The project “Regional Capacity Development Network (RCDN) for Water and Sanitation Services” aims at increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the water utilities in the Western Balkans, contributing to better service provision with larger numbers of population groups getting access to drinking water and sanitation services and meeting the EU environmental Acquis Communautaire.

The project is jointly financed by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and development (BMZ), and it is administratively embedded in the GIZ Project “Open Regional Fund for Southeast Europe – Modernisation of Municipal Services (ORF MMS)”, commissioned by BMZ.

Three key sets of activities will contribute to achieve the RCDN project outcomes:

Outcome 1: The Associations of water utilities and municipalities in the Western Balkans, in cooperation with NALAS and IAWD, are enabled to deliver quality capacity development measures to water utilities and municipalities in the frame of the RCDN in a financially sustainable manner.

Outcome 2: Management and technical staff of water utilities and public officials of municipalities have access to and make use of RCDN’s high-quality, demand-oriented and formal capacity development products.

Outcome 3: National Authorities, International Financial Institutions and Donors promote the use as well as contribute to the improvement of the RCDN capacity development offer.

The RCDN builds upon and integrates the existing CD activities, on regional as well as national levels, and facilitates scaling-up and further replication throughout the region. Strengthening capacities of associations for collaborative CD delivery is core of the methodological approach. The project will provide the necessary assistance for introducing and enhancing functional capabilities, procedures and instruments that shall allow the RCDN partner associations to deliver fee-based CD products to water utilities and municipalities in an effective manner.

To this end, the project will enable 16 associations of municipalities and water utilities from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, as well as their regional networks NALAS and IAWD, to facilitate and coordinate CD initiatives in the region and to support the delivery of CD measures to water utilities and municipalities in the respective countries. It will also involve further key stakeholders, such as lending institutions (International Financial Institutions – IFIs, etc.) active in the infrastructure sector which are interested in strengthening capacities to develop and secure their operations in the water and sanitation sector or Donors which may benefit from a regional platform to identify CD needs, dialogue with the stakeholders and their design policies.

For more information on the project click on this link.

USAID has given SHUKALB a Grant to support the fulfillment of Mission Objective 4 of the Albanian Water Supply and Sewerage Services Sector Strategy (2011-2017), and particularly Priority Action 4.a: Establish a national program of training and certification, with training target requirements at all water utilities. The Grant Project will develop an institutionalized curriculum of training, which is financially self-sustaining. The curriculum will be designed to qualify candidates for test-based operator certification and provide opportunities to certified operators and skilled technicians to continuously upgrade their skills in the water supply and sewerage sector. (USD 1.3 Million with 10% cost share from SHUKALB)

The objective of this Grant Project, under funding from IAWD, is to complete the Management Team by developing a Training Program Curricula Framework for the General Director and the Commercial Director of a water supply and wastewater utility, which could also become test-based certifiable positions.  The Project’s target group is clearly beyond Albania, benefiting utility management in all of the countries of the Danube Region.

The specific objective of the Project is to implement the Development of the Training Program Curricula, and to define the most effective delivery method, across the region, for the Training Program.

This was a competitive grant project under the DWP. The overall objective of the Project was to develop, in sufficient detail, the Framework and Business Model for a Regional Training Centre that would initially serve the Western Balkans.  The philosophy of the Training Centre is to focus on training delivery and not to create fixed assets for training. (Budget:Eur 58,000 with 10% cost share from SHUKALB)

This was a competitive grant project under the DWP. The overall objective of the Project was to develop a formal, fully documented, training course that can be used to strengthen the capacities of national water associations by  providing formal training and a reference manual in the preparation of a Five-Year Strategic Business Plan, and the process for the annual review and updating of the Plan (Budget: Eur 62,000 with 10% cost share from SHUKALB)