Our Project for Empowering Youth in Tech Industry, BootCamp with students of kursori.org

Empowerment of Youth through online training and employment opportunities in the Tech-Industry market. This is the impact of the project implemented by two organizations in Kosovo and Albania, the ODK and AIS. The project enabled school students from non-developed areas such Kurbini and Lezha to be trained and mentored at three levels via the platform Kursori.org. Thirty of the best students, trained and distinguished for their developers’ skills worked together during the BootCamp to program business ideas. In the end, the works were presented in front of Tech-Industry businesses representatives in Albania and Kosovo, who are looking for junior staff in their companies. BootCamp is on of the activities of our Open ICT Education project for Youth Employability, funded by the European Union in Albania as part of the IPA Cross Border Cooperation Albania-Kosovo. You may find the successful works conducted in the Bootcamp on our site and on the social networks of AIS and ODK.

Open Corporations Albania, business data in the country, database audience grows

The Open Corporates Albania website, which provides information of an economic nature, in the Albanian language, reaches a record number of clicks. Over 20 thousand unique users every month, i.e. 40% more than last year, Open Corporates Albania has resulted to be a favorable website for the information it provides for business companies contracted by public institutions. In January 2020, according to Google Analytics, the website reached a total of 32899 unique users and 1 million page views. Although 90% of the information is only available in the Albanian language, the website is also clicked in other countries as well. Thus, 78.4 % of the clicks come from Albania; 4.2% from neighboring Italy, third comes USA with 3.4% of the clicks, followed by Kosovo, Germany, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Greece, Turkey, and France. Currently, the website is being maintained and updated with data by AIS team, a non-governmental organization promoting Open Data in Albania

Open Data promotes investigative journalism, facts about fraud through tenders

1 in 3 tenders without fair competition, open data encourage investigative journalism to denounce corruption with taxpayers’ money On January 7th, the TopStory investigative show on Top Channel denounced forms of fraud through public procurement tenders. Shocking facts were brought to the program for one in every three tenders without fair competition. 300 million euros of taxpayers’ money results to be lost every year, abused and misappropriated through tenders with clientelist elements. AIS, an organization promoting Open Data in Albania, contributed to this courageous TV investigation through data released: Specifically: Data about tenders and contracts with problems regarding competition published on the Open Procurement Albania portal; information about clientelist companies published in the Open Corporates Albania portal, and data on the payments from the State Budget published on Spending Data Albania . For the last four years, AIS has been publishing data and assessing the risk of irregularities in tenders, known as RedFlag procurement, identifying information and gaps for every tender held by municipalities Albanian Development Fund Albanian Road Authority Health SectorCentral Purchasing AgencyPublic-Owned Agency;

7 January 2020, Top Story Media Programme: 1 in 3 tenders with no fair competition. Open data promote investigative journalism and enable reporting of corruption over Albanian taxpayers’ money

On January 7th, Top Story, an investigative show, reported on forms of fraud with public procurement tenders in the country. Journalist Entela Barjamaj and the national Top Channel TV team introduced shocking facts on Top Story, such as one in every three tenders being conducted without fair competition.  300 million Euros of taxpayers’ money seem to be lost every year due to abuse with, and misappropriation of, clientelist tenders.

AIS, the organization promoting open data in Albania contributed to this courageous television investigation through data released from three important open data databases. Namely:

In addition to open data released from our databases, including clear and denouncing arguments, contribution to this programme was also made by Director Aranita Brahaj, who elaborated on the shortcomings of tender procedures.

Corruption is one of the most problematic issues for the country. Justice institutions or anticorruption mechanisms in the country are weak to non-existent. Nevertheless, media and watchdog organisations continue to report facts and contribute against abuse with public money. For four years, AIS has been publishing data and assessing risk of tender irregularities, known as Procurement RedFlag, providing information and identifying issues with every tender conducted by municipalities, the Albanian Development Fund, the Albanian Road Authority, the health sector, and public-owned companies.

Top Story program and Promo are available on YouTube channel

7 janar 2020, Top Story Media Program: 1 në 3 tendera pa garë të ndershme, Të dhëna të hapura nxisin gazetarinë investigative dhe denoncojnë korrupsionin me para të taksapaguesve shqiptar

Në datën7 janar emisioni investigative TopStory denoncoi forma të mashtrimit përmes tenderimeve prokurimeve publike në vend. Gazetarja Entela Barjamaj dhe ekipi i Tv Kombëtar Top Channel, sollën në Top Story fakte tronditëse si mbajtja e një në çdo tre tendera pa garë të ndershme.  300 milion euro, para të taksapaguesve rezultojnë çdo vit të humbura, abuzuara dhe vjedhura përmes tenderimeve me element klientelist.

Organizata AIS promotore e të dhënave të hapura në Shqipëri kontribuoi në këtë investigim të guximshëm televiziv, përmes të dhënave të çliruara nga tre databaza të rëndësishme me të dhëna të hapura. Konkretisht:

Veç të dhënave të hapura të mara nga databazat tona, me argumente të qarta dhe denoncuese kontribuoi në këtë Program edhe artikulimi i drejtoreshës së AIS Aranita Brahaj mbi defekte të procedurës së tenderimeve.

Korrupsioni është një nga çështjet më problematike për vendin. Institucionet e drejtësisë apo mekanizmat antikorrupsion në vend janë të dobëta deri jo ekzistente. Kundrejt kësaj media dhe organizatat watch dog vijojnë të denoncojnë fakte dhe kontribuojnë kundër abuzimeve me para publike. Prej katër vitesh AIS zbardh të dhëna dhe vlerëson riskun për parregullsi në tenderim njohur si RedFlag Prokurime duke zbardhur informacion dhe defekte të garës për çdo tender të mbajtur nga Bashkitë, Fondi Shqiptar i Zhvillimit, Autoriteti Shqiptar i Rrugëve, Sektori Shëndetësi, Agjencia e Blerjeve të Përqendruara, Shoqëritë me Zotërim Publik.

Programi Top Story dhe Promo janë të vendosura në kanalin You Tube