UNDP Acting Administrator visit Albania, projects

TIRANA, March 22 – Ad Melkert, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Acting Administrator, held a 3-day visit to Albania where he met with President Bamir Topi and Prime Minister Sali Berisha.
While in Albania, Melkert also attended the annual meeting of UNDP Resident Representatives from the Region of Europe and Common Wealth of Independent States held in Tirana this year.
Melkert also went to Fier to meet with local government authorities and discuss UNDP’s support to vulnerable communities in the area through improving access to basic social services and local living conditions. UNDP support has gone towards civil registration, local participatory local planning and investments in small priority projects and vocational training. Melkert also visited a kindergarten site for Roma children being built with UNDP and local government’s support.
During his stay in Albania, Melkert also visited the National Agency for Information Society. UNDP Albania’s support in the area of ICT for development dates back many years. Support, amongst others, has gone towards providing the first Internet access in the country and towards establishing new information systems for the central Government and interactive programmes to track development statistics.
Melkert was appointed by the Secretary-General to the position of UN Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator of UNDP since 1 March, 2006. Currently he is the Acting Administrator of UNDP and Acting Chair of United Nations Development Group.
UNDP is the UN’s global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life in 166 countries, working with them on their own solutions to global and national development challenges.
Foreign Minister Lulzim Basha made an introduction of the reforms, which have made possible for Albania to become a NATO member soon and much ahead in integration process with the EU.
Melkert praised the governmental commitment to ensure the success of the ONE UN Pilot Program being applied in our country, in the context of the managerial reform of the UN System. He also reassured Tirana in enhancing the areas of cooperation among UN development agencies and the government.
In the village of Rom on the outskirts of Fier, UNDP is building a kindergarten to benefit 40 Roma children. The project is part of a larger effort to empower vulnerable minority communities in Albania, and works to reduce disparities and promote social inclusion by supporting civil registration, vocational training, local participatory planning and investments in small priority projects.
Since the project’s inception in March 2008, 165 members of the Roma and Egyptian communities have been assisted in obtaining registration documents to ensure access to social services. Twenty members of the Roma and Egyptian communities have completed vocational training courses in Tirana. Sixty local and 100 central government officials will be trained in minority rights and intercultural understanding. Fifteen health mediators have been trained on minority issues, health care, conflict resolution and mediation, while five community-based organizations have been established in the project intervention areas to support the participatory planning process.
Acting Administrator Ad Melkert visited the project over the weekend during an official visit to Albania and reiterated the need to support vulnerable communities in Albania and the importance of women’s participation in advancement of social inclusion.
While talking to local community members, Melkert said, “Every person, every child deserves good health care, good education and the United Nations is promoting and working in this direction.”