Good Governance and Regulatory Reform, Need Public Participation in all Development Stages in Albania

Abstract

This article sets out to examine the World Bank's efforts at strengthening good governance in Albania case study, in developing countries and improving the effectiveness of aid. It focuses on the relationship between good governance and aid effectiveness in providing a critical assessment of the Bank's approach to governance reform in developing countries. This paper scrutinizes the shifts in policies and strategies of the Bank during the 1990s as well as the research it generated to support them. The wide array of issues under "governance" occupies center stage in the development debate and the agenda of the international financial institutions (IFIs). The concept of governance captures "the manner in which power is exercised in the management of a country's economic and social resources for development" (World Bank 1992, 1). Dervish Kaptur and Richard Webb attest: "For the IFIs, the new mandate is a boost to their importance, but one fraught with peril. The new mission arrived at a moment when growing doubts regarding the purpose and effectiveness of the IFIs. On matters of public administration, the Government's strategy focused on addressing two inter-related sets of interventions: (a) strengthening public financial management, including the management of both public expenditures and revenues; and (b) strengthening human resource management. On matters relating to public sector human resource management, the reform strategy envisaged addressing this issue in two major stages: civil service reform and broader public sector human resource management reform. During the first stage, the reforms aimed to create the managerial and professional nucleus required to lead any serious efforts to improve the accountability and performance of public institutions. Subsequently, in a second stage, the reform would address the larger body of public employees to improve productivity and accountability for their work and ensure that public policies, programs and services are delivered reliably and cost-effectively.

DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2014.v3n3p117