EU for Good Governance TA Project
The TA Project “EU for Good Governance technical assistance at central and local level with a focus on Public Administration Reform, Public Finance Management, and Anti-Corruption” is part of the EU for Good Governance Programme for Albania.
The EU for Good Governance Technical Assistance Project remains committed to strengthening Albania’s governance framework through meaningful reforms, ensuring alignment with European standards, and fostering a transparent and efficient public sector at both central and local levels.
The EU4GG TA Project encompasses a broad set of interventions across four critical components:
- Strategic planning and coordination;
- Quality of public services;
- Impact assessment and public consultations;
- Civil Service Reform;
- Managerial accountability.
- PFM reform management;
- Budget planning, monitoring and reporting;
- Public Internal Financial Control;
- On-demand support for PFM reform.
- Standards of municipal performance;
- Policy dialogue between local and central government;
- Broader good governance themes in local governments;
- Strategic rule of law documents;
- Coordination in prevention of corruption;
- Improvement of prevention of corruption;
- Improvement of transparency;
Through its four key components, the project provides technical assistance at both national and local levels to improve governance, fiscal management, anti-corruption measures, and service delivery—aligning Albania with European standards and ensuring progress toward a more transparent, accountable, and effective public sector.
Our Team
The Team Leader/KE1 is responsible for overall team and project leadership management. He is involved in almost all activities, also because of his quality assurance role.
The Key Experts (KE1, KE2, KE3 and KE4) focus on the implementation of tasks in each component. While there is an assumed labour specialisation among the key experts according to result area, for some activities they work closely together. All key experts are involved in the cross-cutting area on sustainable capacity building which is led by TL/KE1.
Senior and junior NKEs are involved when specialist and local-specific knowledge is needed to complement the core team. For tasks with a focus on data, research and analysis and organisation of workshops JNKEs are also be involved, allowing also to further build a strong cadre of national consultants in Albania in the respective areas covered by this project.
The following 4 sections presents the four key experts.
Key Expert 1: Team Leader/ Senior PAR Expert
Tibor Draskovics
Team Leader and PAR expert of the EU for Good Governance in Albania – as of 10 October 2023.
The Team Leader of the EU4GG TA Project is Mr Tibor Draskovics, a highly experienced practitioner of and expert on Public Administration Reform (on policy making in particular) and on PFM. He holds a University Degree (Master level) of Legal and Political Sciences and has over 41 years of professional experience, of which 33 years relate directly to the field of public administration reform and good governance.
Lawyer, macroeconomist, senior public administration official, banker, consultant.
More than 25 years of experience in the Hungarian public administration both in civil service positions and political roles, including:
- General State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance
- Member of the Monetary Board of the Central Bank
- Head of the Cabinet of the Prime Minister/State Secretary
- Minister of Finance
- Government Commissionaire for State Reforms
- Minister without portfolio in charge of government coordination
- Minister of Justice and Law Enforcement
Extensive experience in the business sector:
- Deputy CEO/CEO of ABN Amro Bank, Hungary
- Chairman of the Board of the Hungarian Power Works
- Partner at PriceWaterhouseCoopers
- Currently: Chairman of the Board, Centre for Budapest Transport
More than 9 years of experience of EU funded and OECD projects:
- Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Serbia, Ukraine, Moldova
- 2020-2023 Team Leader of PAR Support EU project in Georgia
Key Expert 2: Senior PFM expert
Joris Endel
Key Expert 2: Senior PFM Expert
The PFM Expert is Mr. Joris Endel. Joris has 26 years of professional experience of which 22 years at Ecorys in international development and in particular specialising in capacity building and advising governments on public financial management. Joris is a chartered accountant (registered in the Netherlands) and holds a Master’s degree in Management and Organisation and Business Administration from a University of Groningen, The Netherlands, Faculties of Management & Organisation and Economy (1991 – 1994).
Joris has more than 20 years of professional experience in the area of Public Financial Management of which more than 15 years in policy development, policy advice, capacity building and implementation of PFM reforms.
He has profound experience with medium term budget programmes (in combination with policy based budgeting) as is demonstrated in the amongst others the following projects: Introduction of program and medium term budgeting, in Public Internal Financial Control (PIFC) including in an EU accession context.
Joris did work in many transition economies across the world. He has a solid working experience in capacity development and advisory to Ministries of Finance in EU and EU candidate countries. In addition to short and medium term project engagements, Joris has successfully provided PFM reform advisory (PFM reform strategy development and implementation management) and delivered PFM capacity development programs as a trusted long term team leader or long term key expert, amongst others in Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo, in Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria prior to their accession to the EU, as well as in Turkey, Zambia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and in Jamaica.
Key Expert 3: Senior Decentralisation/local governance expert
Christina Wredberg
Key Expert on Local Government and Decentralisation of the EU for Good Governance project in Albania.
Christina holds a Master of Science in Government from the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE), as well as degrees from the University of Geneva and Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
She has more than 25 years’ experience as project Team Leader and Key Expert of technical assistance projects in the Eastern Neighbourhood, former CIS and Balkans.
Christina has worked with beneficiary institutions at central, regional and municipal level in institution building, economic development, policy formulation & outreach, strategic planning, local governance and reform.
She has a long track record of building capacity of regional and municipal administrations in the Eastern Neighbourhood and former CIS to undertake Public Administration Reform (PAR) notably in the context of decentralisation and strengthening of local self-government.
She has supported Municipalities in setting up a Regional Development Agency, worked with regional and local governments in formulating local economic development strategies, supported beneficiary governments in aligning their programming process with their development strategies and, more recently, she was engaged in policy outreach and public diplomacy in the framework of a Brussels-based assignment.
Key Expert 4: Senior Accountability/Anti-corruption expert
Zoran Jachev
Key Expert on Anticorruption of the EU for Good Governance in Albania as of 25 September 2023
The Key Expert on Anticorruption of the EU for Good Governance in Albania is Mr Zoran Jachev – security issues lawyer, senior public administration official in N. Macedonia, head of civil society organisations and anticorruption consultant.
More than 12 years of experience in the N. Macedonian public administration, including:
- Operative officer in the Ministry of Interior
- Head of the Cabinet of the Minister for Education and Sport, Assistant Minister
- Head of the Cabinet of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Advisor to the Minister
- Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Advisor to the Minister
- Head of the Cabinet of the Minister of Defence, Advisor to the Minister.
Extensive experience in the civil society organizations, including:
- Executive Director of the Centre for Strategic Research and Documentation – Forum
- Founder and President of Transparency International – Macedonia
- Programme Director of Transparency International – Macedonia
- Certified Management Consultant (CMCÒ) as of 2011
More than 12 years of experience of EU funded anticorruption projects as a Team Leader of 3 Projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina and as e Key Expert in Albania.
Extensive, first-hand experience in:
- Drafting anti-corruption strategies (2 in N. Macedonia, 2 in BiH and 1 in Albania)
- Delivery of technical assistance to anticorruption bodies and institutions in the W. Balkans
- Designing, carrying out and/or monitoring of anti-corruption policies and measures
- Analysing anticorruption issues in EU candidate countries
- Political, social, economic and security landscape in the W. Balkans
- Organization of trainings, conferences and similar events
- Training of central and local government administration as well as CSO personnel
Non-key experts
Given the wide thematic coverage of this project, the TA Team also includes a pool of specialist NKEs. The NKEs are a mix of highly qualified national, regional and international consultants.
Component 1. Public Administration Reform (PAR)
The PAR component aims to enhance policy making, civil service, and service delivery through reforms. Key activities under this component include:
- Formulating and monitoring the PAR strategy (2024-2030).
- Developing Strategic Planning & Coordination.
- Strengthening the integrated policy-making systems and its digital tools.
- Strengthening impact assessments and public consultations.
- Enhancing the attractiveness of civil service careers and retention policies; Supporting ASPA and improving HRMIS usage.
- Improving public service standards and introduce performance management.
- Developing accountability frameworks and improve delegation of responsibilities across government bodies.
Key Achievements(until September 2024)
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Counterparts and beneficiaries of the PAR Component
PAR Component of the Project provides technical assistance in strengthening the capacities at the central institutions and cooperates closely with the following institutions:
- Minister of State on Public Administration Reform and Anticorruption;
- Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) – among others, the Department for Policies and European Integration (Good Governance Unit) and the Regulatory and Compliance Department;
- State Agency for Strategic Programming and Aid Coordination (SASPAC);
- the Department of Public Administration (DoPA);
- Albanian School of Public Administration (ASPA);
- Commissioner for the Oversight of the Civil Service;
- Commissioner for the Right to Information and Protection of Personal Data (IDPCO);
- National Agency for Information Society (AKSHI);
- Public Procurement Agency (PPA);
- Central Inspectorate.
Component 2. Public Financial Management (PFM)
The PFM component aims to build an efficient public financial system aligned with EU standards, emphasizing accountability and transparency. Key interventions include:
- Formulating the PFM strategy (2024-2030) and improving monitoring.
- Enhancing budget planning and reporting, public investment management and execution of investment projects.
- Supporting internal audit capacity through targeted training and reforms.
- Assisting in the preparation of the National Anti-fraud Strategy. Developing training for internal auditors and assist in implementing a National Anti-fraud Strategy.
Key Achievements(until September 2024)
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Counterparts and beneficiaries of the PFM Component
As part of Component 2, Public Financial Management, the EU4GG project aims to support the Ministry of Finance and other public institutions operating in the domain of PFM. It cooperates closely with the following:
- Ministry of Finance (MoF);
- Anti-fraud coordination service (AFCOS) Coordinator;
- State Agency for Strategic Programming and Aid Coordination (SASPAC).
Component 3. Support for Local Governments
This component aims to empower local governments to play a key role in Albania’s EU accession. Key interventions focus on:
- Supporting the dialogue between local governments and citizens as a way of strengthening transparency at the local level.
- Facilitating the inter institutional policy dialogue between local and central governments.
- Strengthening the decentralisation process: working with municipalities to align their functions with the provisions in the “Cross-cutting Strategy on Decentralisation and Local Governance 2023-2030”.
- Building the capacity of local governments to align with EU standards in the exercise of their competences.
Key Achievements(until September 2024)
Pilot Municipalities:Shkodër, Berat, Pogradec, Pukë, Përmet, Divjakë |
Counterparts and beneficiaries of the the Local Government Component
- Minister of State for Support to Local Government (MSLG)
- Agency for Support to Local Government (ASLG)
- Albanian Municipalities
Component 4. Anti-Corruption
The Anti-Corruption component aims to strengthen anti-corruption measures and promote integrity across institutions. To bolster integrity and reduce corruption, the project supports:
- drafting and implementing the Intersectoral Anti-Corruption Strategy (ISAC 2024-2030).
- Enhancing coordination among institutions responsible for anti-corruption efforts.
- Strengthening institutions to conduct integrity assessments and implement Integrity Plans.
- Strengthening capacities to enforce open data and information transparency laws.
- Ensuring Albania aligns with anti-corruption standards set by the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO).
- Supporting in managing asset declarations and conflict of interest cases.
Key Achievements(until September 2024)
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Institutional Stakeholders for the EU for Good Governance
The EU4GG Programme works closely with a wide range of institutional partners, ensuring that reforms are implemented efficiently and sustainably.
Key stakeholders include:
- Prime Minister’s Office (PMO)
- Minister of State for Public Administration and Anticorruption
- Minister of State for Local Government
- Ministry of Finance (MoF): Overseeing public financial management reforms
- State Agency for Strategic Programming and Aid Coordination (SASPAC)
- Department of Public Administration (DoPA)
- Albanian School of Public Administration (ASPA)
- Public Procurement Agency (PPA)
- Agency for Support for the Local Government (ASLG)
- Anti-fraud Coordination Service (AFCOS)
- General Directorate for Anti-Corruption (GDAC)
- HIDAACI (High Inspectorate of Declaration and Audit of Assets)
- Municipalities (six pilot municipalities: Shkodër, Berat, Pogradec, Pukë, Përmet, Divjakë)
Additionally, local governments, CSOs, and independent institutions such as the Commissioner for Information and Data Protection play critical roles in monitoring progress and promoting transparency.