As a result of the impressive achievements generated by the original CityLinks partnership between Abania’s capital city of Tirana and Catawba County, NC, USAID has funded a second phase for the project. The new partnership focuses primarily on improving Tirana’s solid waste management system.
Even though Tirana may be ahead of other Albanian cities in terms of services provision and development, the city recognizes a need for better communication between the city and its citizens in order to receive their feedback on these services, including waste management. To achieve that, the partnership’s aims are to enhance citizen involvement and create a more customer-oriented attitude in the local government by intensively integrating its activities with those of the Albanian Local Government and Decentralization (LGDA) program in the areas of training, disseminating of partnership results, and adopting tools and techniques that will amplify the voice of Tirana citizens in the governance process.
Programs are being created in three solid waste management areas:
- Solid Waste Collection, Disposal and Recycling Education
- Construction and Demolition (C&D) Waste Management
- New Landfill Site Identification and Selection
A focal point of the program is to clean Tirana’s streets and reduce the amount of waste collection container spillovers. The project seeks not only to streamline the city’s waste collection operations, but to raise citizens' awareness of disposal schedules and responsible waste management practices.
The partnership includes ICMA, Catawba County and Tirana experts, and the Albanian Institute for Development Research and Alternatives (IDRA) and will take place over the next 18-24 months.