One of the most recent activities of IDM has been the cooperation with OXFAM for the development of local partnership and fostering of cooperation for rural development in Albania.

To achieve this IDM and Oxfam have initiated a series of trainings in the regions of Shkodra, Vlora and Dibra for the capacity building of local stakeholders, be they public, private or civic, in terms of rural development , LEADER approach and creation of LAG’s in Albania.

The specific objectives of this initiative are to inform and train rural communities and stakeholders in three target regions to built partnerships according to the LEADER type approach (LAG-Local Actions Groups); explain and demonstrate the best practices along other countries to establish and further strength the rural partnership according to bottom –up principle; deliver the necessary tools and means, which stimulate and promote the participation of rural communities in decision-making and budgeting process at local level; raise concerns and stress the importance of gender balance along the process of LAG establishment.

The series of activities started with one initial workshop organized in Tirana with the participation of key stakeholders involved in rural development issues and operating in the regions of Vlora, Dibra and Shkodra.

This workshop mainly served to sensitize the actors on the rural development relevance to their context of work as well as get their support in identifying possible public and civic officials to be included in the series of trainings and further work to build the first LAGs in their regions. Furtheron, the workshop followed with the publication of an Informative Guideline on the establishment of Local Action Groups. The aim of such a manual is not only to offer some practical steps on how a LAG is built but also concrete examples withdrawn from the international experience showing the building process of specific LAGs in specific localities.