Tag: Albania

The event in Albania was moderated by Kristina Voko, Executive Director of BIRN Albania and a national researcher for the study.

Voko highlighted key findings related to legal assessments, strategies, challenges, and opportunities for open data and digitalization in Albania.

Journalist Vladimir Karaj, who participated in the study, shared his own experiences requesting machine-readable data from public institutions. He discussed the responsiveness of these institutions to providing open, accessible data.

Journalist Ola Xama supported Karaj’s observations, sharing instances where public institutions had either denied data requests or provided data in inaccessible formats, complicating the research process.

Rigels Xhemollari, Executive Director of Civic Resistance, offered insights into public satisfaction in Albania with the e-Albania platform and highlighted the challenges faced by different demographics and local communities.

Megi Reci approached e-government from a human rights perspective, identifying instances of discrimination in data access.

The event concluded with participant discussions, which led to recommendations and ideas for future initiatives. This event is part of the “Open Data and Digitalization in the Western Balkans” project, supported by the Open Society Foundation for the Western Balkans.

The full report is available here.

The lectures and the rountable presented the findings of the BIRN Albania’s newest study on disinformation narratives against NATO and the EU from hostile states, which was funded by the Open Information Partnership.

The lectures were attended by 88 students, while 30 stakeholders from the fields of journalism, media, research, and civil society participated in the rountable held in Tirana.

 

As part of the study, BIRN Albania monitored more tha 196,000 news articles from 36 Albanian media outlets over a one-year period (May 2023 to May 2024) to identify anti-NATO and anti-EU narratives.

The lectures were held at the European University of Tirana, Beder University and Luigj Gurakuqi University in Shkodra. The rountble was held on October 18 in Tirana.

During the roundtable, Besar Likmeta, Editor-in-Chief of BIRN Albania, shared the findings on the main narratives against NATO and the EU that were most often repeated in the monitored media.

He emphasized that these narratives include claims that NATO is an expansionist organisation pursuing an agenda to destabilize the Balkans, that the EU is divided and unable to protect its citizens, and that the West supports elites at the expense of the people. Likmeta also presented several common features that help distinguish disinformation articles from credible reporting.

Meanwhile, Viola Keta, a journalist and co-author of the study, discussed some of the challenges in reporting news related to NATO, the EU, and related topics, along with recommendations identified during interviews with media managers, editors, journalists, and social media managers from some news media in Albania.

At the end of the events, participants expressed their concerns about disinformation narratives and discussed possible future steps to counter them.

More than 75 activists and experts from civil society organisations and citizens from Shkodra and Vlora discussed issues regarding transparency and accountability in education and health in Albania.

Rigels Xhemollari and Dhimiter Zguro from Civic Resistance presented the main challenges in education resulting from monitoring the strategy in education.

Alma Lahe, project manager at Together from Life, highlighted some of the issues arising from monitoring the health strategy.

Bylyre Serjanaj, project coordinator at BIRN Albania and Gjergj Erebara, journalist, shared the findings of the monitoring of transparency and accessibility in eight regional directorates of the educational and health system, emphasizing the need for urgent reforms and clear responsibilities on the part of these institutions.

These events were supported by the SPACE project – “Support Participation, Accountability and Civil Society Empowerment” – implemented by Together for Life (TFL) in partnership with BIRN Albania, Civic Resistance and Destiny Center for Excellence, and financed by European Union.

The main objective of the SPACE project is supporting CSOs to play oversight/watchdog and monitoring roles in the field of good governance and, on the other hand, to advocate, educate and raise awareness for better governance.

The project was launched in January 2024 and is being implemented by BIRN Albania in partnership with the Science for Innovation Development Centre, SCiDEV, and Qendra Faktoje.

The goal of this project is to strengthen the resilience of local media and journalists to provide independent and fact-based information in order to foster people’s understanding and inform participation in public debate.

In the framework of this project, BIRN Albania has provided grants to three organisations/ local media.

The training session focused on the main aspects of the project’s management, such as the monitoring and evaluation process, record keeping, narrative and financial reporting procedures and visibility standards for the sub-grantees.

The sub-grantees will also receive training on fact-checking, provided by Faktoje, and on digital security and safety of journalists, provided by SCiDEV. Each training session will be followed by on-the-job mentoring for each of the media supported.

The training session included representatives from Community Reporters Albania, CRA, Kujri Center and the Information Network & Active Citizenship, INAC.

BIRN is offering three reporting grants for individual journalists or journalistic teams to cover stories on abuse of office and corruption at local level in Albania.

The grants, as well as the mentorship, fact checking and editorial support are made possible through the funding of the Swedish International Development Agency, SIDA.

The call will fund reporting grants for journalists that investigate corruption and abuse of office in local government, with a particular focus on the topics highlighted during a roundtable held in Tirana on September 17 between journalists and representatives of civil society organisations.

Topics discussed at the roundtable included:

• The lack of implementation of integrity and anti-corruption plans, particularly on the elements of ethics and conflict of interests in municipalities and municipal councils;
• Nepotism and clientelism in the human resources of municipalities;
• Transparency of budgets, public procurement procedures and public contracts awarded by municipalities;
• The appointment of people with a criminal background to public inspectorates and their role during elections;
• Corruption cases with contracts on waste management or treatment of solid waste;
• The lack of representation of rural areas at municipal level;
• Lack of sewage and sewage treatment plants in rural areas;
• Problems of urban development, building criteria, parking, garbage bins, etc;
• Lack of budgets to implement social plans or address the needs of marginalized groups.

The journalists will have around three months to dig deeper and research their ideas. They will also have the opportunity to work with experienced editors as mentors to guide them through the process of writing in accordance with BIRN standards.

The call only applies to journalists from Albania. It closes on October 10, 2024.

Click here for more information (in Albanian) about the application procedure.

Click here to download the application form (in Albanian).

Two dozen reporters and civil society activists discussed corruption, impunity and abuse of office in local government in Albania.

The roundtable was moderated by Rigels Xhemollari, executive director of Qendresa Qytetare, a civil society watchdog group of active young professionals.    

The roundtable, which was supported by the Swedish International Development Agency, SIDA, aims to strengthen ties between investigative journalists and civil society and inform an upcoming call for investigative grants for mid-career reporters.

The call will fund reporting grants for journalists that investigate corruption and abuse of office in local government, with a particular focus on the topics highlighted during the roundtable.   

Topics discussed during the roundtable included:

• The lack of implementation of integrity and anti-corruption plans, particularly on the elements of ethics and conflict of interests in municipalities and municipal councils.
• Nepotism and clientelism in the human resources of municipalities
• Transparency of budgets, public procurement procedures and public contracts awarded by municipalities
• The appointment of people with a criminal background to public inspectorates and their role during elections
• Corruption with waste management contracts
• Lack of budgets to address children in street situations
• The lack of representation of rural areas at municipal level
• Lack of sewage and sewage treatment plants
• Problems of urban development, building criteria, parking, garbage bins, etc
• Corruption cases in the treatment of solid waste

The roundtable will inform BIRN Albania’s upcoming call for investigative reports on local government.

BIRN is offering three grants for journalists and researchers to cover their expenses while conducting investigations and writing stories on topics related to electoral integrity and political discourse in Albania, as well as mentoring by experienced editors.

The call is part of the project “Evidence-Based Monitoring of Local Public Spending during Electoral Processes”, co-funded by the European Union and implemented by Qëndresa Qytetare in partnership with BIRN Albania.

The project aims to contribute to the enhancement of integrity, transparency and equal competition in Albania’s electoral processes by addressing some of the fundamental challenges and deficiencies, particularly those in relation to:

• Misuse of public funds and public administration in relation to electoral processes;
• Electoral crimes and the work of law enforcement bodies;
• The impact of elections on the public administration and its politicization;
• Transparency of political parties’ finances during election campaigns;
• Involvement of persons with a criminal past in political parties and electoral processes;
• Misuse of digital/social media or Artificial Intelligence and prevalence of hate speech in the political discourse;
• Barriers encountered by women and youth toward political participation, etc.

The awarded journalists and researchers will receive a scholarship of 1,500 euros gross (minus personal income tax). They will have around three to five months to dig deeper and research their ideas. They will also have the opportunity to work with experienced editors as mentors to guide them through the process of writing in accordance with BIRN standards.

We encourage the submission of proposals for the production of relevant journalistic content by individuals or teams. We support various forms, including investigations, data-rich stories and papers.

The call only applies to journalists and researchers from Albania with previous experience on this topic.

All applicants must be independent and free from conflicts of interest in the responsibilities they undertake.

Applicants may submit more than one application, but only one proposal per candidate will be selected.

Interested candidates should send their proposals in Albanian language by email to: [email protected], including: completed application form (Click here to download the form); a CV and two examples of their previous work.

Application Deadline: September 23, 2024.

The IQC is one of three institutions tasked with vetting judges and prosecutors in Albania.

BIRN Albania sought the records from the IQC in 2022. After the IQC refused to release them, an FoI complaint was filed with the Commissioner on the Right to Information. The Commissioner ruled in BIRN’s favour but the IQC filed a countersuit against his decision.

In the First Instance Administrative Court in Tirana, BIRN Albania journalist Edmond Hoxhaj joined the case as a third party. When the court ruled in favour of the IQC, Hoxhaj appealed. On January 23, 2024 the Administrative Court reversed its verdict, upholding the earlier decision of the Commissioner for the Right to Information.

The IQC then appealed in the Supreme Court, which has ruled in favour of public transparency, upholding the Administrative Court verdict.

The workshop was held as part of the project “Greater Internet Freedom” funded by the US Agency for International Development and Internews.

The project aims to enhance awareness of digital rights with a special focus on vulnerable groups.

The workshop was attended by 13 participants, including journalists, editors, journalism students and representatives from non-governmental organisations who work with the media sector or vulnerable groups in the region of Elbasan.

The workshop was held by Silva Arapi, Data Protection Consultant, and Gjergj Erebara, BIRN journalist and editor.

Arapi presented the Personal Data Protection Law, the principles of data processing by journalists, specifically sensitive data, freedom of expression vs. privacy concerns, etc.

Erebara focused on specific cases and lessons learned in the field on the processing and protection of sensitive data.