Mr. Ardian Hackaj and Mrs. Bendis Bocari from Cooperation and Development Institute have published on the “Environment Now” Magazine an analysis report titled “Citizen movements and environmental protection in Albania”.

This analysis explains that in Albania, many environmental decisions are made at the central level of government. Although national legislation allows citizens to participate in decision-making, this is not the case. Influencing decision-making is a real challenge for citizens and local communities, especially when they are most affected by these decisions.

In these cases, civic movements contribute to a healthy civil society and a better connection between individuals in society and in the state. In Albania, civic movements are new phenomena, arising mainly from the reactions of different communities, in protest against environmental pollution with detrimental effects on the protester.

This publication is available in Albanian Language only.

Tags: Education, Environment, Society

This Business Charter is an output of the project SIMPLE (Strengthening the Identity of Minority People Leads to Equality), an innovative institutional cooperation and capacity building initiative that involves 5 Adriatic Countries, aimed at achieving social cohesion in the area through the strengthening of the cultural identities and diversity values of minority communities historically and recently established in Adriatic Countries.

The partners of the project SIMPLE have developed joint strategies and approaches in the Adriatic basin for the promotion of equality and non-discrimination culture, as basic values for the peaceful coexistence of all citizens, without any discrimination based on ethnic origin.

SIMPLE aims to improve the life conditions of minority people transforming the key-factors that nowadays are weakness and providing to public authorities, minority associations, NGOs and other local, regional and national stakeholder of Adriatic Countries guidelines and recommendations to arrange targeted services for addressing minorities’ disadvantages at local level.

The Business Charter is part of a set of 6 thematic documents produced and shared by the SIMPLE consortium that will be the operational tools to be promoted by the Adriatic Permanent Observatory on Minority Communities, which will be established within the project.

Each output is edited in a single document proposed in 6 languages (English, Croatian, Albanian, Italian, Montenegrin, and Slovenian), in order to favour the concrete comprehension and utilization by all the stakeholders of the project participating Countries.

The documents are available on request from national responsible partners. Info and contacts on the project website: www.simpleproject.eu.

Tags: Education, Environment, Local Development, Society

The current study has been prepared by Cooperation and Development Institute as contracted by MoEFWA and aims to prepare an operational Education & Sensibilsation Campaign (ESC)
for the protection and promotion of biodiversity in the Prespa National Park (PNP) in Albania.

PNP and the protected areas (PA) in Albania in general have come second in the attention and budgetary allocations provided by the government. Financial resources affected to PAs have been considered as a cost, to be allocated after the basic needs of the population has been dealt with. Even those measures have been mostly regulatory as a response to the approximating of the acquis communautaire than based on a real understanding of the needs of the local population. The current PA structures do not have the technical capacities to manage PAs (all efforts are on inspection & prevention); and the flow of information, as well as management, reporting and control routines between PA, the regional level and the central level are not operational.

This paper is composed by two main parts. In the first one we explain our methodological tools and the respective approach. In the second one, we go into precise and concise actions through project fiches ready to implement. The goal is to provide tailored and comprehensive measures on education in environmental protection and biodiversity conservation adapted to local population mental framework.

Tags: Digital Economy, Education, Environment, Local Development, Society

Cooperation and Development Institute participated in the workshop “Shaping the future of Albania” organized by the Southeast Europe Association (Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft) civil society activists from Albania – journalists, academics, young generation politicians and officials from administration – as well as German and international stakeholders – met in Munich.

They held a dialogue on Albania and its future under Chatham House Rules, looking for answers to the current issues surrounding Albania’s civil society and defining additional questions. The problems that persistently came up in the workshop, whatever the context, were those of EU membership perspectives, of persuasive corruption, of the lack of the rule of law, the need for reform, the question of Albanian nationalism and of economic development.

Tags: Civil Society, EU Accession, European Union, Reforms, Society

The survey and its subsequent analysis on the Youth Labour Market in Albania has been initiated as an answer to a perceived phenomena of mismatch of skills with the available positions in the existing youth market. The current youth unemployment rate – double the national one – is a clear indicator of this situation. The study is supported by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung – Tirana Office, in partnership with National Employment Service.

The study was based first on desk research over the European methodology of analyzing the transition of youth from school to work, completed with data gathering on national level. In our work we focused only on the labour market features of supply and demand of youth skills as perceived by the employers.

Tags: Education, Employment, Youth

The survey and its subsequent analysis on the Youth Labour Market in Albania has been initiated as an answer to a perceived phenomena of mismatch of skills with the available positions in the existing youth market. The current youth unemployment rate – double the national one – is a clear indicator of this situation. The study is supported by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung – Tirana Office, in partnership with National Employment Service.

The study was based first on desk research over the European methodology of analyzing the transition of youth from school to work, completed with data gathering on national level. In our work we focused only on the labour market features of supply and demand of youth skills as perceived by the employers.

Tags: Education, Employment, Youth

This paper was prepared by the group of authors – Svetlana Cenic, Ardian Hackaj, Amer Kapetanovic, Maria Eleni Koppa, Gazmend Qorraj, Dusan Spasojevic, Dragan Tevdovski and Daliborka Uljarevic and has been supported by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.

In November 2014 the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung initiated a process to develop policy recommendations for a positive change of the political and economic situation in the Western Balkans. Representatives of academia, civil society and politics from the Western Balkans were invited, along with political experts on European integration from Germany and Brussels, to discuss core challenges and necessary reform policies. The public debate on the EU integration of the Western Balkans and a two-day workshop in November 2014 and March 2015 in Berlin resulted in the formulation of four core theses that point to the deficits of current policy approaches and suggest alternatives to policy-makers at the national and European levels.

Tags: European Union, Regional Cooperation, Society, Western Balkans

The TC “EIRENE – European Intercultural Education towards a New Era of Understanding” took place in Palermo from the 5th to the 13th of December 2015. Funded by the Erasmus+ programme: Key Action 1 – Mobility of youth workers, the TC involved 40 youth workers coming from Italy, Bulgaria, Greece, Check Republic, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Romania, Slovakia, Macedonia, Turkey, UK, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia.

During the 8 days of activities, the participants acquired and deepen the competences regarding the intercultural dialogue through non-formal methods. The main objective of the training was to strengthen the role and the competences of the youth workers providing them tools to promote dialogue and conflict resolution, also through media and communication.

Added to the Log-book, CESIE has developed the Public Report: this document shows all the activities of the learning path of the participants and it can be seen as a supplementary document to give a complete overview of the learning activities, together with the Log-book.

Tags: Education, Mobility, Youth

EIRENE- European IntercultuRal Education towards a New Era of Understanding has been an 8- day training course (TC) under Key Action 1- Learning Mobility of Individuals within Erasmus + programme. The aim of the project was to establish a bridge that covered the gap through the promotion of cooperation as a behavioural model. In fact, it layed the basis for a domino effect among youth workers, youth leaders, youth advisors and project managers working in the field of youth and their respective youth.

The Log-book – developed by the participants during the Training Course – highlights the main concepts & methods used during the learning path of the participants: 1) Peace VS. Violence; 2) Non-Violent Communication; 3) The Role of Art; 4) the Reciprocal Maieutic Approach; 5) Media resources on the topic. It is the main concrete result the TC has produced.

Tags: Education, Mobility, Youth