The US government has increased further support with funding for Albania, increasing the amount of funding for strengthening the state’s justice program, establishing good governance, and creating conditions for broad-based, sustainable and inclusive economic growth.
The amendment of the 2013 agreement between the Albanian and American governments has been submitted to the Assembly for ratification. The change consists of increasing the amount of current funding, given in the form of a grant from the American side, with more than $6.35 million thus increasing the total of the required amount by USAID so far, from $33.6 million dollars in $40 million dollars, writes SCAN. This increase in the amount of funding makes the total USAID contribution for the period 2013-2018 grow and reach $60 million.
“The proposed amendment to the support agreement for the development objectives between the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Albania and the Government of the United States, to strengthen the rule of law and good governance, creating conditions for a basic wide, sustainable and inclusive economic growth, comes as a result of the allocation by the American side of an additional fund of $6,353,265 USD, bringing the amount made available to the Government, up to this point in $40,025,302 USD. Meanwhile, through this change, the total amount of financial assistance provided by the government of the United States for the year 2013 -2018, from $35,262,000 USD to $60 million USD“, as written in the report. But what will the additional funds be used for? Referring to the agreement, the additional funding of $6.35 million dollars will be allocated in order to achieve the objectives and results in three main areas, which are:
– Strengthening the rule of law
In this area it gives additional money to the “Justice for Everyone” project, a five-year project (2016-2021), costing 9 million USD, which will help the court executives improve the performance of Albanian courts, introducing complete legal standards efficiency, transparency, accountability and access. USAID will provide assistance to civil society, organizations, investigative journalism, and media outlets to strengthen their role as important actors in the process of justice reform and monitoring the implementation of reforms.
– Local government
USAID’s local governance project provides technical assistance and training to the Albanian government and the Albanian local government institutions to support their efforts to successfully implement decentralization legislation, politics, and reforms. The project supports local government functions, such as planning, improvement of local services, and strengthening of 11 local government capacities in tax collection, financial management, and public assets management. The project is also helping local governments in raising awareness about the rights and responsibilities of local government functions and citizen participation in local decision-making.
– Competitiveness
USAID interventions to improve the competitiveness of business and strengthening the financial sector to better support economic development and financial security including: 1. Increasing the access for finance farmers and agribusinesses; 2. Promotion of social business; The project, which will be formed of allocated allowances, is a tourism project, which is being implemented together with the Swedish government (through SIDA).
