Closing conference of the “Active Citizenship” project with heads of local communities

Closing conference of the “Active Citizenship” project with heads of local communities
28 December 2012- The nongovernmental organization “Syri i Vizionit” held the last conference for closing the first year of the “Active Citizenship” project, which was implemented in Dukagjini Valley municipalities and aimed to activate and empower citizens in addressing their issues to institutions. Gathered in this conference, heads of local communities expressed their gratitude to “Syri i Vizionit” organization for the opportunities it provided for their empowerment and addressing their issues to institutions. At the same time, they pledged to be way more empowered in addressing the issues that they face on daily basis in areas they live in.
 “Syri i Vizionit” organization assisted residents of local communities of Rugovë (Pejë), Vrellë (Istog), Grabanicë (Klinë), Isniq (Deçan) and Xerxë (Rahovec) to get reorganized in local councils and elect their non-political leaders, in order for them to represent all residents of these areas irrespective to their political, national and religious backgrounds and address their issues to institutions in charge. Besides their organization into local councils, they were also provided various trainings, such as: Advocacy, Writing Project Proposals and Fundraising. Occasionally, they were also assisted by the Assistance Office operating under the auspices of “Syri i Vizionit” organization, to address their numerous requests to local institutions.
Apart of empowering local councils in local communities of Dukagjini Valley, “Syri i Vizionit” also assisted in empowering of the civil society of this region, offering them professional training in different fields through its Assistance Office.
“Active Citizenship” project was implemented by “Syri i Vizionit” and funded by the Olof Palme International Center from Sweden. Although the first year of implementation ended, the project will continue in 2013, where besides further empowerment and support of local councils and civil society, a special importance will be paid to legislation that regulates municipality’s cooperation with the local councils in villages and urban areas, as the law of local self-government, administrative direction and drafting of municipal regulations regarding this matter envisage.