Centre for Development and Democratization of Institutions

CDDI Project Activities:
The projects carried out by CDDI are presented here according to the type of activity:
Capacity building: CDDI has conducted trainings of civil society representatives and public officials and has trained trainers on the Right of Information as part of a project run with Article 19. CDDI has also worked with a group of 13 NGOs, mainly in the women’s rights sector, to assist them in formulating information requests as part of a project run with the Open Society Justice Initiative (2003-2004). In 2005 CDDI financed by Article 19 centered in London undertook the project “FOI a Matter of Public Concern” which included trainings to build capacity of the Albanian civil society in Lushnje, Shkoder and Laç. In 2006-2007 CDDI was financed by the Canadian Embassy in Tirana for the project “Data Protection and the Albanian Police” training 120 Albanian policemen on “Right to Information and Personal Data” Law. In 2005-2006 CDDI engaged in a major project to promote transparency of public institutions. In this project CDDI worked with the General Directorate of Roads, Municipality of Laç and Municipality of Vlora as Building Capacity of the Albanian Civil Society and stakeholders. In 2006 CDDI worked on building capacity of Albanian Media Lawyers on behalf of the project: “Workshop on Defamation for Media Lawyers” financed by Article 19 (Global Campaign for Free Expression).
Also, CDDI has undertaken the project “Building Capacity of Albanian Judiciary to Implement European Court of Human Rights Standards in Freedom of Expression Cases” in 2007 with one of the project activities being the training of trainers under Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). In 2007 CDDI was financed by the Swedish Helsinki Committee (SHC) on the project “Access to Information and Human Rights for Ethnic Minorities” based on trainings for the representatives of Minority Associations in Albania. In 2007-2008 CDDI was financed by Human Rights and Governance Grants Program (HRGGP) of Open Society Justice Initiative – Budapest, Hungary for the implementation of the project “The Right of Access to Government Held Information” building Capacity of the Albanian Civil Society in Shkoder and Tirana. During 2007-2008 CDDI has worked with OSJI for the project “Building Capacity of the Albanian Civil Society”, as well as in 2008 with the Project “The Right to Information and Investigative Journalism” under the category Building Capacity of the Albanian Media, financed by The Swiss Cooperation Office in Tirana. To implement this project CDDI trained journalists actively working for various Albanian Daily Newspapers, on “The Right to Information” Law and how to use and benefit from it in their daily job.
In 2008-2009 CDDI financed by the Rule of Law Program, USAID implemented the project “Monitoring the Level of Transparency of the Albanian Judiciary System” building capacity of Public Officials, chancellors or chairmen of 9 Courts of Albania (Tirana and Gjirokaster Appellate Courts, Tirana High Crimes Court, District Courts of Durres, Elbasan, Shkoder, Saranda, Pogradec and Vlore) on “The right to Information of the Public for Official Documents” Law. In 2010 CDDI has been implementing a project called; “Monitoring of the Supreme Court of Albania” financed by the British Embassy in Albania. This project is also important as a means to build capacity of young and new lawyers of Albania on Freedom of Information and the Judiciary.
In 2010 for a period of 12 months CDDI is implementing the project; “Building an NGO network in Albania for the ITI of the extracting industry” financed by SOROS Foundation.
Gender Issues: CDDI has also worked with a group of 13 NGOs, mainly in the women’s rights sector, to assist them in formulating information requests as part of a project run with the Open Society Justice Initiative (2003-2004). In 2006-2007 CDDI was financed by the Canadian Embassy in Tirana for the project “Data Protection and the Albanian Police” training 120 Albanian policemen on “Right to Information and Personal Data” Law. In 2007-2008 CDDI was financed by UNDP, UNIFEM on the project “Publication of two Newspaper Supplements on gender issues”.
Law Reform: CDDI has successfully engaged in advocacy and worked with parliamentary commissions for amendment of State Secrets Law (2006). The proposed law clashed with the Access to Information law and threatened seriously to curb access to information in Albania. Proposals presented by CDDI and the Justice Initiative were taken into consideration and the final amendments to the law for the state secret reflected these recommendations. Also, in 2006 with the proposal of CDDI, Justice Initiative and OSFA the proposals for law amendments regarding information on official documents were ready and discussed with the interest groups such as deputies, administration, civil society, journalists etc. CDDI collaborated with OSJI once again on the 2007-2008 project: “Reforming the Law for Access to information in Albania”.
Training of Lawyers: In August- September 2004 CDDI in collaboration with OSJI and OSFA conducted a Summer School on the principles and practices of public interest litigation and Media and Freedom of Information Law for a group of 14 lawyers in cooperation with Oxford University’s Program in Media Law and Policy. In 2006 CDDI trained the Albanian Media Lawyers on behalf of the project: “Workshop on Defamation for Media Lawyers” financed by Article 19 (Global Campaign for Free Expression).
Also, CDDI has undertaken the project “Building Capacity of Albanian Judiciary to Implement European Court of Human Rights Standards in Freedom of Expression Cases” in 2007 with one of the project activities being the training of trainers under Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).As mentioned above CDDI has also organized a training of judges that lasted one week in 2007 as part of the project “Building Capacity of Albanian Judiciary to Implement European Court of Human Rights Standards in Freedom of Expression Cases” under Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights, as well as in 2008-2009, “Training of the Albanian Judiciary in Freedom of Expression Cases” under Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights.
Training of Public Officials: CDDI has conducted much training for the public administration and civil society in the fields of access to information and the core standards related to European integration. Under the project “Freedom of Information – A Matter of Public Interest”, which ran in 2003-2005 and financed by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the Stability Pact and in partnership with Article 19, London, CDDI developed a training manual for public officials based on international standards for access to public information. In 2005 CDDI financed by Article 19 centered in London undertook the project “FOI a Matter of Public Concern” which included trainings to build capacity of the Albanian civil society in Lushnje, Shkoder and Laç. In 2005-2006 CDDI engaged in a major project to promote transparency of public institutions. In this project CDDI worked with the General Directorate of Roads, Municipality of Laç and Municipality of Vlora and as part of the project CDDI trained the public officials working under these institutions on Freedom of Information Law. In 2006-2007 CDDI was financed by the Canadian Embassy in Tirana for the project “Data Protection and the Albanian Police” training 120 Albanian policemen on “Right to Information and Personal Data” Law. In 2006 CDDI undertook the project “Training on Access to Information with Public Officials” based on trainings of 200 public officials of various Government Institutions in Tirana, financed by CASALS and Associates, USAID.
In 2007 CDDI was financed by the Swedish Helsinki Committee (SHC) on the project “Access to Information and Human Rights for Ethnic Minorities” based on trainings for the representatives of Minority Associations in Albania. In 2007-2008 CDDI was financed by Human Rights and Governance Grants Program (HRGGP) of Open Society Justice Initiative – Budapest, Hungary for the implementation of the project “The Right of Access to Government Held Information” training civil society, students, women organizations etc. in Shkoder and Tirana. In 2007-2008 CDDI conducted trainings of the public officials of two of the main Ministries of Albania, the Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Labour on “The Right to Information of the Public for Official Documents” Law. CDDI has organized six trainings with the public officials of these two Ministries, three trainings each Ministry.In 2008 CDDI conducted the Project “The Right to Information and Investigative Journalism”, financed by The Swiss Cooperation Office in Tirana. To implement this project CDDI trained journalists actively working for various Albanian Daily Newspapers, on “The Right to Information” Law and how to use and benefit from it in their daily job.
Monitoring of Access to Information: CDDI carried out an in-depth monitoring survey for the joint project “Freedom of Information: A Matter of Public Interest”, which ran from mid-2003 to mid-2005. The project was funded by the German Foreign Ministry and European Commission under the CARDS Regional Democratic Stabilization. The aim of the monitoring was to assess the response to information requests by public officials from a number of cities in Albania (Tirana, Shkodra, Kukes, Fier, Vlore, Lushnje, Gjirokaster and Elbasan). Ten people were recruited by CDDI to submit requests: four in Tirana and six in the other municipalities. The information requests were devised by CDDI to address the specific function of each institution. Institutions addressed included not only state bodies but also independent agencies receiving public funds for the execution of specific services. The monitors were trained by CDDI in the Freedom of Information Act and instructed to document the whole procedure of requesting information.
In January-November 2007 CDDI implemented the project “Access to Information Monitoring for Anti-Corruption 2007” financed by OSJI in Budapest. On the basis of the project “The Right to Access to Government Held Information” in 2007 CDDI also conducted the monitoring of all 10 municipalities of Tirana. CDDI sent each municipality three requests for information which included a piece of their financial report from a certain period of time, all the markets under their wings and also the administrative structures complete with names and contacts of all the employees of the municipalities.
In 2008-2009 CDDI financed by the Rule of Law Program, USAID implemented the project “Monitoring the Level of Transparency of the Albanian Judiciary System”. 9 monitors hired by CDDI monitored 9 Courts of Albania (Tirana and Gjirokaster Appellate Courts, Tirana High Crimes Court, District Courts of Durres, Elbasan, Shkoder, Saranda, Pogradec and Vlore) while sending them 9 requests for information each. Currently CDDI is implementing the project; “Monitoring of the Procurement Advocate in Albania” starting from September 2010- December 2010 financed by USAID- Millennium Challenge Corporation Program.
Research: CDDI has conducted additional research, including a survey of public officials on their awareness of the access to information law as part of a project conducted with Article 19. In 2003, CDDI ran a research and training project on “Free Trade Agreements and the Role of Business”. This project included research into Free Trade Agreements and trainings for business persons in the main cities of Albania. The project was funded by Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ).
Public Attitude Surveys: CDDI has run a series of five surveys accompanied by focus groups on EU integration. The aim of the surveys was to investigate how different social groups in Albania understand the integration process. Targeted groups were journalists, Members of Parliament, students, judges and civil servants. A summary of the reports were published in the monthly magazine of the Albanian Ministry of Integration. The project was run in 2004 with project financing by Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ).
Technical Assistance: In 2005-2006 CDDI engaged in a major project to promote transparency of public institutions. In this project CDDI worked with the General Directorate of Roads, Municipality of Laç and Municipality of Vlora. The project, being run with the Open Society Justice Initiative and with the organization Sustentia from Spain, aimed at creating a model for promoting institutional tarnsparency more widely in central and local governemnt bodies in Albania. In 2007 CDDI continued the technical assistence neccessary for the Municipalities of Laç and Vlora and also offered technical assistence to the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labour through evaluation reports. In 2007-2008 CDDI was financed by Human Rights and Governance Grants Program (HRGGP) of Open Society Justice Initiative – Budapest, Hungary for the implementation of the project “The Right of Access to Government Held Information” offering technical Assistance to potential requestors of information such as students, women organizations etc. in Shkoder and Tirana. In 2008-2009 CDDI financed by the Rule of Law Program, USAID implemented the project “Monitoring the Level of Transparency of the Albanian Judiciary System” After Et the end of the project CDDI organized an event inviting all representatives of the 9 monitored Courts (Tirana and Gjirokaster Appellate Courts, Tirana High Crimes Court, District Courts of Durres, Elbasan, Shkoder, Saranda, Pogradec and Vlore) such as chancellors or chairmen, offering them technical assistance in the future, for improving the quality of transparency and “Right to Information” Law enforcement in these Courts.
Promoting Professionalism: In 2004-2005, the CDDI ran a project on “Media Self-Regulation” in collaboration with Article 19. The project included training Albanian media lawyers on international standards, publication of a report on self-regulation in the SEE region and also discussion forums with Albanian journalists. In August- September 2004 CDDI in collaboration with OSJI and OSFA conducted a Summer School on the principles and practices of public interest litigation and Media and Freedom of Information Law for a group of 14 lawyers in cooperation with Oxford University’s Program in Media Law and Policy. In April 2004 CDDI implemented another project on Media Defamation and Self-Regulation financed by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The objective of the Project was to train Albanian lawyers on defamation and also journalists on ethics and other related issues. In 2005-2006 CDDI engaged in a major project to promote transparency of public institutions. In this project CDDI worked with the General Directorate of Roads, Municipality of Laç and Municipality of Vlora. In October 2006, CDDI organized the project “Workshop on Defamation for Media Law” implemented in Partnership with Article 19, financed by the German Government in the framework of the CARDS Program. Participants in the trainings were the Albanian journalists and Media Lawyers. The training concentrated in the principles of the European Convention of Human Rights and the Albanian Legal Framework in the field of Media. Trainers were international experts who introduced international cases of defamation in media and self-regulation. In 2008 CDDI conducted the Project “The Right to Information and Investigative Journalism”, financed by The Swiss Cooperation Office in Tirana. To implement this project CDDI trained journalists actively working for various Albanian Daily Newspapers, on “The Right to Information” Law and how to use and benefit from it in their daily job to promote professionalism for the Albanian journalists.