At the 4th edition of the Best Practice Competition the Ministry of Interior, the Agency for Supporting Local Self-Governance and the Embassy of Switzerland present 13 award prizes for practices and innovative services by the country’s municipalities
The 4th edition of the Best Practice Competition for local government took place today under the guide of the Ministry of Interior and the Agency for Supporting Local Self-Governance. The competition announced 13 winners – municipalities and municipal councils from all over Albania – on successful projects, initiatives and practices implemented during 2020.
“We are at a very important stage of the territorial administrative reform. A large part of municipalities have managed to internalize this reform. But it is important to communicate with each-other, to not just have personal successes, but also to be able to transfer these successes to other municipalities so that all the citizens of Albania can benefit from these good practices”, said Deputy Minister of Interior Romina Kuko.
A novelty of this competition is the voting for the first time by the public on 4 of 13 awarded prizes –each amounting to 2,500 Swiss francs. Around 11,000 citizens voted online on the practices published at dedicated websites and social media. In addition to the public prizes, 8 other prizes of 5,000 Swiss francs each came from a jury made by acedemics, civil activists, and experts in environment, education, civil protection and media.
“I congratulate the engagement of the public in voting and selecting 4 of the best practices for this competition. The engagement of 50’000 citizens to follow online and vote on the practices, shows the high interest of the population to get informed properly on new developments in municipal service delivery”, said Swiss Ambassador Adrian Maître.
Shijak municipality received two prizes – from the jury and from the public – for its efforts towards reconstruction and emergency management after the earthquake. Voting and selection took place between July and November 2020. Meanwhile, the Albanian Energy Corporation (KESH) offered a special prize to the Kukës municipality for the initiative of protecting the Drin river cascade from urban waste, while UNICEF awarded a special prize to Vlora municipality for their initiative to offer free learning tools for pre-school education.
The aim of this competition is to identify innovative municipalities not only in service delivery but also in local democracy and civil protection. The competition is an instrument that promotes good examples and exchange of information and knowledge among the country’s municipalites.
© Argumentum
