, providing clear information on capacity building products and local expertise.[:]