SHUKALB’s 2025 Year in Review

Dear Members, Friends, and Partners,

As we conclude another year, we would like to express our sincere gratitude for your trust, continued support, and engagement. Your dedication has been essential to the progress made in strengthening Albania’s water sector, and we look forward to building on these achievements and pursuing new milestones in 2026.

We extend our best wishes for happy holidays, good health, and a successful and prosperous New Year to you and your families.

As we step into 2026, we are happy to look back at 2025 with pride and gratefulness. We are thankful to our members, whose trust and engagement is at the core of our success, and to our partners for their valuable collaboration. The year 2025 gave us many reasons to celebrate, and we want to take a moment to recognize some of our milestones.

Among the highlights of 2025 was the record success of the 13^th Annual Balkans Joint Conference and Exhibition, held in Durres, Albania, from November 11–13. The Conference brought together over 500 water professionals from 22 countries, including representatives from utilities, private companies, academia, development partners, and government agencies. Over two days, attendees engaged in 37 insightful presentations delivered by 85 speakers, fostering meaningful discussions on the region’s evolving water sector challenges and innovative solutions. Running alongside the Conference, the Technical Exhibition featured cutting-edge solutions from 27 local and international companies, including advanced engineering services, pipes, pumps, meters, and software systems.

In 2025, The training and capacity development program of SHUKALB in 2025 included two D-LeaP programs, the “Access to Finance” program, which was delivered for the first time in Albania, and the“Water Safety and Crisis Management” program. In addition, in the framework of the RCDN+ project the “Introduction to Wastewater Systems for Managers and Engineers,” and the General Training of Trainers were delievered. These programs were attended by representatives from 11 regional water utilities and partner institutions such as ERRU, AKUK, and AMBU. Their delivery was made possible with support from the Regional Capacity Development Network (RCDN) project and the Danube Learning Partnership (D-LeaP).

Looking ahead to 2026, SHUKALB remains committed to offering programs that meet the evolving needs of water supply and sewerage companies and the broader sector, leveraging both its own resources and regional project and donor support.

In partnership with SHUKOS, we continued the delivery of the 11^th round of the Utility Benchmarking Program for Albania and Kosova, in the framework of Danube Learning Partnership (D-LeaP), for 10 water utilities in Albania and Kosovo.

In the framework of the RCDN Project, during 2025, SHUKALB organised several advocacy meetings with members of the two Inter Institutional Working Groups, the Human Resources Management and the Wastewater Management Group. As a result of the discussions from these meetings SHUKALB issued a Position Paper titled “Strengthening the wastewater sector in Albania through investments, policy support and human resource development”. This document offers an integrated, comprehensive and results-oriented approach, aimed at improving institutional cooperation, increasing the efficiency of services, protecting the environment and improving the quality of life for citizens.

As part of its Educational and Public Outreach efforts, SHUKALB supported water utilities across Albania in celebrating the World Water Day 2025 titled “Glacier Preservation.” To boost visibility, SHUKALB provided short videos, posters, and other digital content that utilities used in local awareness campaigns on water conservation and understanding household water bills. The flagship “Friends of Water” program for 3^rd grade students, engaged around 2,000 children across eight regions. Supported by Municipal Infrastructure Program V in six regions and directly by SHUKALB in Korça and Durres, the initiative encouraged students to share messages on protecting water resources through their drawings. With the selected 12 winning drawings SHUKALB has prepared the 2026 calendar, which is being distributed to water companies and partner institutions as a practical tool for ongoing awareness.

In December, SHUKALB partnered with Novamat shpk and BIOWORKS® Verfahrenstechnik GmbH to co-organize a workshop on modern wastewater treatment technologies, bringing together public institutions, water utilities, regulators, donors, private companies, and academia to promote sustainable solutions for improved plant performance. Earlier, in November, SHUKALB and SHUKOS held a pre-conference “Technology Transfer Workshop” within the Balkans Joint Conference, connecting utilities from Albania and Kosovo, public institutions, companies, and technology providers for concise presentations and professional exchange. Both initiatives directly support SHUKALB’s strategic objective to bridge technology and knowledge transfer between the private sector and practitioners.

Throughout the year, SHUKALB actively participated in key platforms across Europe and beyond, from policy dialogue in Oslo to utility collaboration in Central Asia and global discussions on water security in Bangkok. These engagements deepened regional cooperation, supported professional development, and expanded opportunities for cross-border learning, reinforcing SHUKALB’s commitment to bringing home advanced practices that help build a more resilient and innovative water sector for Albania and the wider region.

Each accomplishment this year strengthens our foundation for continued growth and innovation in 2026.We look forward to building on these successes, advancing sustainable water management, and fostering the development of our sector in Albania and the wider region.