Technical Assistance on Smart Cities in four capitals of the Western Balkans
Context
AFD's mandate in the Western Balkans aims to support convergence towards European Union standards by integrating transitions towards sustainable development trajectories in line with the Paris Climate Agreement.
AFD and the Regional Economic Service in charge of the Western Balkans have coordinated in 2019 to set up a FEXTE financing in order to structure a regional technical assistance on 4 capitals of the Western Balkans, around the issue of digital transition. This technical assistance is two-fold: it focuses on the projects led and managed by the local authorities as well as on their internal transformation as organisations.
Objective
The overall objective of the technical assistance mission is to support 4 Western Balkans capitals in developing a Digital City Action Plan. The results of this technical assistance will be shared in the framework of a peer-to-peer dialogue, with local authorities and French companies. The 4 capitals of the Western Balkans covered by the technical assistance are: Tirana (Albania), Pristina (Kosovo), Skopje (North Macedonia) and Podgorica (Montenegro).
AFD contracted Espelia (i) to manage the technical assistance activities and (ii) to ensure a smooth coordination between the different stakeholders (AFD, beneficiary local authorities and French local authorities, other partners). Espelia has therefore implemented a series of technical expertise activities, determined by the local authorities which are part of the TA.
Our contribution
Within the framework of this technical assistance, we carried out the following activities in coordination with AFD, the local authorities and actors of the local ecosystem:
- Steering of the technical assistance program, including the provision of a local coordination unit in the region ;
- Elaboration of 4 diagnostic studies including (i) a territorial diagnosis analysing the digital and urban challenges for the different cities; (ii) an assessment of the digital maturity of each of the municipalities; (iii) a mapping of the local ecosystem and (iv) an analysis of the existing regulatory framework ;
- Organisation and conduct of a learning expedition in France for the 4 municipalities part of the technical assistance: organisation of workshops and meetings with French local authorities and public utilities, organisation of visits to flagship smart city projects ;
- Elaboration of 4 Digital City Action Plans, through participative and collective intelligence methods. The process involved various actors of the different local ecosystems ;
- Prioritization and detailing of 5-year activities that AFD could continue to finance and support after the end of the technical assistance ;
Organisation and conduct of a final regional seminar on Smart City issues for the 4 cities of the technical assistance.
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