The impact of Early Childhood Care and Development services on Women’s empowerment in Albania Table of Contents


Albanian women in the labor market and the community



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Albanian women in the labor market and the community

Gender equality in Albania is a priority for the State and so it is stated in its National Constitution (1998)33. Even before, in 1993 Albania had ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women -CEDAW and then the Optional Protocol in 2003. Given that the country is in the process of accessing integration into the European Union, Albania’s main gender policy obligations are established within the EU Strategy for equality between women and men 2010-2015.


Regarding national legislation, Law No. 9669 On Measures against Violence in Family Relations – LMVFR was adopted in 2007 (with amendments in 2010). It aims at preventing and reducing domestic violence and establishes it as a crime that can be penalized. Law No. 9970 On Gender Equality in Society entered into force in 2008. This normative tool strives to include gender perspective in all governmental actions including, policies, programmes, budgeting, legislation, etc. In 2010, the Government of Albania adopted law No. 10221 On Protection against discrimination that prohibits discrimination of all kinds including those related to gender, gender identity, sex and sexual orientation.
In 2011, the Government of Albania came up with a four-year policy plan called the National Strategy for Gender Equality, Gender-Based Violence and Domestic Violence 2011-2015- NSGE-GBV-DV. The goal of this strategy is to achieve “a society in which gender equality is respected and appreciated, taught, supported and promoted; gender-based violence of any form is not tolerated, but is punished; victims of gender-based violence are supported and protected; and equality in opportunity and treatment is a reality for all women and men”34.
The NSGE-GBV-DV has four areas of work and each has its Action Plan. One of these strategic areas is: Empowering Girls and Women Economically which include activities such as: i) Increasing women’s economic independence by improving access to loans, support programs, and social care and protection services; ii) professional training of women through measures to support participation of women in the labor market; and iii) expanding employment programs for women and girls35.
Currently women represent 14.3% of the unemployed population in Albania compared to a 12.4% of unemployed men36. Although unequal, this is consistent with the global tendency of women to participate less in the labor market than men. In the last decade, the unemployment rate has dropped overall in Albania at least 4%, however the decrease has been more representative in the male workforce than in the women’s workforce. According to UN-Women, the significant decrease of women in the workforce is related to the lack of work spots for women in particular in rural areas where jobs in agriculture are more physical and directed to men and to the fact that women are less skilled (have lower levels of education).
Another fact that impacts significantly women participating in the workforce is that Albania is still a very patriarchal society that prioritizes men at work because they are traditionally the breadwinners and women are seen as needed to take care of the household. This implies that women stay home taking care of domestic activities including taking care of the children, in particular the younger ones. This type of work is unpaid, is not sufficiently recognized and has the aggravate fact of decreasing or eliminating the possibility of having leisure time or time to look for job opportunities.
There is little evidence in the literature on the Albanian context and situation, that there is a direct relationship between the availability of care services for children and women’s participation in the workforce. Despite this fact, the National Report of the Status of Women and gender equality in Albania (2011) presents a set of recommendations for the country in order to increase women’s participation in the labor market and moving towards gender equality that includes: the provision of “social infrastructure and affordable, high-quality child care facilities for all children” and “promote the sharing of child care and care work, between women and men including the promotion of responsible fatherhood and paternity leave”37.
The trend continues to stay similar to the rest of social issues and it is the most vulnerable cohort of the population, that are the most deprived of access to the workforce. This is the case for Roma mothers and women with disabilities or those mothers of children with disabilities.
The issue of women’s participation in society in general, is also tackled by the National Strategy and by the organizations that work for gender equality in Albania such as UN Women. Women’s participation in high decision making positions in the government, the military and the private sector is substantially lower than men. This tendency, along with the rooted patriarchal customs of Albanians, mostly remains in all layers of society and particularly with regards to the less educated women, who are the ones who participate the least in their communities and in their households.

Situation of children’s rights in Albania

The Government of Albania has set high standards and goals in order to guarantee the protection of children’s rights and therefore it has adopted a vast number of laws and established strategies in order to achieve these.


The Albanian National Constitution refers to the rights and protection of children in the following articles: i) Art. 54(1): requires the State to provide special protection for children, the young, pregnant women and new mothers; ii) Art. 54(2): provides that children born out of wedlock have equal rights to those born within marriage; iii) Art. 54(3): provides that every child has the right to protection from violence, ill-treatment, exploitation and his or her use for work, especially under the minimum age for work, which could damage their health and morals or endanger his or her life or normal development; and iv) Art. 59(1)(d): in setting out the State's social objectives requires the State to “supplement private initiative” with education and qualification according to the ability of children and the young, as well as unemployed persons38.
In the international field, the country has ratified the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1992; the ILO Convention “On the Minimum Age for Admission to Employment” in 1998; the ILO Convention “On Prohibition and Action for the elimination of all forms of Child Labor” in 2001; “The European Social Charter” in October 2002; “The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction” in November 2005; “The Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings” in November 2006; the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict in December 2008 and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography in February 2008. Domestically, there is a vast legal framework is either specifically directed to children or impacts their lives one way or another39.
One of the major policy initiatives of the Government of Albania to address children’s rights was the National Strategy on Action Plan for Children. According to the Government, this strategy allowed the country to achieve the following:


  • Children’s rights were included in an important and complex political program that harmonizes the legal, institutional, financial, monitoring and evaluating instruments.




  • Children’s rights policies and their impact on the wellbeing of children have become a component part of political discussion in the country and part of every national report.




  • Children’s rights issues have become part of inter-institutional co-operation at central and local level. In some regions of the country, this co-operation finds expression in the regional strategies and action plans for children.




  • Children’s rights issues are being transformed into issues for the entire society thus calling for the inclusion and commitment of many stakeholders from the government and the civil society sectors, as well as children themselves.




  • The establishment of the initial technical secretariat for children as an organ within the Minister of Labor, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities (MLSAEO), which subsequently turned into State Agency on Protection of Children’s Rights (SAPCR), as a separate agency under the Minister of Labor, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, were important measures to create the institutional framework for monitoring and reporting on the implementation of the rights of the child countrywide. Actually, SAPCR is the responsible institution for monitoring the implementation of the law, coordinating stakeholders at both the central and local level and evaluating the implementation of children’s rights in Albania40.

After this policy document, the most significant piece of legislation has been the Law No. 10347 On the Protection of the Rights of the Child, given that its the tool that reformed the system in order to make it more “child friendly” creating a comprehensive institutional work frame. The Law established the creation of the National Council for Children’s Rights that is currently chaired by the MoLSAEO and is conformed by 9 people from different Ministries, local units, the People’s Advocate (Ombudsperson) and two civil society organizations41. The NCCR “coordinates and formulates the policies impacting children and monitors the implementation of the National Strategy on Children’s Rights”42 and intends to be an intersectoral response to child’s needs.


Besides the Council, the Law also created, in 2011, the State Agency for Protection of Children. The agency has the responsibility of monitoring the implementation of the Law No. 10347 and coordinates the stakeholders in charge of the policies regarding children’s rights, gives technical support to regional and local governments and coordinates with all the responsible parties in order to draft the documents and reports on children’s rights national and internationally.
This agency is in the MoLSAEO and played a key role in the drafting and monitoring of the Action Plan for Children 2012-2015. The Plan is a clear political stand from the GoA to achieve the protection of child’s rights. It includes the following key aspects: i) The child’s right to development and quality and inclusive education from an early age; ii) The child’s right to healthcare; iii) The child’s right to legal protection and iv) Increasing participation of children in decision-making in and outside the school.
The institutionalization of all these strategies for the protection and guarantee of children’s rights is the responsibility of the national, regional and local governments. Given that Albania has undergone a decentralization process, specifically at the regional level, the agencies responsible are the Regional Education Directorates (REA), the Directorates of Social Services and the Regional Directorates of Policy. Besides these institutions, and created particularly to follow up with the Law On the Protection of the Rights of the Child, the Child Protection Units are responsible for monitoring the situation of children and their families in the municipalities. The national government, allocates budgets to the regions specifically for the implementation of these strategies based on conditional grants. Most of the budget that these organizations receive is donor resources from the international organizations that support children’s issues in Albania.
Despite the visible efforts of the GoA in this matter, the last report of the Committee of the Rights of the Child (October 2012) states that the Action Plan is not inserted into any public policy, it does not include a holistic perspective of the child therefore the response is not intersectoral or integral and has no budget allocated43.
In particular, the GoA has also begun addressing the issue of early education as one of the priorities for their ECD work. The leading document for this issue is The National Strategy on Pre-School Education (NSPE 2009–2013) that “aims at broadening the provision of pre-school education, by improving not only academic performance but also services for vulnerable children in rural areas and children from the Roma community”44. Despite this Strategy and the efforts of the Government, the coverage of ECD services in Albania is too low. Teacher training, infrastructure and other indicators of quality are not satisfactory. ECD services are not completely free, even the “public” service, which leads parents who can not afford this expense to refrain from sending their children to these services45.
This general overview evidences the vast legal and policy framework the Albanian Government has set in place to respond to the needs of children. Despite the recent efforts, the situation of Albanian children continues to be a matter of worry for the Committee for the Rights of the Child and other organizations working in the country.
Child mortality rates, although they follow the international trend of reduction, are still high, in fact they are one of the highest in the region. According to the latest DHS, in 2008 the rate of child mortality was 22 for every 1,000 children born. Most children die during their first year of life (infant mortality rate 18/1000) and most of these deaths happen during the first month. This is one of the most important social indicators because it shows the level of development of a country and the quality of life of its citizens.
The basic needs of children are clearly not covered: health, nutrition, education, protection from neglect, physical, emotional and sexual abuse, trafficking, child labor, and exclusion amongst others46. For the specific purpose of this study, in its 2012 report, the CRC made some statements that are directly related to the availability and quality of ECD services in Albania and their much-needed intersectoral character. Some of them are:


  1. The fragmented organization of maternal and child health services and the lack of proper relations between those services and early childhood care institutions;




  1. Only 10 percent of all children between 1 and 3 years have access to nurseries or day care centers and children from the Roma communities have even lower access, although enrollment in pre-school education would provide them with opportunities for early language skills, socialization with other children and preparation for primary school;




  1. Contrary to the law, minority children and in particular Roma children, have limited possibilities to be taught in their own language and to learn their history and culture within the framework of the national teaching curricula47.


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