Let me start by introducing myself. I have the privilege of being Country Manager for the World Bank in Albania, so my job basically means two things: first, ensuring that the World Bank’s program focuses on the most important priorities for the sustainable development of Albania and, second, making sure that we deliver what we promise, as fast as possible and in the most efficient way possible. Now, let me share one personal thing: in my childhood, growing up in a poor neighborhood in Mexico City, I was a beneficiary of a World Bank project that built my primary school and gave us food every day. It was thanks to that project that I had a path out of poverty, and into a world of opportunities. Why do I share this? Because I know for a fact that a better future is possible, and I also know that together we can transform lives. But I also know that we need to act fast!
I started this position around six months ago, and you probably have not heard a lot from me. Before expressing views, I wanted to start by learning about Albania, not only about the economy, but most importantly, about its people. This has been a fascinating experience and I have enjoyed it a lot. I will gladly continue learning as long as I am here.
But at this point I also wanted to share with you some of the issues we have been working on, the issues we plan to work on in the future and ideas that we would like to share. But I am also mindful that we are all swamped by concerning news and uncertainty from everywhere in the world. So, I am making a conscious effort to not focus on what is worrying and we can’t influence, but on what is important, and we can change. There’s plenty to talk about and I don’t want to burden you with a long list of things, so I will start sharing some thoughts today and will share a few more things in the next rounds.
One project
Albania is blessed with the most amazing nature and landscapes, from rivers and coastline to mountains and cultural heritage. It is no wonder that Albania is becoming a major touristic destination. However, it is always very sad when traveling through the country to see garbage thrown away even in the most beautiful areas. There is also a less visible but even more worrying pollution – the wastewater from houses and businesses that goes directly to the rivers and sea. So, we were delighted to receive a request to work with authorities to remediate two main areas: wastewater pollution along the Vjosa river and solid waste pollution (mainly from construction waste) along the Vlora coastline. Similarly, we are supporting the Ministry of Tourism and Environment on the upcoming ban on plastics – by the way, hats off to the Government of Albania for taking bold action on this!
One result
With all that is happening worldwide, COVID-19 sometimes seems like a distant memory. Knocking on wood and fingers crossed, we can mostly consider that Albania has weathered the pandemic and it seems mostly a thing of the past. However, this is not by chance. We witnessed first-hand the enormous efforts from health workers at all levels and the high commitment and efficient guidance of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection. I want to pause and thank all of them for tending to those of us that got sick and helping us to turn the page on this pandemic through vaccines and care. Thank you!
At the World Bank we were very glad to support the Ministry of Health and Social Protection for acquisition of equipment (including ambulances, CT scanners, X-ray machines, an angiography system, ultrasounds, and tests) and reconstruction of three hospitals (Pediatric Hospital, regional hospitals of Laçi, and Kukes). We still owe you one more thing: the reconstruction of the Infectious Diseases Clinic (IDC) within the Mother Teresa Hospital in Tirana. This was a bit delayed as it was the main facility for treatment of COVID-19 patients, but we plan to finish it within the next two months.
One idea: Changing behaviors
I mentioned that we are very glad that we will be working on remediation of pollution in Vlora and Vjosa, but I keep thinking that that will not be nearly enough to ensure that we can preserve Albania’s natural beauty for the next generations. We need a massive change in how each one of us contributes to that. To put it simply, the cleanest country is not the one where garbage is collected rapidly from the rivers and the ground. The cleanest country is the one where nobody throws away garbage carelessly. So, while it is good to change the laws and invest in the infrastructure needed to clean rivers and coastline, what is more important is to change our behavior.
Going forward we are planning to be more active on something called “behavioral economics”. This is a fascinating area that combines elements of economics and psychology to understand how and why we behave the way we do in the real world. Behavioral economics differs from traditional economics (which assumes that most people behave ‘rationally’) by recognizing that we often make decisions that are ‘irrational’ or that can hurt us even if we have information to make the right decision. Behavioral economics is a way for us to really observe behaviors in real life and ask questions that help us identify why we behave in certain way and what can be done to change that behavior.
Let me give you an anecdote of a very early application of this: apparently in London many years ago, somebody came up with the idea of painting a white line dividing Tower Bridge Road into two lanes. By doing that, a massive congestion problem was solved - just by dividing traffic into two flows. What I like about this anecdote is that traditionally we would think that to solve traffic and chaos one more bridge was needed, but it shows that solutions to many problems are a lot simpler and cheaper - as cheap as a can of paint.
We will start bringing a behavioral economic approach to our projects in Albania going forward. This will probably be more difficult than building things (as there is no cooking recipe for that), but I think we need to try. We have some ideas to start, but we want to hear your ideas too. Think of behaviors that we should try to change and share those ideas with us.
That is it for now. Write to us on Facebook (World Bank Albania) or at infoalbania@worldbank.org to share your thoughts, questions or ideas.
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Originally published in the Panorama daily newspaper (Panorama.al) on June 2, 2022.
