Project Description: The project focuses on an extremely important condition for an open, transparent and accountable local government: the involvement of citizens in the system of local governance. It follows the best practices and the experience established by IDM and the Balkan Trust for Democracy in Shkodra city (2006 – 2008) through supporting the community based groups and the community center as an active tool for strengthening participatory governance.
The main goal of the current proposal is to improve governance at the local level through strengthening the role of citizens in local decision-making processes, as well as through building an innovative model of co-operation between local authorities and the community in Shkodra city through the Community Center.
The project intends to assist community representatives and local stakeholders to improve community mobilization, voluntary action and grass-root initiative to enhance the participation of citizens in decision-making in local government on important issues, in order to improve the quality of life within the community they live. The cooperation links between the community of citizens and local authorities will constitute the central concern of all project activities and to this aim, the community structures to be established will not only serve as a tool to identify and articulate community’s problems, but also to jointly address such concerns through active participation in local policy and decision making processes. The IDM initiative consists of several activities aiming to promote successful practices in other administrative units of Shkodra and to strengthen the capacities of Community Center coordinators to function and work as real community representative units. IDM will encourage Community Center no.
1 experts to replicate their knowledge, techniques, information, tools and skills to new community groups to identify problems and priorities, as well as to implement their own projects, and to recognize the value of community-contributed resources.
The project will be implemented over a 6 month period under the guidance and leadership of Ms. Voltana Ademi.