Albania

How It Started

In 2000, the Albanian government and the World Bank asked the Carter Center’s Global Development Initiative to help develop and support a National Strategy for Socioeconomic Development.

Our Work and Methods

We facilitated unprecedented collaboration between the government, nongovernmental organizations, and citizens by:

• Disseminating information and supporting public access to research
• Strengthening the capacity of NGOs to analyze policy
• Organizing town hall meetings across the country
• Bringing government officials and NGOs together to form working groups and develop policies and strategies

Impacts

As the government implemented the strategy in 2002, we helped create a network for monitoring its implementation. This work included:

• Training on monitoring and evaluation
• Outreach work with local communities
• Public forums with civil society, public officials, parliament members, and the business community
• Production and submission of policy position papers
• Mobilizing citizens to promote policy change
• Sponsoring development cooperation forums

Through our Global Development Initiative, which was discontinued in 2006, we empowered Albania to create effective change and, in doing so, helped strengthen democracy.