General training needs (i.e. those not dependent upon the DSIPs, the NSMS or the investment programme) have been assessed, based upon:

• a review of capacities within AKUM as reported in the Review of Internal Management and Control (September 2019) and
• discussion with the SANE27 project regarding implementation capacities in general.

We have concluded that the most pressing needs are a clear understanding of:

• What urban waste-water is, those of its characteristics that require it to be treated, the nature of treatment processes and the waste streams that need to be managed as a consequence of urban waste-water treatment.
• The environmental management principles that underlie the UWWTD and how these translate into the concept of agglomerations; also what agglomerations are (and equally importantly are not) and why the requirements of the UWWTD for various categories of agglomeration make sense.
• The relationships between data, information, decisions and compliance assessment, all of which are relevant to a wide variety of aspects of implementation planning and management.
• Change management, why it is relevant to implementation and how to go about it.
• Water sector finance and accounting, particularly in regard to maximising the chances of obtaining grant-investment co-financing from EU funds.

Given the relative complexity of Albania’s institutional structures, we suggest that it would be of benefit to improve generic team working skills. Not only would this make this Project’s working groups more effective but also it would contribute to inter-institutional collaboration during Albania’s transition to membership of the EU.