Milieukontakt Albania, EcoAlbania and Lex Ferenda organized on 14 June 2016 the opening meeting of the project “HELP – CSO, Enforcement Horizontal Legislation Promotion –CSO”.
In his speech Mr. Rezart Kapedani, grants manager of ACHIEVE stressed that one of the expected outcomes of this project will be the organization of CSOs forums and preparation of recommendations regarding the implementation of horizontal legislation, which will be lobbied to be included in the Chapter 27 of the Report of Albania for the EU.
Gjatë takimit me OSHC-të kombëtare dhe lokale. B.Guri
Information and public participation result to be a problematic process and as a consequence the reaction of CSOs and individuals has been weak. This can be noted especially in the development of HPP projects, where due to lack of legal environmental knowledge, the public participation process has often created conflicts in the affected communities. National and international environmental organizations recently are organized by conducting joint activities to support affected communities by the construction of hydropower plants and have lobbied to raise the attention of decision-makers towards respecting environmental standards during this process.
However the lack of knowledge on horizontal legislation and its application in environmental projects has brought the need for implementation of some training activities and support for local organizations and community about public participation in water use projects, monitoring of the implementation of horizontal legislation and free legal support for specific cases. Legal experts, part of the team of HELP – CSO, will provide legal assistance by helping in giving skills to the environmental organizations to address issues to judicial bodies or recommend legal and policy improvements.
To continue and consolidate the work initiated by the group “Protecting Rivers”, part of which are also the organizers, through the meeting they were aiming to create a Focus Group of civil society organizations that will work together to assess approximation of environmental horizontal legislation according to the EU Directives. An important component of the meeting was the creation of a platform and communication strategy serving to the common work of this Focus Group throughout the project and beyond.
About 10 local and national organizations joined the Focus Group to give support and contribution to the continuation of joint work and became part of the group discussions on three main themes: the drafting of the Memorandum of Understanding; visibility and thematic web site and promoting local initiatives.
—
This project is financially supported by the European Union through ACHIEVE program implemented by the Regional Environmental Center – REC Albania.
For more information contact at:
[email protected]
Or visit:
http://www.milieukontakt.org
https://ecoalbania.org
https://www.facebook.com/Lex-Ferenda-492785940925887/?fref=ts
