The “IPSD – Support to Improve Citizen-Centric Public Service Deliver”, funded by the European Union in collaboration with “The Agency for the Delivery of Integrated Services Albania” (ADISA), as beneficiary institution, organized on 12 March at “Musine Kokalari” Library in Tirana, the activity entitled “Best Essay Contest” with the participation of students from different universities in the country.

Through this activity, which was supported by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic, it is intended that the Albanian youths to be more familiar with the current services that ADISA offers to the citizens, the institutional service mechanisms, the IPSD project and the support that the European Union gives to the Albanian state towards improving public service delivery. The invitation to the country’s students to become part of this competition aims to foster their involvement in public good governance processes, as well as raising their awareness and contributing to the future on this regard.

Present at this meeting, the General Director of ADISA, Anisa Gjika, thanking the students for the interest shown with their participation in this activity, expressed that: “ADISA is the The Agency for the Delivery of Integrated Services Albania, was established three years ago and its main goal is to improve the delivery method public services in our country. The aim of today’s activity is to approach young people in the Public Services Reform in Albania and concretely announce a competition that is directly related to it and our daily basis. ADISA has structured its work on 3 main pillars, which are: 1. Establishment of Integrated Centers where citizens can access a range of services in one place; 2. Establishment of Standards for Public Service Centers – ADISA, as well as for other institutions providing services in the counters; 3. Establish a monitoring system regarding the manner and quality of public service delivery provided by public institutions.

At the end of her speech, Mrs. Gjika emphasized that these three main pillars covering ADISA have also supported themes to be used for the development of essays, inviting young people to become part of this competition as ADISA appreciates citizens’ suggestions and opinions and needs, ideas innovative approaches that can further improve the way the public services are delivered.

While at this meeting, the General Director of IDRA Research & Consulting, Mr. Auron Pasha, part of the project consortium funded by the European Union, introducing some of the key components of the IPSD project, focused on the phenomenon of corruption. “Overall the reforme of improving public servicesdelivery aims to minimize the interaction of the citizen with the public administration, and the less interaction it has the less chance of corrupt transactions,” stressed Mr. Pasha. Emphasizing the importance of students in their approach to this phenomenon, Mr. Pasha invited the students to the “Best Essay Contest” to become part of him, as well as to return to the ambassador of his message to the Higher Education Institutions.

The meeting continued with a free conversation between the panel and present students, who welcomed the invitation and praised such initiatives with a special focus on the country’s young people.

The announcement of the call to participate in the “Best Essay Contest” addresses all students in the country aged 18-25 by selecting one of the following topics:

  • Citizens and Public Service – Challenges and Solutions
  • Technology and Innovation in terms of Citizen –Centric Public Service Deleivery
  • Standardisation of public service delivery as key criteria to decrease the level of corruption

The contest will open on 12 March 2018 and the deadline for submitting the essay is 25 April 2018. The essay should contain no more than 2,500 words and the written language will be English and / or English in the Times New Roman / Arial, 12 pt, in Word / PDF. Interested students are invited to submit their work to the email address: sherbimet.publike@adisa.gov.al, as well as may address clarifying questions at the IPSD email address: info@ipsdalbania.al

The selection of winning essays will go through two phases. The first phase will determine the best essays in the final stage. At the final stage, during a ceremony to be held in May 2018, will be announced the winning essays, which will be rewarded with several awards from the project. The best essays will be selected by ADISA and IPSD project experts through a set of standard assessment indicators. More information on the competition will be available in the following days at the official ADISA and IDRA addresses: www.adisa.gov.al and www.idracompany.com