The Government has started to consult civil society organizations on draft laws and to engage with a wide range of stakeholders. However, there are no formal mechanisms in place for consultations. Coordination mechanisms to enhance civil society participation in policy making remain weak. In many quarters of public administration CSOs continue to be viewed with suspicion; civil society is often considered as a political opponent of the Government and also as a potential obstacle to the ongoing reform process.
In practice, there are examples of CSOs contribution in the field of law- and policy-development. These include the drafting of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, the National Strategy on Social and Economic Development, the Strategy on Decentralization of Local Governments. For example, central and local government, civil society (including non-governmental organizations, private business, and other citizen groups) and donors were all engaged in 2000 preparation of the National Strategy for Social and Economic Development (NSSED), or PRSP. The civil society was able to articulate sector based priority actions in the field of education, health, agriculture and social protection.
Examples of other successful government-civil cooperation society include:
- Drafting of the Law on Measures against Violence in Family Relations (adopted June 2007). This measure was based upon a draft law presented by women’s NGOs to Parliament in 2006, with the backing of a public petition signed by 20,000 people. Apart from defining domestic violence as a crime punishable by law, the Law also established coordination of government authorities for fighting domestic violence, led by the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities;
- CSOs involvement in strategy and policy development by the government Committee for Gender Equality, such as the preparation by the Municipality of Tirana of a plan for protection against domestic violence;
- The Law On Legal Aid (December 2008), which establishes provision for a structured system of legal aid and access to justice for people in need, was the work of a project organized by the Tirana-based NGO the Free Legal Service Tirana, in co-operation with government and civil society partners;
- The Law on Anti-discrimination was prepared in consultation with civil society, and was adopted by the Parliament in March 2010.
- The Albanian Disability Rights Foundation (ADRF) has been instrumental in helping the government draft a strategy for addressing disability issues and monitoring its progress (USAID 2007);
- A Consumer Protection Commission (CPC), a decision-making body, was established in April 2009 and has started to address the first disputes between consumers and service providers. The CPC’s five members include representatives of the Government and of civil society.;
- Drafting of a variety of national strategies including the Strategy on Gender Equality and Violence, the Strategy Against Trafficking of Human Beings, the National Strategy for People With Disability and the Strategy for Children’s Rights and Their Protection.
CSOs are also active in monitoring the governmental activities and policies. They were actively involved in monitoring the Medium-term Program Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) 2002 – 2004, which is the first step taken by the Albanian Government in supporting the country’s development perspective with a strategic, long-term vision. The draft was prepared under the guidance of the Prime Minister, through an intensive process of collaboration between the governmental institutions and civil society and with the support of international partners.
Another example of CSO inclusion in the policy-making is the involvement of the Network for Open Society in Albania (NOSA), Open Society Foundation in Albania (OSFA) and Partners-Albania in preparation of Amendments to the “Law on Non-profit Organizations”. Organizations, in cooperation with the Experts Group on legislation and economy, worked together since 2005 to analyze the legal framework that regulates the activity of the CSO sector in Albania. The report produced by the Group of Experts was consulted in larger groups of CSOs and donor representatives in a series of round tables in May-June 2006. After the presentation and discussion phase, the experts came up with concrete proposals for the amendments in the NGOs legal framework. As the amendments on the Law were planned to be passed by the Parliament on 17th September 2007, a group of CSOs (Soros Foundation, the Center on Protection of Child Rights in Albania, CANGO Albania, Co-Plan, Partners-Albania and the Albanian Helsinki Committee) addressed a letter to relevant authorities asking for postponement of the debate on the draft Law. The letter, addressed to the Assembly Speaker, and to the heads of parliamentary groups, expressed the concern for the drastic limitations of funding resources for the CSOs as well as tendencies of control and pressure by the government. The request also stressed the need for consulting the draft Law with the representatives of civil society.
Problems in improving the practice include: problems in access to information, which can be seen as the basic precondition of participation exist. Only a small number of ministries have taken measures to implement the provision of the Law on Access to Official Documents and to the implementation of the Council of Minister’s Ordinance to establish Public Information Offices at the line ministries. More efforts are needed to make the public aware of the right to access to official documents as well as to train public officials to be able to serve the needs of the public efficiently. On local level, the Law on Local Government Operations enables participation, this participation is not easy to achieve due to lack of detailed rules. In addition, there is lack of awareness on the part of the citizens on the rights they are entitled to and on the role and responsibility of the local governments. The apathy and lack of citizens’ willingness to participate in governance were also detected. Even though the CSOs participate in local government meetings, they often appear skeptical that their participation will influence local decision making or public policies on a larger scale.
Over the last three years, there is a stagnation of CSOs reported in any dimension. A lack of financial resources, high donor dependence, substantial decrease of advocacy activities and the diminished impact of those undertaken on governmental policies, decreased membership in associations and networks and reduced services for the existing ones, are some explanations for this stagnation. However, it should also be noted that recent times have seen a substantial decrease of CSO‐led advocacy activities, largely owing to the difficulties CSOs face with securing adequate financial resources as foreign donors scale down their support to Albania, which has reduced the civil society’s ability to influence government policy. A further factor in a general weakening of civil society’s effectiveness in the policy arena is the open affiliation of many think tank leaders to political parties, which has clearly compromised their ability to enhance public representation and participation in the policy-making process.
While legislation provides for participation of citizens in decision-making at the local level, this has not been effectively realized because of (a) the absence of detailed rules at the local level facilitating participation; (b) citizens’ lack of awareness of their rights and the responsibilities of local governments; and (c) apathy for civic engagement in governance.