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| Government is one of the actors in governance. Another actor is civil society. Civil society can make important contributions to economic, social and political development by promoting public consensus and local ownership of reforms and by delivering social services and help to improve public sector transparency and accountability.
A vibrant and lively civil society is important to promote good governance. It has the potential to minimize corruption, and assure that the views of minorities are taken into account and that the voices of the most vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making.
The "Capacity Building Programme for Albanian Civil Society Organisations and Community Based Groups" is based on an extensive Needs Assessment (NA) for Civil society organisations (CSOs), developed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in cooperation with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Presence in Albania (PiA). In the six regions covered by the "Civil Society Development Centres" (CSDCs) alone, 322 CSOs were surveyed.
The NA verified that one of the key characteristics of Albanian civil society is the ability to quickly form organizations and alliances in response to a perceived need and to quickly disassociate afterwards. However, competition among national CSOs is very high and some imitate and duplicate the programmes and projects of others to benefit from foreign funding, and this without adapting to local needs.
With very few exceptions Albanian CSOs are not successful in networking among themselves. In the Albanian country side civil society is week or non-existent. Mentalities inherited from the previous regime are not conducive to volunteerism, collective action and responsible citizenship. Albanian civil society organizations, especially in the poorer regions lack managerial structures and capacities.
Consequently, Albanian civil society needs significant support. In addition to this CSOs are lacking lobbying and advocacy skills to articulate themselves and make the needs of citizens known to the public. Their networking capacities need to be strengthened and public debate on development issues promoted.
The major difficulties for the CSOs are reportedly related to the lack of capacities collaboration, and support from the local and central authorities, poor infrastructure and weak law enforcement. On the list of factors leading to success are among others; professionalism, cooperation with other organizations and local authorities, idealism, good management and cooperation with experts. All of the CSOs recognize the need for the further training to enhance their capacities.
The OSCE PiA has agreed with the Delegation of the European Commission to jointly implement a "Capacity Building Programme for Albanian Civil Society Organisations and Community Based Groups". The network of six OSCE administered CSDCs have been selected as implementing partners and will be responsible for the project activities in the six regions where they are located i.e. in Durres, Elbasan, Korca, Kukes, Shkodra and Vlora.
The CSDCs are uniquely positioned to strengthen civil society's capacity within the democratic process in Albania. They offer the local civil societies a development perspective and they render technical assistance through their office facilities, training, consultation, and co-ordination mechanisms. In addition, the CSDCs strive to create networks and enhance citizen's participation in the decision making process through own initiatives and as such, they play a constructive role in fostering contacts and relations between local government structures and civil society.
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