Nonprofit organizations as policy transfer agents: Role of the Albanian–American Development Foundation in the application of business improvement districts in Albania

Business improvement districts (BIDs) were created about 50 years ago and are now recognized worldwide, including in Albania. Given Albania’s post-socialist history and lack of entrepreneurial experience in urban management, this study will focus on the introduction of the BID model, supporting the need in the literature for further research into the model’s transferability in developing countries. It poses the following research questions: what factors enabled the introduction of the BID model in Albania, and what role did the Albanian–American Development Foundation (AADF) play as a policy transfer agent in this process? The study is organized according to the framework proposed by Cook in 2008 and employs a qualitative design that includes semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders. The results indicate that the introduction was successful due to the influential role of the AADF, a nonprofit organization that served as a policy transfer agent. While similar political-economic contexts or previous positive experiences are crucial for implementing models such as BIDs, the findings indicated that the BID model was successfully implemented in Albania despite the lack of such attributes. This was achieved by tackling emerging challenges through locally-based solutions from influential agents.