IDM Albania

The continued political standoff prevented NGOs from setting a more constructive tone for debate around policy and reform issues during 2010 in Albania. Public skepticism over NGOs’ objectivity and independence remains relatively high. Overall, the financial viability of the NGO sector deteriorated slightly in 2010.

This comes as a consequence of poor coordination among the donor community, state, and civic actors; the lack of an international donor strategy to support the third sector in the pre-EU accession phase; and the slow pace of NGOs’ efforts to diversify their financial resources. These are some of the highlights of USAID annual NGO Sustainability Index for Albania 2010 which was prepared by IDM civil society experts. The Index analyzes seven different dimensions of the NGO environment in 29 countries worldwide: legal environment, organizational capacity, financial viability, advocacy, public image, service provision, and NGO infrastructure.

Skopje - October 6th 2011

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On 6^th of October 2011, Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM) in cooperation with the Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM) promoted the study “Mapping the leaders in Macedonia and Albania: can elites promote positive social change?” The aim of the project was to provide an insight into the processes of elite circulation in Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro. In addition to this, at the event was also presented the publication with the main findings from the research in Kosovo and Montenegro.

This project was funded by the Regional Research Promotion Programme in the Western Balkans, and implemented by CRPM (Skopje) and Institute for Democracy and Mediation (Tirana)

NATIONAL CONFERENCE - JUNE 27th 2011

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Institute for Democracy and Mediation organized the National Conference “Social trust and Institutional Authority in the Albanian Democracy”. During this conference a publication with the same title was launched, prepared by IDM with the support of U.S Embassy in Tirana.

Weekend Public Lectures with MA students in Albania - 16 April 2011

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IDM Research & Innovation Initiative, in partnership with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and OSI Think Tank Fund, has launched the series of Weekend public lectures with MA students of public and private universities in Albania. The first lecture was held on 16 April 2011, with Mr. Arbjan Mazniku (Agenda Institute) and Mr. Gjergji Vurmo (IDM) introducing theoretical and practical aspects of the civil society sector and think tanks in Albania.  
This initiative is designed as a series of practical lectures related to applied research tools & methodologies in the following areas of IDM’s expertise – good hovernance, policy (making & monitoring) processes, EU policies & enlargement process.

ROUNDTABLE - March 18th 2011

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In the frame of the research project ‘Social trust and institutional authority in the Albanian democracy in transition’, on March 18, Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM) held the second focus group with eight academia participants. All the participants have been involved in various social and institutional studies in Albania. During the focus group, the IDM research team delivered a brief presentation of the research project and the main findings on social trust in public institutions for 2002 and 1998 from World Values Survey. Then the participants were asked to identify the main factors that lead to the correlation:

National Conference - November 30 2010

In the frame of 16 days of activism against gender violence, IDM collaborated in the organization of the conference “Bëhu aktiv, denonco dhunën" (“Be active, denunciate violence”) by the association “Useful to Albanian Women” (http://www.uaw-al.com/). IDM not only supported the organization of the conference but was also an active part of it by sharing its experience and work done with the State Police in addressing this issue. In her speech, IDM’s representative Elona Dhembo, focused on the importance of women’s participation in police and training of the police forces on gender issues and gender-based violence.

National Conference - October 22, 2010

Training Workshop - Tirana / July 6-8 2010

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Representatives of the Albanian Government, the United Nations, development institutions, academia, civil society and the media came together to launch of the CIVICUS Civil Society Index (CSI) for Albania – ‘In Search of Citizens and Impact’, which is an assessment of civil society in the country.

UNIFEM, resident representative invited officially IDM to become member of the Steering Committee on Gender Equality in Albania, a structure that involves UNIFEM, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, MOLSAEO (deputy Minister and Head of Directorate of Equal Opportunities, and representatives from DSDC. The joint Program will be implemented at the national level , but in the areas of gender-responsive budgeting and combating violence against women, and will prioritize the following regions: Kukes, Shkoder, Elbasan, Lezhe, Korca, Durres and Tirana. Membership in this Steering Committee rotates every year as regards civil society organization mandate.