Three new sport fields in the schools of “Katund i Ri” and “Sadik Stavileci” in Kashar near Tirana were delivered today to about 1,300 students during an inauguration event. Present were the Mayor of Tirana Erion Veliaj, Swiss Ambassador to Albania Adrian Maître, local authorities, teachers, students and community of this area.
Financed by the Swiss and Austrian Governments, the rehabilitation of three sport fields includes modern equipment and all related conditions, to ensure a safer and proper conduction of outdoor and sport activities for the students and youth of Kashar.
The Mayor of Tirana, Mr Erion Veliaj joined the event in Kashar to meet with the students and teachers of these schools. “From these sport fields we will see the future champions in football, basketball or volleyball. They will serve not only for physical health, but also for teamwork and for building character”, emphasised the Mayor addressing the pupils and teachers.
“It is great that through this very project we focused on the needs of youth and students in Kashar, the 1,300 students in these two schools are the direct beneficiaries. I would encourage us to look even higher and broader: let us move from inaugurating social infrastructure today, to building strong economic regions tomorrow”, said Swiss Ambassador to Albania Adrian Maître.
This investment was a co-funding of 62,000 Euro out of which 43,000 Euro from the Swiss government, 16,000 from the Austrian government, and 2,400 Euro from the Municipality of Tirana. As part of a grant scheme of the Regional Development Programme Albania, it included the entire renovation of about 1,235 m² of sport fields together with all related sport equipment.
The recently reconstructed sport fields are dedicated not only to the youth and students of the respective schools, but to the whole community of this locality, promoting re-creational sport and cultural activities and encourage participation and social inclusion in the area.
This intervention is only one of the 16 development projects implemented in the framework of the Pilot Regional Grant Scheme which aims at directly improving the socio – economic conditions of the local communities in Municipalities across Albania. All RDPA awarded projects address the key needs of local communities by tackling small-scale local investments in education, tourism, sports, culture and community infrastructure and consequently directly improving their quality of life.
The Pilot Grant Scheme financed by the Swiss and Austrian Governments, is contributing as well as to strengthen capabilities of regional and local structures in managing development projects thus preparing for other future donor funding.
Regional Development Programme Albania III (RDPA) is a joint continuous effort to support the Regional Development reform in Albania. The Programme aims at reducing disparities in Albania by supporting the development of strong regions, so they can advance their potentials and provide better social and economic conditions for their citizens.
