Country or Region: Albania

Sector: Evaluation

Client: EUD Albania

Albania has made notable progress in democratic governance and rule of law in the last twenty years, but it has not been able to move forward with the momentum required to introduce the strong and sustainable democratic institutions necessary for stable, prosperous, and equitable societies. Corruption has been a complex and pervasive challenge in Albania. The level of corruption remains high in the country and is prevalent in many areas of public and business life by challenging the public trust in public institutions and political life, and by hampering economic growth.

According to the Transparency International corruption perception index, Albania occupied the 104th rank out of 180 countries in 20201, whereas it was 99th in 2018 and 83rd in 2016. In 2021, Albania is on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) List of Countries that have been identified as having strategic Anti-Money Laundering (AML) deficiencies.

The project under evaluation is the “Support to the Formulation, Coordination and Implementation of Anti-Corruption Policies” project. This is a Twinning project, which intends to reduce corruption risks in Albania through improvement of the national mechanisms for the formulation, coordination and implementation of anti-corruption policy in line with international standards, best practices and EU integration priorities.

 

The main objectives of this evaluation are to provide:

  • An overall independent assessment of the past performance of the “Support to the formulation, coordination and implementation of anti-corruption policies”, paying particular attention to results measured against its expected objectives; and the reasons underpinning such results.
  • Key lessons learned, conclusions and related recommendations in order to improve current and future Interventions.

 

Key considerations include impact, performance & efficiency of the intervention, whether and why any of its desired results have not been achieved, how well the intervention mainstreamed gender equality & adaption to climate change, rights-based methodology, and adoption of the Leave No One Behind principle.