Collaboration with local partners in the city of Bajram Cyrri is one of the key ways of helping develop community services.
Mary Ward Loreto attended a meeting with local partners: representatives from the Municipality of Bajram Cyrri, the Education Directorate, The Community School “Ali Podrimja”, representatives from the Police, the Directorate of Public Health and local NGO-s.
The aim of the meeting was to identify the key problems facing the city of Bajram Cyrri and to strengthen the cooperation between all the key stakeholders. The participants discussed the up-coming anti-trafficking month and the coordination of activities during this time.
The summer camp organized was called “Girls Empowerment”.
The camp lasted three days which included information about girls health, where girls had the chance to discuss openly about the health concerns of their age group which doesn’t happen very often. A major part of the summer camp’s agenda included awareness against human trafficking and safe migration, since the age-group present was 5-17 and most of them plan to study abroad. They were reminded about being careful as to who they trust and befriend in everyday life. Anyone can be a possible trafficker.
The camp was organized so that the girls could have fun, play, swim but as well have the opportunity to learn self-defense techniques explained by Peace Corps Volunteers. This was also a fun time. Twelve young girls attended the camp which was organized jointly by Mary Ward Loreto and Peace Corps Volunteers.
The Broad Based Organising initiative in Shkodra.
In the framework of the Broad Based Organising initiative, on the 11th of April I met Alminda Memen, Executive Director, along with the Project Directors at the Aarhus Center in the Municipality of Shkoder, which allowed me to get oriented and informed me of the correct procedure for initiating this project.
I organized meetings with key people in the community, including the Municipal Administrator Mr. Vlach Peter, Prefect Mr. Leke Miri, as well as one of the journalists of Radio Marija in Shkodra’s Families, who was ready to help with this initiative. They have all promised to help move this initiative along. The next step was to complete a petition where I obtained the signature and ID of the eight women’s communities who agreed to this initiative— around 200 signatures in all. This petition was addressed to the Director of Environment Affairs of Shkoder, Mr. Alfred Luleta, who in the end promised us that he would record the petition in a timely fashion. I had two meetings in his office and telephoned you to keep you informed about how things are going so that you can understand our determination and seriousness in this matter. Today, on May 5, 2017, the first 17 community garbage bins were placed in the community, with the promise that in the short term all neighborhoods will be equipped with garbage bins. Garbage bin collection will be done 3 times a week; waste disposal will be done at the Bushat Shkoder Landfill. The next issue will be that of checking the drinking water, for which we have to prepare a request to the Public Health Department to establish drinking water quality control.
Broad Based Organizing initiative was undertaken by a women’s group from Lezha where the issue of Client Service in the resorts of Shengjin was the priority.
Broad Based Organizing initiative was undertaken by a women’s group from Lezha where the issue of Client Service in the resorts of Shengjin was the priority. As a follow up of this issue continued meetings and forums will take place with interested groups and local authorities of the Tourism development sector. The addressing of Client service in Shengjin resorts started with a two days training with various staff working in the receptions, kitchen & bar services and housekeeping. The infrastructure is very good but the standards of services have many improvements to make in order to entice the tourists visiting Lezha and Shengjin to come back again.
Recommendations came out from the training and were presented to the managers of Rafaelo and some other resorts and to the staff present in these places. There is a lot to be done in this regard but this initiative helped to raise the awareness for the staff and managers that without continuous training it would not be easy to improve the Client Service standards. A thank you goes to Rafaelo resort owners who welcomed this initiative and to the very professional trainers of Hotel-&Tourism school of Tirana. Tourism is a big opportunity for the women of Lezha region therefore Mary Ward Loreto Women would like to continue to support this sector.
The event organized from Mary Ward Loreto Foundation in Albania “Mary Ward’s Hope for Women”.
With more than 4 years of experience working in rural and isolated areas of Albania, Mary Ward Loreto Foundation is implementing The MWL Women Project, enabling the social and economic empowerment of women and girls. The project is implemented in 6 regions in Albania and helps women to get the necessary resources, rights and opportunities to ensure their escape from vulnerability, in its aim to prevent the risk against trafficking in persons. The documentary, together with an exhibition of Women’s handmade crafts and souvenir, was available to the public on Tuesday, March 28th 2017, from 09.30 – 13.00, at Tirana International Hotel, in an event that MWL has prepared on behalf of its Women’s Project, for celebrating the women in Albania. The struggles, efforts and results of the work undertaken by these women to get out of their vulnerable situation, are remarkable. In their efforts to escape their poor status, women make continuously, handmade crafts and souvenirs, with the hope to make some profit. MWL has made an appealing documentary to tell their story; the story of 4 incredibly courageous women who are making the change and is a model for their friends to follow. The event’s programme was outlined in a way that provided the participants with a holistic experience leaving a lasting impact. It was impressive to hear this side of the Albanian women’s story from the disadvantaged areas and their efforts to become empowered. They spoke about their concerns, their gratitude for the support given to them, and their hopes and wishes for the future. They expressed these changes whilst trembling with emotion. It was very
inspiring. Please click here for more…
Women’s Craft from Tropoja.
Mary Ward Loreto Foundation, launched a very important initiative: the opening of a kiosk for craft products. The development of the initiative has been the project MWLW with rural women in Tropoje. The shop was open in June and the impact has been immediate in the area, where there have been no such services in the past. Our customers are local residents, city residents of the surrounding villages of Bajram Curri who come to spend weekends with their families Other buyers come as tourists and groups from different cities of Albania, and also from around the world.
“Women’s Craft from Tropoja” is located in Valbona. It is a store that offers various products crafts such as beaded jewelry, greeting cards embroidered by hand and customized products made in wool with cloth weaved by hand in a loom. Many other hand made products are sold such as: Hand made clothing and accessories for children and adults, kitchen accessories, traditional folk dress of Tropoja, products such as local honey, and mountain tea. There are a total of 15 women who produce various crafts and they have already made good sales although it has only opened just a month ago.
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Leaders training on Broad Based Organizing.
Mary Ward Loreto Women project aims to empower the women to take community actions and become active stakeholders in their communities, in order to provide hope, help, and change. Leaders from the women’s groups in 5 areas of Albania, attended a training on Broad Based Organizing, developed in Durres. At the end of the training, leaders from each area came out with specific issues to be addressed in order to promote self-sufficiency, to strengthen communities and to advocate for public policies. The next step is to organize the women’s groups and the community to assess the needs and issues and to find a solution.
The womens Christmas fair.
Like other years, MWL will participate in the annual fairs organized on the occasion of the national holidays. Given the atmosphere created during the holidays all the MWL women’s groups will prepare hand made products, with the aim of promoting the work of the women and also to sell them for economic benefit for the individual women who made the products. All products will be suitable for holiday sand season an winter times. Now is the time to make the selection and purchase the base materials for the realization of these products. Each group is becoming famous for the particular products which they create. Continue Reading…
Blue heart campaigns.
The Blue Heart campaign took place in July 30, 2015, as a follow up to the campaign undertaken by the UN. This was the first time that UNDOCS had assigned a world day in support of the world phenomena of “Human Trafficking in Persons”. Youth groups led this campaign in order to increase the people’s awareness of this phenomena. The Blue Heart campaign became a priority issue for the MWL women project in every part of the country, from the south to the North of Albania. Out of doors activities were organized to increase the awareness in areas frequented by many people. The campaigns took place on the beaches and in the city squares. It’s worth emphasizing that this time the women and young people were not just an audience about this phenomena but they went out into the streets talking to the people about this and in solidarity with trafficked victims around the world. The objective of the activities was to increase awareness to stop the traffickers stealing the hope of many people. It was a call to say that we can all do something; we can report cases and contribute to this fight against modern day slavery.
Professional development for staff, leadership and empowerment.
Mary Ward Loreto Women has a staff of 8 employees, consisted of Project Manager, Assistant Manager, 5 Social Workers and 1 Social Animator. The focus of the project is work against human trafficking and implementing programmes for empowerment of women in rural areas of Albania. The staff has been motivated to work according to the Mary Ward charism based on values such as “Justice, Freedom, Sincerity”. One very important aim is the empowerment of the staff, to help them with their professional and career development, in order to be productive and successful at their work, and at the same time to enjoy what they do. Formal and informal meetings take place for planning, mentoring, sharing, providing feedback and suggestions, removing obstacles, encouraging and motivation of the workers, discussions on ethics at work. Continue Reading…
