Taking stock of the achievements in managing Prespa National Park

On 3 July the Korça Regional Administration for Protected Areas (RAPA) for Prespa National Park, Albania, met with PONT and the KfW financed project “Transboundary Biosphere Reserve Prespa” (KfW PRESPA), implemented by GFA and INCA. In the meeting the results of the previous PONT grant were evaluated and lessons learned were discussed. The highlights of the previous grant period include:

• Recruitment of new staff and introducing them to the regular work of Prespa National Park
• Regular and timely reporting to PONT (also with the help of the two part-time positions in NAPA)
• Rangers continued regular patrolling even during COVID19 pandemic
• Continuation of environmental education programmes related to the junior rangers
• Organisation of conference to celebrate the 20^th birthday of Prespa National Park and the winter festival
• Biodiversity monitoring activities in cooperation with NGOs and experts
• Start with the set-up of a biodiversity monitoring database
• Improved visibility of the work done by RAPA Korça
• Cleaning and marking of existing hiking trails by four local temporary workers
• Internal Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT) assessment using the Advanced METT methodology for the first time
• Procurement of firefighting equipment and materials
• Establishment of an inventory of equipment procured for the park

In general, the team implementing the essential on-the-ground activities is coming to a more standardised way of working which is essential for effective management of the park.  RAPA Korça expressed their satisfaction with the performance by the new staff and highlighted the good cooperation and support within the team together with KfW PRESPA. The need for additional office space will be hopefully addressed soon. This will enable the team to work from the same location. Otherwise the team has made the best use of available resources such as transportation.