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Supported by: International Budget Partnership ( www.internationalbudget.org )
Time interval: 2007-2008 & 2008-2009
The aim of the project”The Open Budget Index” is to evaluate the quantity and type of information available to the public in a country’s budget documents for Albania.
Uri as a researcher evaluates the information that should be available to the public at each of the four stages of the budget process through answering to the questions in the Questionnaire (the full questionnaire is available at www.openbudgetindex.org). The activities are carried out in two dimensions:
1) Use of all public informing channels for the key budgeting documents like: official newspaper, internet (web site of Ministry of Finance, Supreme Audit Committee and other related institutions, libraries etc.
2) Face-to-face interview with a government official from Ministry of Finance or other knowledgeable party as to provide a reference to a budget document, a law, or other public document that are related to the answers given.
The main idea at the end of the whole work conducted by URI was to provide a clear picture of what occurs in the practice regarding the timeliness and content of the documents to the public and not what are the requirements by law.
At the end, Albania is placed within a performance category that was determined by averaging the responses to 123 questions on the Open Budget Questionnaire related to information contained. in the eight key budget documents that all countries should make available to the public.
Country summary and the Open Budget Questionnaire for Albania for year 2008 are found at www.openbudgetindex.org/countryDATA/.
The work is carried out in two lines:
1. Overall assessment of the current situation in Albania: The Survey focuses on two major concerns: budget transparency and budget oversight institutions. Answers are provided to the questionnaire in the Survey focus on the content and timeliness of eight key budget documents that all countries should issue according to good international practices in every phase of budget process. The availability of the key documents with sufficient information available to the public is checked in:
• formulation phase;
• approval phase;
• execution phase;
• evaluation and audit phase.
2. Recommendations for improvement: Reforms that Albania, like the other countries that also participated in this Survey, might opt to improve budget transparency, increase public participation, and strengthen institutions of accountability. The improvements are directed towards
• the government to improve the quality and simplicity of the information provided in the key budget documents also ensuring timely in year reports and low cost of the public to the information so that the public can be updated regarding the budget implementation at any moment during the year.
• increase of the citizens’ participation during budget debates through not only organized public hearings but giving the necessary attention to the public testimony.
• improve the information regarding what has actually been spent versus what has actually been planned so that budget performance can be measured and the implementation of recommendations from the audits can be tracked.
 Benefits from this project are reflected into efforts to increase transparency and accountability so that the trust of citizens in their government is enhanced and further collaboration between two parties is encouraged. At each stage of the budget process, the information made publicly available determines the ability of civil society (as well as the media, legislatures, and supreme audit institutions) to influence, monitor, and assess the effectiveness of government policies. The final step of the project carried out by URI was the dissemination and advocacy action plan for the final results of OBI index 2009 for Albania through workshops with actors of interest and civil societies and through publication on communication areas.
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