The number of municipalities and districts in Albania that have made an effort to improve transparency has been on the rise, but still, the majority remain at average, low, or very low levels.

The Proactive Transparency Index published by the Commissioner for the Right to Information and Protection of Personal Data has concluded that for the year 2023, at least 29% of local government units have high proactive transparency.

“At the conclusion of the proactive transparency monitoring, we note that 21 local government units are classified with high proactive transparency and are marked with a green light on the traffic light system, while 43 institutions of local government units are classified with average proactive transparency and marked with a white light on the traffic light system; 6 local government units are ranked with low proactive transparency and marked with a yellow light on the traffic light system; only 3 local government units are classified with very low proactive transparency and marked with a red light on the traffic light system.

In comparison with the findings of the previous year, we have observed an increase in transparency in local government units with a green light from 21% last year to 29% for this year, which also marks the most noticeable improvement made by all past years, in the proactive transparency of public authorities of local government units,” says the Commissioner’s publication.

But what are the actual elements taken into account during monitoring that build this index for local units?

There are at least ten indicators evaluated, starting from the transparency program that every Municipality must have, moving on to the decisions of the Municipal Council, the institution or mayor’s biography, the structure or organization of the institution, audit reports, procurement forecasts and mid-term budget program, Information Rights Coordinator, register of requests and responses, legislation, and finally the coordinator for public consultations. Each of these indicators, when fulfilled, is assessed with 1 point, partially fulfilled with 0.5 points, and when non-existent, with zero points.