The Albanian government, weak compared to the region for the transparency of documents and data

2024-02-13 09:24:00, Aktualitet CNA

The Albanian government, weak compared to the region for the transparency of

The Albanian government has taken steps forward with the digitization of government services, but is less transparent than other countries in the region in publishing official documents to the public.

The data processed by "Open Data Kosova" show that Albania's score for the degree of openness of official data was 24.8 points, leaving behind only Bosnia. The best results in the region for the transparency of public documents are Serbia with an index of 50.2, followed by Montenegro with 36.5, Kosovo with 34.2 and North Macedonia with 27.4.

The Regional Openness Index assessed the degree of institutional openness in the Western Balkans to people and society according to the following four guiding principles: (1) transparency, (2) accessibility, (3) integrity and (4) awareness during the period 2019-2022.

Open government data means that information is reported and published in channels that can be accessed by anyone without any restrictions. The study funded by the United Nations notes that the amount of data increases transparency towards citizens and makes the work of the government more understandable.

Governments can encourage the development of new businesses and modern citizen-centric services by promoting the free use, reuse and sharing of datasets.

Through the online distribution of Open Data, several countries have undertaken transparency initiatives from their governments and public institutions, but Albania has a poor ranking compared to the Region.

For example, the Ministry of Finance in Albania has published a total of 26 documents, while the counterpart ministry in North Macedonia has published 42 documents, in Kosovo 54 and in Montenegro, almost 41.

The Ministry of Health of Albania is weak, not publishing any document in the period in question. While the Ministry of Health in Montenegro has published 8 documents, in Macedonia 18 documents, in Kosovo 2 documents.

Also, the Ministry of Justice in Albania has the lowest number of documents published online with only 3, while the counterpart ministry in Montenegro has published 16 documents, in North Macedonia, 11 documents and in Kosovo, 31 documents.

Digitization has given governments significant opportunities to improve the efficiency and delivery of public services through data transparency, but not all governments in the Balkan region are using it efficiently./ Monitor Magazine