In Vlora, at the social audit dialogue meeting with the performance of the local government

The meeting in the city of Vlora came with the peculiarity of the area, where there was no lack of debate even in the two previous meetings in 2022. The presence of the youthful age and experts with good knowledge of the city’s economy made the dialogue in Vlora richer in arguments and perspectives of each party.

The report presented by ALTAX experts also turned into a platform for discussion and debate regarding the most valuable approach for Vlora and the need for initiatives and reforms to start from the bottom – up and not as before.

In the meeting held in Vlora, the comments of the Mayor of the Municipal Council also had a development that ALTAX experts welcomed in the context of a more cooperative and fact-based approach between the citizens with their point of view and the municipality with its programs and activity.

From the highest representative of the local government of Vlora, it was requested that there should not be such a division of the opinion of the civil society in comparison with the programs of the municipality, since the heads of the departments of the Municipality draw up the programs based on the demands of the citizens.

Meanwhile, the panel of experts presented the fact that the requirements may not be reflected according to the citizens, since the inclusion of their opinion in local programs depends on the capacities of local officials, but also on the limitations allowed by the local budget.

ALTAX experts emphasized the fact that the performance in the local economy has fluctuated in the last five years. This is influenced both by the lack of diversification of the economy into more dynamic sectors and businesses, but also by the low level of credit, the reduction of the supply of employees, the skills of employees not properly matched with market requirements, as well as by the regulatory quality, which poses challenges for governance at both levels.

Meanwhile, access to and skills with technology, in the Municipality of Vlora, makes the situation not well for competitiveness skills of Albania economy in the region, along with the low value of productivity from exports.

Investments made in recent years are oriented according to development programs towards the urban environment, road infrastructure and UK and moderately towards agriculture, but not towards market promotion, orientation of new activities and an approach to mitigate the influencing factors in migration and emigration.

This situation of business segmentation, where the space for employment is quite small, where the problem of migration is being felt even more in local businesses in 2022, as in the whole country, due to the departure of various specialists in the private sector who require a high payment of their skills in the foreign market affects the fading of policies and the reduction of the pace of economic performance.

One of the topics that ALTAX has opened as a debate for discussion and analysis is the effect and impact of investments on the economy and employment.

Although the territorial development plan is in process, the restoration and acceleration of the progress of sectors that have more added value than agriculture should be analyzed to be integrated into future programs, including the poorest and most vulnerable, as a priority main of recovery plans and reforms in the financial system of regional development.

In the comments during the development of the activity by the experts of the civil society of Vlora, the need for a greater orientation of the funds of the Municipality towards investments was emphasized, compared to what they find to be spent on personnel expenses.

A topic of dialogue of great interest, as it is also a function of the objectives of the project implemented by ALTAX, is the Local Policy for public consultation. The experts in the monitoring carried out, as well as based on the survey, concluded that the calendar of consultations was implemented, as an obligation for open governance, and it was observed that budget discussion processes were carried out with the participation of the public.

However, in the stages of consultation, there is a lack of civil expertise and there is no opposition or analytical reinforcement of the citizen’s voice and concerns, a situation that is also found to be lacking in the municipality staff. ALTAX and other organizations have requested a consultation based on higher discussion parameters and an even more comprehensive process, but there has been no call from the City Council for a different possibility. The participation of the citizens asked for by ALTAX shows that there is little consideration of the citizens’ proposal.

Fiscal responsibility and in general the keeping of commitments during the electoral process, but also according to the political program, which is transformed into a governing program, needs a full accountability mechanism based on transparency. The adoption of new acts to modify an unimplemented legal practice is a strong reason for the amended law never to be fully applicable, ignoring the accountability for the level of performance and the fulfillment of the program to the citizens.

Education and investments in the pre-school and 9-year cycle were another topic that was addressed both by the Mayor of the Municipal Council, but also from the findings of the report, they were mentioned as a basis for dialogue, where it was accepted that the majority of citizens also expressed themselves positively about the performance of the municipality regarding education programs, as a permanent duty of the municipality.

In the conclusions of the meeting, which lasted beyond the scheduled time, it turned out that the report is an added value for the Municipality, but also for the citizens, serving as a recommendatory guide for the new institutions that will be created after the local elections, but also being seeing that the totality of facts gives more arguments to citizens to choose carefully about their future.