The XII General Assembly of NALAS takes place today in Vienna, with over 50 participants, including SEE Mayors as delegates, LGAs’ leadership, partners and supporters.

The XII General Assembly of NALAS this year takes place within the annual Danube Water Conference, bringing together SEE Mayors to discuss topics related to sustainable water management and provision of quality services to their citizens and addressing the challenges of financing water services for development.

“It is our joint task to advocate for the role of local governments in advancing and prospering societies in SEE”, said Mayor Ismajli, NALAS President.

“Make sure you put efforts in communicating the story of the project that needs to present the value of the project for the target groups“, pointed out Jurij Kobal, an EU fundraising expert.

“As the European Commission is not supporting Public Administration Reform at local level, and this is a donor coordination meeting, NALAS invites other donors to fill in the gap”

The Report gives insight in the current situation with solid waste management at the national and local level in the SEE countries. It also assesses the progress towards the establishment of an integrated solid waste management system compared to the baseline year of 2014.

The low priority of the Western Balkans on the EU Commission's agenda, the absence of a technical unit within DG NEAR to be addressed to by LGAs, the scarce attention being given to LGAs in national IPA programming as well as consultation in the frame of the enlargement process are the most burning issues.

The project resulted in Concept and Methodology that provides directions on putting in place conditions for informed decision making towards establishment of a SEE Decentralisation Observatory.

"The level of decentralisation, accompanied by adequate resources remains the main challenge for local governments in South-East Europe”, said in his opening speech Mayor Aleksandar Bogdanovic, President of the Union of Municipalities of Montenegro.

The training covered the topics: Water policy, legal and institutional framework for WSS; Organisation of communal water services at the local level; Financial and operational performance improvement programme; Key areas of improvement: public service agreements and tariff policy; and Tools for effective management, key performance indicators and benchmarking.