During August 2018 – April 2019, SCI in cooperation with the Women in Development Association in Korça undertook an initiative to improve the performance of local government in Korça region through the effective and innovative functioning of citizen participation mechanisms at the local government level.
By assessing the existing mechanisms for citizen involvement in local government and discussions with citizens in six municipalities of Korça district (Bilisht, Pogradec, Erseka, Pustec, Korça, Maliq), SCI and the “Women in Development” association highlighted the best practices and problems related to civic engagement in the local government in this region. This process also served to identify the ‘Agents of Change’. These are active citizens who serve as a focal point in the efforts of the community where they live to address citizens’ problems, concerns and suggestions related to local government institutions. SCI created an online platform (http://agjentetendryshimit.com/) to present the map of ‘agents of change’ living in each region in all six municipalities of Korça district. SCI also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the County Council, thereby ensuring the commitment of local government institutions to cooperate with ‘Change Agents’ so that they can inform communities of various issues related to local government and convey the concerns of citizens to relevant institutions. The project called “Community Governance: Challenges to the Functioning of Citizen Participation Mechanisms in Korça Region” was funded by LevizAlbania.
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