TIRANA, May  17 /ATA/ The Director of the Public Administration Department (DAP), Albana Koçiu, expressed on Wednesday the commitment to the creation of a stable, depoliticized and highly professional public administration.

In the presentation of the “Young Cells” program aimed at strengthening the public administration, Koçiu underlined that “this program is made possible thanks to the support of the EU through the IPA 2020 funds.”

She expressed her confidence that the program will have a direct impact on the motivation of civil servants as a qualitative step in further improvement of work in the administration of our institutions.

“As civil servants, we have a key role in building and shaping our institutions and for this it is essential to update our knowledge, skills and perspectives, to learn from best practices and innovative initiatives not only in the region but also beyond . Although this program is a small step, I want to assure you that it is a certain step towards what we want to achieve, a stable, depoliticized and highly professional public administration,” she added.

Koçiu focused on the policies that have been implemented in recent years to develop the administration and the civil service, which, according to her, “are focused first on consolidating legislation and then on building mechanisms and systems that promote meritocracy, transparency, increasing capacities of employees as well as their motivation to grow.”

“Beyond these positive steps, this program comes as an added value for all employees. After piloting it in 2018, the “young cells” program that we present today is even more improved. During its conception, we have tried to interconnect the priority areas of the reform and Albania’s EU accession process. This program, modest in terms of the number of beneficiaries, but with a great value for the experience it conveys, is a valuable opportunity for the professional development of the 25 civil servants that will be selected. Unlike the scheme implemented in 2018, this program comes with new elements as well as a significant increase in the number of participants who are expected to join the scheme,” she added.

Koçiu informed that for the first time this program will be offered not only to civil servants of the central administration, but also to the employees of independent institutions and local government units, opening the doors to civil servants throughout Albania.

“The employees who will be selected to participate will have the opportunity to benefit from training, study visits and work practices in the public administration of the member states of the European Union. Through this program, mechanisms will also be developed to support their career progression,” she said.

Koçiu emphasized that we want to make sure that this scheme will benefit civil servants who are relatively young in terms of their experience in the civil service, specialists or sector managers, who have 3-8 years of work experience in the public administration.

“It goes without saying that through a program like this, some of the government’s main priorities are addressed, such as: preparation for EU membership; policy design and development and decision-making process; the legal alignment of our country with the regulatory framework of the European Union; as well as the implementation of the main principles of Public Administration,” she added.

Koçiu singled out the main partner in this project, the French National Institute of Public Service (INSP), the institution responsible for the recruitment, training and on –the- job education of civil servants in France, which has taken over and expanded the previous mandate of the well-known French school ENA which has a long background in the formation of the political and administrative elite, created since 1945.

Koçiu emphasized that the Albanian School of Public Administration (ASPA) will once again have an active role in identifying the needs for training and designing the training program, as the main institution that provides training for civil servants.

/sm/