In the past period SNV has realised various results in the Balkans. Here are some examples. 

• SNV worked out a report “On Monitoring and Evaluation of the Direct Financial Scheme to support orchards, vineyards and olive trees production in Fier and Diber regions” for the Albanian Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Consumer’s Protection. In the conclusion SNV recommended to enlarge investments in the agriculture sector by seeking also co-financing from the farmers, as a way to approach the single payment scheme used in EU countries. On December 6th 2007, the Albanian minister for Agriculture, Food and Consumer’s Protection, Mr. Jemin Gjana has announced to strongly increase government support to the farmers population. In the coming period (2008) an extra amount of 4 million Euros will be invested. This financial means will be used for assisting farmers to increase their production of fruits, vegetables and livestock. 
  
  
• SNV team in Stip, Macedonia,  facilitated a broad partnership between the municipality of Berovo, ProCredit bank, and GTZ, in the organization of the Berovo festival program. About 50 producers exhibited and sold their products at the fair. Their efforts were rewarded as an estimated 15.000 people from all over Macedonia and abroad (mainly from Serbia and Bulgaria) sampled their goods and celebrated the feast of the Holy Mary Bogodorica in the monastery area of Berovo. The Macedonian President and the Prime Minister, from opposing political parties, were seen together in public for the first time at this festival.
  
  
• In Diber, North-eastern Albania, SNV is helping the local governments to benefit from the 3- year program of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The program provides financial support for local governments units that prove to be capable and accountable for implementing their strategic plans. So far, 4 communes and two municipalities have won projects to reconstruct roads, build irrigation and sewage systems, commercial markets, etc, with a total amount of 479 thousand Euros.



• SNV is assisting the municipality of Erseke to bring more tourists to this peripheral area located in the southeast corner of Albania. After formulating the Tourism Action Plan, SNV invited 16 representatives of the capital-based tour operators in Erseka to discover tourist attraction sites. Half of them showed interest to include the region in their next tourist tours. 


• SNV in Banja Luka is supporting the Municipality of Mrkonjić Grad to realize its development objectives. The participants at SNV Project Cycle Management (PCM) training for local stakeholders produced five project proposals that were included in the municipal strategic plan and approved by the municipal assembly.



• In Fier region/Albania SNV coached the Regional Archaeological Centre "Koco" to implement the Tourism Road Sign Project, the first one in Albania in accordance with EU standards. Due to SNV’s networking (Prefecture, Municipality, Regional Directorate of Road Maintenance and Regional Council) and lobbying (Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Public Works),  the Centre was able to succeed in this initiative.  Recognizing and appreciating the progress done in this project, in January 2008 the Minister ratified the allocation of a fund of 16 000 Euro to continue the second phase.



• From 1996-2001, SNV provided advisory services to Albania Forestry Project, a jointly funded project between World Bank, Italian and Swiss governments. The advisory input was directed at improved sustainable management of the communal forests and pastures in one of the most poverty-stricken regions of Albania, Diber, through an increased participation of communities and increased capacities of the local actors. As a result, Forest User’s Associations were established in each commune acting as main stakeholders in the transfer and management process. 
  A study done by World Bank showed that family income increased during the project period by 30%.  And the study estimated that about 30-43% of the overall increase was related to the forestry sector. SNV approach has been adopted by the Albanian government and the World Bank and integrated into the CFM program of phase 2 of the Natural Resources Management project (2005-2010).

• Together with United Nations World Tourism Organization, SNV partnered with the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports to draft a new integral law on tourism in Albania. After several stakeholder meeting assisted by SNV, the law was approved by the Parliament in 14 May 2007. According to an international tourism expert Mr. John Downes, if the new law is properly implemented it will help 10,000 rural families in remote areas of the country increase their income from boost in nature based cultural tourism



• SNV helped the municipality of Banovici set up a participatory process with local communities, private companies, governmental structures and civil society, to work out a local development plan. In about 30 meetings they identified and analysed problems, solutions and the responsible actors in issues like infrastructure, social services, employment and agriculture. After that, the stakeholders identified priorities for the municipality and a strategy paper was presented to the population. The plan is now in the implementation phase and serves as a basis for the elaboration of the yearly action plan and budget. SNV is still involved in activities concerning drinking water and governance for empowerment. 



• SOGFBiH and ALVRS (two Associations of municipalities and cities of Bosnia and Herzegovina) are SNV’s partners in supporting municipalities to prepare for accession to the European Union. Together, they produced a study about European standards and procedures, an information brochure about the European pre-accession fund and an analysis of the public-private partnership model. Due to SNV’s support, the associations were able to inform about and guide their members through the Japan’s 2007 Aid Grant Program (JICA) process, application structure, links with the national development agenda and technical details. SNV BiH provided direct assistance in project proposal preparation to its existing clients in the sectors of drinking water and non-timber forest products.   In addition, SNV provided direct capacity building services to five municipalities in preparing applications for JICA 2007 Aid Grant. Due to SNV' support,  54 municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina were able to apply for the first time to this grant program. The municipalities submitted 120 project proposals out of a total of 180 received. So far 9 projects have been awarded, five out of which are municipal projects.