albania.usaid.gov
Mission Director: Edward T. Landau
US Embassy in Tirana
Rr. Elbasanit No. 103
Tirana, Albania
Tel: 011 +355-4-224-7285
Fax: 011 + 355 4-223-3520 |
|
Overview
Albania has played a positive, moderating role in the Balkans and is making strides toward Euro-Atlantic integration with its 2008 signing of a Stabilization and Association Agreement with the European Union (EU) and invitation for NATO membership. However, significant challenges exist for Albania to become a socially and economically viable democracy.
Under the U.S. Government’s Foreign Assistance framework, USAID’s development program in Albania strengthens governmental accountability and transparency, reduces corruption, increases private sector competitiveness, improves the delivery of quality healthcare, helps ensure a reliable and affordable energy supply, and reduces trafficking in persons. In January 2009, USAID will begin implementing a Stage II Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Threshold program in Albania to address additional corruption related reforms in the country’s public administration and justice systems.
Albania in Action
 World Bank Reports Albania Reforms Improved Business Climate
Doing business in Albania is easier and faster, thanks to reforms supported by USAID and funded by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Threshold Program... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Business Development
 Albania’s Corruption Challenge, Fore’s Visit Highlights Opportunities for Reform
As part of a week-long tour in the region, USAID Administrator and Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance Henrietta H. Fore made a two-day stop in Tirana, Albania on May 20-21, 2008... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Rule of Law
 Experts Team Up to Protect Albania’s Most Vulnerable
Eleven-year old Saleo, a second-grader who loves reading, is also known for tearing up the soccer field with neighborhood friends. He has lived with his relatives, the Cicos, since both his parents died in a neighborhood gun fight in 1997... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Social Programs
 Coalition Earns Borrowing Authority for Albanian Cities
Less than 10 years since local governments became independent from the central government, Albania’s 65 municipalities still struggle to provide citizens with basic services, let alone finance larger infrastructure needs... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Infrastructure
 Quality Products Open New Markets for Albanian Herb Exporters
Business could not be better for Albanian businessman Xhevit Hysenaj, owner of the Xherdo Herb and Spice Essences Company, based in Skrapar... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Business Development
 Villagers Take Action to Improve Rural Municipal Services
In the rural village of Oshtimë, Albania, water is a precious commodity. For 17 years, the 129 families that live in this village relied on two water tanks, filled once a day to water crops, wash dishes, or clean their homes... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Democracy
 Removing the Barriers to Inclusion
Rarely will you find a wheelchair access ramp in Albania. They are not regular features of city sidewalks, not found at the entrances of markets or shops, nor in or outside public buildings... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Health
 Citizens Petition to Support Domestic Violence Victims
Today, unfortunately like so many days, lawyers at Tirana’s Center of Legal Civic Initiatives in Tirana are providing legal advice to women hoping to escape physical and emotional abuse in their lives. ... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Rule of Law
 USAID Assistance Supports Growth of Albanian Businesses
On October 6, 2007, Dr. Douglas Menarchik, USAID Assistant Administrator for Europe and Eurasia visited the TONA CO. Meat Processing in Korca, Albania and met with the owner, Nikolla Tona... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Business Development
 $10M USAID Program to Improve Farmers’ Competitiveness
On October 5, 2007 USAID launched the new five-year, $10 million Albanian Agriculture Competitiveness (AAC) Program in Korca, where one of the program’s regional offices will be located... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Business Development
 Shelter Helps Albania’s Trafficking Victims Re-Build Lives
At the Different & Equal (D&E) shelter, Tirana’s only long-term shelter for trafficking victims, 15-year-old Marta is able to access a personal counselor, resume her education, and learn vocational skills to successfully reintegrate into society... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Social Progams
 Albanian Processor Finds Recipe for Success
Eight years ago, the four Kimça brothers, operated a small meat grinding and sausage making business in the northern Albanian city of Shkodra. Today, their business, Meat Master, is one of Albania’s leading meat processing companies... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Business Development
 Shelter Offers Sanctuary, Support to Child Trafficking Victims
Bathed in warm sunlight, the children’s rooms at Another Vision (Tjeter Vizion) offer a sharp contrast to the harsh lives these youths have recently fled. Clean and bright, each room contains two or three wooden beds covered in colorful blankets... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Social Programs
 Albanian Business Students Shine on International Stage
The bright lights of Paris could not outshine the pride and excitement of fifteen business and economics students representing the Albanian chapter of Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) as the judges announced their team as the winner... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Education
 Idea Marketplace Strengthens NGO Participation in Corruption Fight
On September 30, Albanians thronged the Tirana International Hotel, the venue for the country’s first NGO Marketplace. In the hotel’s lobby, conference rooms and ballroom, a diverse collection of Albania’s civic groups... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Rule of Law
 Americans Honored for Service to Albanian Cause
Fifty-six Americans garnered Presidential attention for their dedication and volunteer service to support Albania’s social and economic development... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Social Programs
 USAID Programs Building Peace by Encouraging Youth to Think Critically
“We should stop listening to our ancestors about wars and conflict because that will only engender hate," says Jelena Burgic, a participant in a USAID-sponsored peacebuilding and conflict transformation training... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Education
 Agreement between Albania and Greece Guarantees and Protects Rights of
Child Trafficking Victims
On February 27, 2006, the Greek and Albanian governments signed a long-awaited bilateral agreement that will aim to protect and assist Albanian children trafficked in and to Greece... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Rule of Law
 Albanian Elections Demonstrate Democratic Development
USAID and the U.S. Government provided unprecedented electoral process support to the July 3 parliamentary elections in Albania. The results of these efforts were visible in every corner of the country at every step of the process... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Democracy
 “Greetings from Albania”: Young Artists Compete for Creative Tourism Campaign
On World Tourism Day 2004, the USAID-funded Enterprise Development and Export Market Services project (EDEM) Tourism Cluster launched its “Greetings from Albania” national travel postcard competition... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Social Programs
 USAID Signs New Initiative to Foster Religious Harmony in Albania
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and World Learning, a U.S. based NGO, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on May 20th for the new initiative called “Fostering Religious Harmony in Albania”... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Social Programs
 Albanian Gypsies in the Business
Like most Gypsies in Albania, Sofia and Gezim Neziri sold used clothing on the streets, they lived a marginalized existence of poverty, usually associated with their Jevgu/Roma communities... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Business Development
 The Citizen’s Advocacy Office and Transparency International Join Forces to Fight Corruption
The Citizens Advocacy Office (CAO) and Transparency International (TI) signed a partnership agreement. The CAO is part of the USAID-funded Albanian Coalition Against Corruption (ACAC) and is the leading anti-corruption watchdog and advocacy organization in Albania... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Democracy
"A Mini-Revolution in the Albanian Primary Health Care System"
The work of policy makers, managers, physicians and other health service staff cannot be successfully understood and achieved without the information produced and circulated within all levels of the health system... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Health
 Local Governments Empowered
Pogradec, Kavaje and Kuçove municipalities are part of the USAID/Albania Local Government Assistance and Decentralization program. For three years USAID, with the Urban Institute (UI)... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Democracy
 Micro-Credit Loan Program Featured on BBC World
Three clients of the Servicing Micro-Entrepreneurs in Albania program, implemented by Opportunity International and its established Albanian Institution, PSHM, were interviewed and told their story... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Financial Markets
 Opening the Doors to a Transparent Judicial System
Shkoder District Court is the second largest court in Albania with approximately 20 judges and another 22 staff. It hears and decides almost 2000 cases a year... Read More ...
Related Items: Albania, Rule of Law
 Most residents are extremely dissatisfied living in Bathora, Albania, a suburb of the capital of Tirana. Since the collapse of the communist regime, 21,000 migrants from northern Albania have illegally settled onto 1000 acres of state and private owned land, turning orchard fields and rolling grass hills into a plethora of concrete block structures and muddy impassable streets. Their movement was condemned by the government who has refused to provide the basic services to the population. Due to the extreme frustration concerning the poor living conditions, some citizens have resorted to street violence and riots, but others to dialogue. The latter has proven to be the most effective route to change, and residents are noting the difference. Read more ...
 $25 Million Raised for Balkans Through Public-Private Partnership: Donors Leverage Funds to Solidify Democracy
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation are pleased to announce a new $25 million initiative to support good governance in Southeastern Europe. The grant-making effort, called the Balkan Trust for Democracy, is a project of GMF made possible through a public-private partnership between GMF, USAID, and the Mott Foundation. Read More ...
 Indiana Utility Authority Signs Partnership Agreement with Albanian Electricity Authority
The Electricity Regulatory Authority of Albania (ERE) and the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) today signed a memorandum of understanding cementing a partnership designed to aid Albania in restructuring and reforming its energy sector. Read more ...
Back to Top ^ |
