Trained Observer Techniques – Video
Most municipalities in the region of Elbasan lack a performance management system for local public services in place. As a result, monitoring of public services is not carried out systematically. Community structures have not been set up, and citizen participation in decision-making processes has been very limited. A unified methodology for how to involve the community in the monitoring and evaluation of public services was needed. In this regard, the project helped mobilize a group of local students, non-experts in the field, to monitor public service delivery using a unified evaluation system, the Trained Observer Techniques (TVT). The students then had the opportunity to present and discuss concrete intervention actions and budget proposals to their municipalities.
The project resulted in the development of a unified model for monitoring the delivery of public services as a tool of advocacy for the community to receive more efficient and effective services, as well as the establishment of a network of 84 qualified observers who collectively monitored local public services in 7 municipalities and identified needs for intervention. More than 140 people participated in community meetings, which helped establish constructive dialogue between communities and municipal councils.
