Auleda Local Economic Development Agency

Auleda is a non-profit non governmental organization established in August 2003 in Vlora, Albania, as part of the international network of Local Economic Development Agencies sponsored by ILSLEDA. It is an independent body, with its own legal structure and functional autonomy, based on a public-private partnership.

AULEDA mission is to sustain the social, economic, cultural and environmental development of Vlora region, reinforcing and integrating its own resources according to the principles of human development. Specifically, AULEDA contributes to establishing and strengthening local and regional Strategic Planning in Vlora area, and provides support to institutions and civil society in their commitment to comprehensive local development.

AULEDA innovative characteristic is its approach to territorial development. Indeed, it is the first Albanian organization dedicated to enhancing the involvement of regional public and private stakeholders in the process of regional development, therefore constituting an example of good practices and defining a reproducible model of regional management. AULEDA not only realizes feasibility studies for development initiatives and helps in defining the territorial strategic planning, but also supports the development of local people’s capacities and skills in territorial management and the application of participatory methods in regional development decisions.

Moreover, AULEDA is directly committed to the population of Vlora district, with initiatives that sustain economic activities with a positive social impact and support a working model that favours professional inclusion of vulnerable groups.

Providing services as mapping of local resources, support to business planning and management, sustain to enterprises networking and to social economy, and mostly operating in priority economic sectors for regional development as sustainable tourism, agro-food production, fishing and craft, AULEDA serves about 300,000 residents in the seven municipalities and 19 communes of Vlora district.

In the last ten years AULEDA has demonstrated responsibility and professionalism in realizing its mission and objectives, attracting the interest and financial support of, among the others, UNOPS, UNDP, European Commission, Oxfam GB, Soros Foundation, Italian Cooperation, American Embassy in Tirana.