The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Albania opened in 1991 and currently employs 37 people at the UNDP Country Office and approximately 90 people in various projects (including United Nations Volunteers).

UNDP delivers approximately $9 million per year in development and technical assistance and services other UN agencies not represented in the country. The country office also provides programme support services to those agencies.

UNDP Albania is uniquely placed to advise the government on policies and institutions to meet development challenges, to work with partners to mobilize talent and resources, and to play the advocacy role through the Human Development Report and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).


Millennium Development Goals in Albania - An Agenda for Change
UNDP in Albania, as the UN's global development network, links and coordinates national efforts to make the Millennium Development Goals achievable by 2015.

The UNDP office in Albania has carried out a series of events in response to the UN call for an integrated approach to support the Government of Albania in fulfilling its commitments to achieve the MDGs by 2015.

UNDP is helping Albania integrate the Millennium Development Goals into national development frameworks. These global goals, each to be achieved by 2015, reflect many of the priorities already identified by the Albanian National Strategy for Socio-Economic Development (NSSED, an expanded Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy), and EU integration priorities. Although these goals have been identified internationally, they are being modified and adapted to national conditions as part of a national MDG consensus and long-term visioning process.

The MDGs have provided the basis for a comprehensive results-based indicator system for overall policy planning and accountability.

The MDGs have also provided a unique opportunity for comprehensive regional development planning in Albania. The MDGs were used at the regional level to create Regional Reports for all twelve regions in Albania. The Reports generated public debate on local development needs, affecting legislation, and contributing to the fiscal and administrative decentralization process, an essential instrument of local development.

UNDP in Albania is committed to the fight against poverty, and encouraged the use of Regional Reports and Development Strategies as a tool for local governments and communities to work together to achieve lasting improvements in their lives. For example, in Kukes, Albania’s poorest region, the Kukes Regional Development Initiative (financed by the EC and UNDP) provides vital infrastructure through a process led by community-based organizations – 21 infrastructure projects have benefited over 49,000 people through improvements to irrigation canals, improved school conditions and access to health care.

UNDP also works at the central level with national partners in a joint effort to have more women in decision-making positions. There are 11 women in Parliament – up from two in the previous Parliament. Work at the central level includes other policy level instruments, such as production of the National Human Development Report on Pro-Poor and Pro-Women’s Policies (2005), and cooperation with the Government to meet global environmental conventions and protocols, such as the Kyoto Protocol. Work with the energy sector includes inventory of Green House Gases, and the promotion of clean, renewable sources of energy.

UNDP is committed to working with our main partner – the Government of Albania – at the village, municipal, commune, regional and central level, and with all the citizens of the country, young and old, male and female to assist in creating real change that improves the quality of life for those who need it most.