• Capacity building and Training

During the first phase of this project, six training seminars were conducted for the members of network with eminent speakers from Albania and the region. In the first training on March 2009 Prof. Dr. Velizar Shalamanov – former Deputy Minister of Defence in Bulgaria provided the audience with the basic concepts of monitoring instruments in the security sector, presenting best practices from the Balkan region and Western Europe. He was mostly focused on the efforts to establish a reliable scheme of democratic control of armed forces and security sector in general. Coming from the military ranks, Mr. Shalamanov briefly presented some of the most important aspects of the role of civil society in SSR by describing the developing stages of this process based on the Bulgarian experience.

The second training titled “Benchmarking of security sector governance” took place at the end of April 2009, and was conducted by MA Sonja Stojanovic - Director of Centre for Civil and Military Relations in Belgrade. Ms Stojanovic provided a thorough of indicators leading to objectives and standards for measuring performance of the implementation of SSR. Retired General Dr Luan Hoxha on May 2009 conducted the following training session on “Security Sector Budgeting: Transparency, Accountability”. In particular the SMN members were informed on how to conduct a political evaluation on the mission and capacities of the security sector actors. Mr Hoxha stressed the importance of a wider engagement of the civil society in the security sector budgeting in order to increase the effectiveness and transparency of SSR. The agenda of this training was followed by the presentation of Prof. Dr. Rexhep Meidani the fundamental concepts in building Human Security agenda in the country. This session of the training was fundamental for one of the product foreseen to be prepared by the SMN members in regards to a background paper on Human Security in Albania. Mr. Meidani pointed out the 7 components of this field by pinpointing the situation in Albania.

“Home Affairs policy areas – Albania’s challenges to meet benchmarks” was the joint lecture by Mr. Steffano Failla from the European Commission Delegation in Albania and Mr. Michael Colbourne - Head of PAMECA III happened on July 2009. The international representatives of two key institutions in the Security Sector Reform in Albania, gave an insight perspective of the implications and obstacles of SSR that Albania has to overcome in order fulfil its aspirations of European integration. The next training was conducted by the Ambassador Valerin Ratchev, member of the Bulgarian Academy of Science. He gave a remarkable lecture on the main research, analysis and policy assessment tools in the area of security sector. This session was particularly important for the future work of SMN in regards to the theoretical approach on how to conduct relevant research on SSR issues. The last session, on September 2009 was lead by Mr. Goran Buldioski – Program Director of Open Society Institute Think Tank Funds (SOROS) and Ms Barbora Marankova – Program Coordinator in NATO Public Diplomacy Division in Brussels. Mr Buldioski gave a presentation and opened the floor for related questions on the topic “How to communicate and influence political issues in security sector” and Ms Marankova, based on long and consolidated NATO experience, briefed the audience with a lecture titled “The communication challenges of international organizations: Why the need for Public Diplomacy?”