Albania

Poverty Reduction

Global RSS Press Releases for this area Ongoing Projects for this area

Poverty figures for Albania have improved in recent years, from 25.4 percent in 2002 to 18.5 percent in 2005. Approximately 3.5 percent of Albanians continue to live in extreme poverty (less than one dollar per day), and there are significant disparities between urban and rural areas. The Government is addressing regional disparities and the needs of vulnerable groups through new strategies at the national level, and is making great strides in linking poverty programmes with national economic and financial policies.

UNDP is concentrating its efforts on “pro-poor” growth – growth that reduces poverty as well as inequality. At the central level, this includes support to the preparation of Albania’s Poverty Reduction Strategy (National Strategy for Development and Integration – NSDI) and a medium-term budget programme.

UNDP Albania is assisting the Government to address widening poverty gaps across the country through a crosscutting national regional development strategy –to be integrated into the NSDI. As follow-up to adapting the Millennium Development Goals to the local level, UNDP is promoting the introduction and establishment of DevInfo – an IT tool for progress monitoring of regional development plans. It not only allows regional councils and local governments to produce progress reports but stores and processes regional data that can be used for analysis and informed decision-making on adequate planning and implementation of development initiatives.

UNDP works with regional governments to address development challenges ensuring proper access to social services and supporting local economic development. Partnering with the European Commission, the Kukes Regional Development Initiative (KRDI) was developed in response to the priorities of the people of Kukes as described in the Kukes MDG Regional Development Strategy. KRDI provides vital infrastructure through a process led by community-based organizations and citizens of all communes and municipalities in the Kukes District, as well as the Districts of Has and Tropoje. ARTGOLD promotes partnerships between Albanian and Italian regions with the aim of supporting implementation of development plans.

By providing Internet connectivity and ICT to schools in Albania through the e-Schools Programme, UNDP is assisting the country to address the issue of the “digital divide.” So far, 140 public high schools have been equipped with computer labs. Training for computer science teachers and administrators is also being carried out, as well as development of cutting-edge ICT curricula.

UNDP support to gender equality has gone towards a draft Gender Equality Law (together with the OSCE). The UNDP Gender Mainstreaming project has assisted with establishing a new Master’s programme in Gender and Development. Training on mainstreaming gender equality into policies and the correlation between gender policies and EU integration has already been given to 60 civil servants through the Training Institute for Public Administration (TIPA). Support has also gone to the Ministry of Education and Science, including revision of curricula and textbooks, and continued training for staff members.

The private sector is a key partner in development challenges, providing opportunities to alleviate poverty, create employment and develop local industries. Growing Sustainable Business for Poverty Reduction (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYR Macedonia and Moldova) seeks to broker public-private partnerships that enable the private sector to engage in specific pro-poor investment projects that are both commercially attractive and address local development needs. The Global Compact, an international UN initiative, engages the private sector with UN Agencies, government, and civil society to support social principles in the areas of human rights, labour standards, the environment, and anti-corruption.

Note: In accordance to the new strategic plan, HIV/AIDS goes under Poverty & MDGs and it’s not anymore a practice area on its own. Please click here to access HIV/AIDS section of the web.