The Civil Society Charter was drafted during 2009 through the GTZ civil society project. The Charter of the Civil Society has been consulted with civil society organizations throughout the country and the draft has been launched on December 2009. The charter describes the role and mandate of the Albanian Civil Society and their relation to state bodies. It aims at establishing in Albania a partnership between the non-Governmental Sector and the central and local Governance, which would provide opportunities for the improvement of relationships between them in order to achieve a more fruitful cooperation. While it does not constitute a legal obligation, it is intended as a political commitment which publicly recognizes the Civil Society as a key social actor in the Albanian society.
A task force comprised of members from the civil society (Co-Plan, Partners, and Gender Alliance for Development Center) and from the Government of Albania (representatives from the Council of Ministers, Ministry of Interior, and the Ministry of Integration) has contributed to drafting of the Civil Society Charter, which is currently under the revision process from the same task force (with comments from the relevant stakeholders to be decided for consideration). Future steps are envisaged by the GTZ through the civil society project, such as lobbying to the Albanian Parliament for the approval of the Civil Society Charter, since the opposition has officially entered the Parliament. Other planned actions are: awareness campaigns regarding the charter and capacity building activities. (please find a draft of the Civil Society Charter in the annex).
Very few government ministries and departments have established mechanisms for engaging with civil society and their administrative capacity to do so is inadequate. Where mechanisms are designed to enhance CSO participation in policy decisions do exist, they remain weak. Cooperation between Government and CSOs is usually conducted in a haphazard and ad hoc process, usually owing more to solicitation from interested CSOs than a desire from the public administration to undertake systematic and open consultation with the public. Consequently, CSO participation in the policy-making process is low and has little impact.
No specific department in charge of relations with civil society exists within the government institutions. Different governments in Albania have had one person that among other duties have been in charge with NGO relations. But this has never been promoted as part of the tasks. So in the NGO community you hardly will find someone that knows who is the contact in the Government.