The project of “Establishing e-transparency in Albania” aims to address the urgent need to fight corruption and increase levels of governmental transparency. Albanian has made great progress in the field of e-government. In the year 2003, the country designed and approved a national strategy on Information and Communication Technology (ICT). One of the objectives of the National ICT is to prepare the government to open up to the public and provide access to its citizens to government information. This will be achieved by creating governmental structures to lead the implementation of the strategy, drafting legislation to enable freedom of information and by taking steps to ensure that citizens are provided with access to e-government. Presently the UNDP Office in Tirana is implementing two projects to establish a modern network between two of the ministries in Tirana and to provide for sustainable e-mail connection between these two institutions.

OSFA aims to improve governance and public service delivery in Albania as a way to boost the country’s economic performance. In Albania, e-government is expected to provide positive impacts on the private sector’s growth and the improvement of the economy. The project will focus on the following directions: improving the legal framework for establishing e-government; designing policies on e-government; building institutional capacity and increasing citizens’ access to government information.

The project will be implemented in three phases described below:

Phase I: Review of the current institutional and legal framweok, drafting and adopting a relevant legal package

Extensive research will be carried out to identify loopholes in the present legal framework. To brainstorm the findings of the research, discussions will be organized with stakeholders such as representatives of governmental institutions, NGO-s, academia, but also with international and local experts. Qualified expertise will be hired to determine which of the laws, decrees and legal provisions need to be amended to generate improvements in the freedom of information acts. The round table will aim to ensure support for the project by the leaders of governmental institutions, members of the parliament, prime minister’s office, NGO leaders, etc.

Phase II: Design and implementation of policies

A detailed study will be conducted of the capacities and/or needs of the Albanian government to fulfill the requirements of the law and develop an effective e-government system. A study tour will be carried out in Estonia to exchange experiences and receive training on drafting effective e-government policies. Foreign and local experts will produce a policy paper on e-government in Albania.

Phase III: Capacity Building and training

The project foresees the implementation of two large scale training programs to build the capacities of senior members of the civil service throughout the institutions with regard to the implementation of e-governance and e-transparency. A training program will be set up to benefit NGO-s, too.