{"id":6629,"date":"2022-12-28T11:13:38","date_gmt":"2022-12-28T10:13:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shukalb.al\/?p=6629"},"modified":"2022-12-29T15:35:12","modified_gmt":"2022-12-29T14:35:12","slug":"shukalbs-2022-year-in-review-message-by-elisabeta-poci-executive-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shukalb.al\/?p=6629&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"SHUKALB\u2019s 2022 Year in Review \u2013 Message by Elisabeta Poci, Executive Director"},"content":{"rendered":"

SHUKALB\u2019s 2022 Year in Review \u2013 Message by Elisabeta Poci, Executive Director <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dear Members, Partners, and Friends,<\/p>\n

As we prepare to step into the New Year we would like to wish you all a Happy, Prosperous and Healthy New Year in 2023.<\/p>\n

We wish to express our thanks and gratitude to all of our members, whose work, support, and engagement is at the core of our success and impact as an association.\u00a0 Furthermore, we wish to acknowledge the support and collaboration of our different partners, including the different institutional stakeholders in the water sector, our donors, as well as our neighbouring regional water associations.\u00a0 2022 marked a significant change for water sector in Albania, as the result of the key reform in the sector which foresaw the establishment of 15 Regional Water Supply and Sewerage Companies throughout Albania. The reform has already materialised itself and is progressing each day, and SHUKALB looks forward to supporting its implementation into the New Year 2023, and to working together with the new regional water utilities.<\/p>\n

One of the highlights of this past year for us was certainly the 2022 Danube Water Forum<\/strong> that we hosted and co-organized together with IAWD, on 28-29 June 2022, in Tirana, under the overall theme \u201cEnergizing the Water Sector in the Danube Region\u201d. The Forum brought together 200 participants from national and local governments, regulatory agencies, water utilities and professional associations as well as academia, from all the countries in the Danube region and beyond, and provided great content and opportunities for networking during its two days.<\/p>\n

Back to back with the Danube Water Forum, together with IAWD and with support from GIZ ORF MMS, we organized the Nexus Conference on Benchmarking and Asset Management, <\/strong>on 30 June 2022.\u00a0 The conference was attended by more than 130 participants, representing mostly water utilities in Albania and Kosovo, but also the Balkan Region, as well as other water sector stakeholders from both countries.<\/p>\n

Related to our capacity development<\/strong> activities in 2022, we delivered 2 training courses and 1 webinar as part of our own Training Program, which were attended by 44 participants from 16 water utilities across Albania on the topics of, financial statements, customer service and public relations, and technical regulations for the design and construction of water supply and sewerage systems. Furthermore, we piloted the Program on \u201cIntroduction of Wastewater Systems for managers and engineers\u201d in the framework of the Regional Capacity Development Network (RCDN) Project. The program was attended by 21 participants from 6 water utilities and 2 Municipalities and consisted of trainings and peer exchange on the topics of \u201cRegulation and Financing\u201d, \u201cTechnologies\u201d and \u201cManagement of Infrastructure Projects.<\/p>\n

Other capacity development activities were the development and delivery of a 2-day workshop on \u201cWastewater Management in the Context of the Circular Economy<\/strong>\u201d organized in partnership with the Global Water Partnership-Mediterranean (GWP-Med), and the co-organization of the Workshop of DHI Group on \u201cHydraulic analyses of water supply systems or digital twins supporting NRW, Energy management of water utilities<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n

SHUKALB engaged 25 trainers in all the capacity development activities offered to the WSS Companies during 2022. In addition, we provided professional development opportunities for our trainers through our own resources as well as in the context of RCDN. These opportunities included 2 dedicated meetings, 2 train of trainers on generic skills, and 3 specific train of trainers on the topic of waste water. Overall, 8 Trainers were capacitated during 2022.<\/p>\n

For 2023, SHUKALB is committed to continue to offer capacity development programs that respond to the needs of the water supply and sewerage companies, as well as to the needs of the broader water sector, using our own resources as well as other opportunities as part of regional projects and support from donors.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, SHUKALB was actively engaged in advocacy<\/strong> on topics of common interest and important to our members towards the improvement of the quality of water supply and sewerage services for citizens. In this regard, in the framework of RCDN, we developed a position paper on \u201cImproving the Regulatory Framework for Asset Management (AM) at the Local Level\u201d addressed to the central institutions to make informed decisions based on accurate data provided by the water supply and sewerage companies. In the process of consultation with our members and key stakeholders, 3 stakeholder dialogue meeting were organized attended by 70 representatives from different institutions. You can download the position paper by accessing the LINK<\/a>.<\/p>\n

During 2022, 18 Water Utilities in Albania participated in the Integrated<\/strong> Asset Management in Water Supply and Sewerage Utilities of Albania Project<\/strong>, respectively in the three phases Silver, Gold and Platinum. The Program was implemented by SHUKALB and Hydro-Comp Enterprise as the technical partners, and was supported by GIZ ORF and the IAWD. \u00a0Tirana Water Utility was the newest to join the program for the first time in January 2022. Four training courses were delivered for the use of EDAMS software providing capacity building in the topics of Network Data Management, Water Audit, Maintenance Management and more advance functions of Integrated Asset Management, with a participation of around 45 utility staff. \u00a0SHUKALB, together with the technical partner Hydro-Comp Enterprise will continue to offer these services, beyond the SEEAM program. Moreover, SHUKALB is aware and will adjust the program to fit the new reality of the water sector reform and the re-organization of water utilities into 15 new Regional Water Utilities.<\/p>\n

During 2022, SHUKALB implemented successfully the D-LeaP Water Safety Plan and Crisis Management (WSP&CM) Program<\/strong>, for 3 more water utilities, Durres, Shkoder, and Fier. The implementation of the program was supported by the RCDN and International Association of Water Service Companies in the Danube River Catchment Area (IAWD).\u00a0 The water utilities involved in the program have finalized their Water Safety Plan and the Crisis Management Plan, and are currently in the process of approving through the Administrative Council as internal documents to be used and referred to in case of a crisis event.<\/p>\n

In partnership with SHUKOS, we continued the delivery of the 8th<\/sup> round of the Utility Benchmarking Program <\/strong>for Albania and Kosova, in the framework of Danube Learning Partnership (D-LeaP)<\/strong>, for 13 water utilities in Albania and Kosovo.<\/p>\n

During May-June 2022, SHUKALB supported the Water Regulatory Authority of Albania (WRA) in the dissemination and building capacity on the New Tariff Setting Methodology (TSM)<\/strong> for the Water Services Sector in Albania. Four regional workshops were organized were it was presented the New Tariff Setting Methodology for Water and Wastewater Services prepared by WRA.\u00a0 The workshops were attended by 126 participants representing water utilities, National Water Supply-Sewerage and Waste Infrastructure Agency (AKUM), GIZ Albania, WRA and SHUKALB. The workshops were organized with the financial support of the World Bank through the Danube Water Program.<\/p>\n

The Annual Balkans Joint Conference and Exhibition<\/strong> which this year marked its 10th<\/sup> anniversary, was organized in Prishtina, Kosova, on 8, 9, 10 November 2022, coming back as a live event after the two years of virtual conferences due to COVID-19.\u00a0 The Conference attracted over 400 water professionals representing water utilities, donor\u2019s community, private companies, academic institutions as well as other central and local government institutions from 16 different countries. Participants at the Conference had the opportunity to visit the Technical Exhibition which was organized in parallel to the Conference. The Exhibition attracted 23 private companies coming from 10 different countries from the Balkan region, Europe, as well as Israel, which showcased their very latest products, from pipes, pumps, meters, software to engineering and management services.<\/p>\n

Regarding our \u201cOutreach Programs<\/strong>\u201d, SHUKALB supported Albanian Water Utilities in celebrating the World Water Day 2022, themed \u201cGroundwater \u2013 Making the Invisible Visible\u201d. SHUKALB prepared and distributed short videos and posters with informative and awareness raising messages on the importance of groundwater, that were further used by water utilities in organizing their digital awareness campaign through their social media.\u00a0 Furthermore, SHUKALB prepared and distributed leaflets with awareness messages, T-shirts, Tote bags, and pins with WWD logo and the logo of the water utilities, which were used by water utilities in organizing their traditional awareness campaign in their respective cities.<\/p>\n

During March 2022, for the second year in a row, SHUKALB joined efforts with the Rotary Club of Haifa in Israel, Hi-Teach, and Rotary Club of Tirana International for organizing the Rotary Hands Across Waters (RHAW) innovative STEAM educational program<\/strong> for the high schools in Albania.\u00a0 The RHAW Program uses the global Water and Sanitation challenge and advanced new solutions as base for collaborative cross-cultural science education. As part of the program, the participating schools create twinning and establish exchanges with other schools that are part of the program, in other countries.\u00a0 SHUKALB implemented the RHAW Program in two high schools in Tirana, the \u201cIsmail Qemali\u201d and \u201cQemal Stafa\u201d, and plans to extend this program to more schools across the country, with the support of its member water utilities as well.<\/p>\n

During 2022, SHUKALB in partnership with IRIDRA and BOKU implemented the project titled \u201cDevelopment of a Project Document for the implementation of Nature-Based Solutions for Wastewater Treatment in two Rural Areas in the Drin River Basin<\/strong>\u201d. The project was implemented in the framework of the \u201cPromoting the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources in South-eastern Europe, through the use of the Nexus approach\u201d Project, by the Global Water Partnership-Mediterranean (GWP-Med) in partnership with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA). The scope of the project document was to identity, assess and design two pilot projects for implementation of a natural based solution (NBS) for wastewater treatment in rural areas in Albania and Kosovo.<\/p>\n

All these achievements are the result of the hard work of SHUKALB\u2019s staff, the support of our Board of Directors and the commitment of our members.\u00a0 There is still a great amount to be done, but based on our experience of 22 years; we have proven that we can do it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SHUKALB\u2019s 2022 Year in Review \u2013 Message by Elisabeta Poci, Executive Director Dear Members, Partners, and Friends, As we prepare to step into the New Year we would like to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[213],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsletter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shukalb.al\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shukalb.al\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shukalb.al\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shukalb.al\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shukalb.al\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shukalb.al\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6629\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shukalb.al\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shukalb.al\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shukalb.al\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}