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

IX. Recommendations

The following are a set of recommendations to the Albanian government in order to continue its route towards women’s empowerment. The first set of recommendations focus on ECD services and are a result of the analysis of the findings of this study on what is directly needed by the community. The second set of recommendations are more focused on policy and what would be useful for Albania to start thinking about alternatives to improve quality of life of vulnerable women, children and their families.

• 
  Although there is a good coverage of ECD services in urban Albania, rural areas continue to be excluded, in particular those areas with high concentration of Roma and Egyptian communities. These rural and disperse areas are isolated and excluded from services in particular when weather conditions are harsh. A good alternative, that has proven successful in other countries, could be designing alternative ECD services for these families like community based or child minders.
  

• 
  Quality of ECD services is equally important as coverage. Families are willing to send their children to these services and even pay for them if the quality is good. The GoA should invest more time and resources in the professionalization of nurses, crèches personnel, preschool teachers, psychologists, and social workers amongst others. Salaries of these professionals should be fair in order to attract and keep these people in the system. Investment in new infrastructure or repairing old infrastructure is basic in order to improve quality of these services.
  

• 
  The existence of communitarian centers for women that include services such as vocational training, socializing and childcare are fundamental in Albania. There are not many in the country and the existing ones are mainly a result of international donations. These services are proven to be successful for increasing women’s empowerment and family harmony. Municipalities and the different sectors could join efforts to increase the number of these services that serve various purposes in one place and may result more economically profitable.
  

• 
  Inclusion is an issue that Albanian Government needs to address more aggressively. Despite the existence of good legislation and strategic documents, there are still issues of inclusion regarding people with disabilities and people from different ethnic origins. Quality services adapted for CWD, professionals trained to work with CWD and Roma children and their families need to be set in place.
  

Special attention should be paid to families and mothers with CWD. The fact that there is one or more child in the household with any disability is an obstacle for these mothers to become and feel more empowered. Until services do not guarantee inclusion, safety and tranquility for this population, these women will not progress as the others towards empowerment.

• 
  Albania needs to improve its information and data, in particular regarding ECD services, specifically all the agencies responsible for the issue of child development. This study relied on official data from the census in order to understand the generalities of the country. However, when specifications was needed as number of crèches and preschools, and children enrolled it was not possible to access this information easily. Officials d not seem to be confident about accessing and using data on Roma and CWD. Although the latest Census does present the number of Roma people in the country there are still many debates on this issue. Some kindergartens have information on every child and they keep it organized in books, this should be a national practice in order to understand the needs of children and families and implement programming accordingly.
  

• 
  The GoA is urged to start working in a coordinated and intersectoral way. Alternatives such as a common fund, local and regional intersectoral committees for ECD services and women’s empowerment, who design action plans based on their regional needs, can be set up without investing economic resources but rather with direct instruction from the national level, followed with technical assistance and regular follow ups.
  

• 
  In this same logic, technical assistance to improve local capacity of institutions should include a strategy to improve communications between government levels. This can be done by implementing regular visits, phone calls or email conversations from the national level in order to follow up with regional needs.
  

• 
  Despite the existence of strategies and policy documents on social issues of women and children, Albania does not have a specific policy on family. Given that the approach of child development is nested within the family and from a human rights perspective, it can be useful for the country to have a clear approach on this matter. It is important that Albanians understand the holistic relationship between children and their families and how they affect each other. Aspects such as the best interest of the child, attending crèches, role of men in children’s upbringing and gender equality in the household, maternity leave, breastfeeding times amongst others, should be addressed.
  

• 
  Programming on parenting education and child development are a good alternative for Albanian institutions to implement locally through the MoLSALEO. In particular with regards to addressing fathers and their role in child upbringing and in women’s empowerment. These initiatives usually are very good for stress reduction, derived from childcare, which impact significantly in levels of harmony within the households. From how to deal with a child not wanting to eat, to father’s key role in child’s development and including how women can better use their time so they can look for a job or socialize more, are issues that should be included in these programmes. The fact that groups of mothers or couples or fathers, sit down and talk to others in their same situation, necessarily leads to social and community networks, that as evidenced by this study, do influence in women’s empowerment.
  

• 
  Albania’s investment in social services should be increased. It is important for Albanian institutions (National level: MoLSAEO, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health; Local Level; Education, Social Seri vices, local government etc) to increasingly provide ECD and women’s services in a sustainable way. It is known that this budget allocation will be progressive and given the social tendency in legislation and policy making of the latest years, this will most likely be the case. However the efforts in this matter need to be greater and accelerated given that Albania is now considered a middle-high income country and will probably be accepted in the EU in the following years. Once this happens, less donor resources will be approved for social programming in Albania, and if the situation does not change, many children and women will be left with no services at all.
  

• 
  Children are part of the family and the household therefore it is not possible to design policy, programmes, interventions and perform studies on them without analyzing and taking into account their mothers, fathers, siblings other family members and their community.
  

Bibliography

• 
  Albanian Institute of Statistics INSTAT- Census 2011
  

• 
  Amamantar, Compromiso de Todos. Plan Nacional de Lactancia Materna. Colombia 2010-2020.
  

• 
  Chioda Laura, Work and Family- Latin American and Caribbean Women in Search of a New Balance. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. World Bank, 2011
  

• 
  Compton Janice, Pollak Robert A. Family Proximity, Childcare and Women’s Labor Force Attachment. National Bureau of Economic Research- NBER. NBER Working Paper Series. Cambridge, MA 2011.
  

• 
  Constitution of the Republic of Albania 1998
  

• 
  Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989.
  

• 
  European Commission- Comission Staff Working Document - Albania 2011 Progress Report – Brussels October 2011
  

• 
  European Commission- Comission Staff Working Document. Albania 2012 Progress Report . Brussels, October 2012
  

• 
  Government of Albania, Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities- OECD. National Strategy on People with Disabilities. 2006
  

• 
  Heckman, J y Lafountaine P (2007)  The American High School Graduation Rate: Trends and levels. Working Paper 13670, National Bureau of Economic Research, http://ftp.iza.org/dp3216.pdf.
  

• 
  Klerman Jacob Alex, Leibowitz Alreen, Childcare and women’s return to work after Child Birth. American Economic Review, Volume 80, No.2, May 1990
  

• 
  Living Standard Measurement Survey, LSMS 2002, 2005, 2008
  

• 
  Michael M. Lokshin, Elena Glinskaya, and Marito Garcia, The Effect of Early Childhood Development Programs on Women’s Labor Force Participation and Older Children’s Schooling in Kenya. World Bank, 2000.
  

• 
  Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunites and UN Women Albania - National Report of the Status of Women and gender Equality in Albania (2011).
  

• 
  Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunites and UN Women Albania. Gender Wage Gap Report. Tirana, Albania. November 2011.
  

• 
  Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunites - National Action Plan for Children 2012-2015
  

• 
  National Report Status of Women and Gender Equality in Albania 2011- UNWomen & United Nations Albania. 2011.
  

• 
  Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe. National Strategy for Improving Roma living conditions. 2009.
  

• 
  Report of the Committee of the Rights of the Child on Albanian situation 2012
  

• 
  Save the Children- Child Rights Situation Analysis, Tirana – Albania. July 2012
  

• 
  Save the Children- Violence against Children in Schools and Families in Durres, Elbasan and Berat Districts. End project evaluation: final report. July 2012.
  

• 
  Trends in Maternal Mortality 2000- 2008 WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and The World Bank, 2010- http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2010/9789241500265_eng.pdf
  

• 
  UNICEF Albania- Mapping Roma Children 2012
  

• 
  UNICEF Regional Office Central and Eastern Europe & the Commonwealth of Independent States. Women, motherhood, early childhood development. 2011
  

• 
  Urban Research Institute, National Center for Social Studies, Reforming Economic Aid: from Survival to Investment in Poverty Reduction, 2011.
  

• 
  Vegas Emiliana, Cerdán- Infantes Pedro, Dunkelberg Erika & Molina Erika. Evidencia Internacional sobre Políticas de la Primera Infancia que Estimulen el Desarrollo Infantil y Faciliten la Inserción Laboral Femenina. World Bank- May 2006
  

Appendixes

1^ Chioda Laura, Work and Family- Latin American and Caribbean Women in Search of a New Balance. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. World Bank, 2011

2^ Klerman Jacob Alex, Leibowitz Alreen, Childcare and women’s return to work after Child Birth. American Economic Review, Volume 80, No.2, May 1990

3^ Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989.

4^ Michael M. Lokshin, Elena Glinskaya, and Marito Garcia, The Effect of Early Childhood Development Programs on Women’s Labor Force Participation and Older Children’s Schooling in Kenya. World Bank, 2000

5^ Heckman, J y Lafountaine P (2007)  The American High School Graduation Rate: Trends and levels. Working Paper 13670, National Bureau of Economic Research, http://ftp.iza.org/dp3216.pdf.

6^ For this study we will focus on this definition of empowerment, knowing that the concept is much more vast and implies many additional variables.

7^ Vegas Emiliana, Cerdán- Infantes Pedro, Dunkelberg Erika & Molina Erika. Evidencia Internacional sobre Políticas de la Primera Infancia que Estimulen el Desarrollo Infantil y Faciliten la Inserción Laboral Femenina. World Bank- May 2006

8^ Idem World Bank May 2006

9^ Op. Cit Lokshin, Glinskaya, and Garcia- World Bank 2000

10^ Op. Cit Lokshin, Glinskaya, and Garcia- World Bank 2000. Page 22

11^ Compton Janice, Pollak Robert A. Family Proximity, Childcare and Women’s Labor Force Attachment. National Bureau of Economic Research- NBER. NBER Working Paper Series. Cambridge, MA 2011.

12^ Amamantar, Compromiso de Todos. Plan Nacional de Lactancia Materna. Colombia 2010-2020.

13^ Op. Cit Vegas Emiliana, Cerdán- Infantes Pedro, Dunkelberg Erika & Molina Erika. World Bank 2006

14^ Idem.

15^ Appendix 1. In- home surveys for beneficiaries

16^ Sample size for surveys with beneficiaries was calculated according to the total no. of population in the region. Selection of participants: Randomized clustered sampling – random selection of ECD services of Tirana based on the list of existing ECD service in the region. Then, random selection of beneficiaries in the selected ECD services was based on the list of enrolled children in the respective services. Albanian Social Services Association- 2012

17^ Appendix 2- Interview guide to service providers

18^ Appendix 3- List of organizations and people interviewed for the study

19^ See Appendix 4- Focus groups guides- 2012

20^ National Report Status of Women and Gender Equality in Albania 2011- UNWomen & United Nations Albania

21^ INSTAT- Census 2011

22^ Living Standard Measurement Survey, LSMS 2002, 2005, 2008

23^ This is the case of the following documents: UNICEF Albania- Maping Roma Children 2012 and OSCE National Strategy for Improving Roma living conditions 2009.

24^ There can be cases when people report more than one disability, which is the reason why the number appears to be larger than the total number of people with disabilities.

25^ Interview with Terre Des Hommes- Tirana November 2012

26^ National Report Status of Women and Gender Equality in Albania 2011- UNWomen & United Nations Albania. 2001. “The Social Inclusion Cross-Cutting Strategy (SICS) (2007 – 2013) focuses on poverty and social exclusion and as a crosscutting strategy, it is meant to be fully consistent with underlying sector strategies and in particular those policies and institutional arrangements described in these strategies that aim to assist vulnerable families and groups in the community. It outlines targets in the following main areas: raising incomes; increasing access to services and special attention to vulnerable groups, such as children at risk, children with disabilities and Roma. The strategy is a first step towards identifying important social policy areas that require improvement and promoting inter-ministerial cooperation and involvement of civil society in the process. However, the targets presented are limited, far from comprehensive, have very different – and sometimes no – timelines, and do not allocate clear responsibilities in terms of who should do what. The strategy does not address directly questions of institutional change in terms of the day-to-day work practices of the institutions responsible for services. The ultimate objective is to lay the ground for the formulation of a social inclusion action plan, a standard requirement for EU accession - http://www.aidharmonisation.org.al/?fq=mesi&pos=1&mt=shfaqart&aid=218

27^ Ibidem. “The Social Protection Sector Strategy (2007-201341) covers all the social protection policies of MoLSAEO. Its priorities include the improvement of cash benefits targeting the decentralization of social services and also: Respect for the rights of groups in need, in particular children, the disabled and the elderly, meeting their needs and supporting their integration into social life (…)”

http://www.aidharmonisation.org.al/?fq=mesi&pos=1&mt=shfaqart&aid=191

28^ Government of Albania, Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities- OECD. National Strategy on People with Disabilities. 2006

29^ European Commission- Albania 2011 Progress Report - 2011

30^ Government of Albania, Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities- OECD. National Strategy on People with Disabilities. 2006. Page 8.

31^ Interview in Kukes with the Department of Education. November 2012

32^ Focus group- Mothers of Children with disabilities

33^ Constitution of the Republic of Albania 1998- Article 18.

34^ Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunites and UN Women Albania - National Report of the Status of Women and gender Equality in Albania (2011)

35^ The other tree priorities are: i) strengthening institutional and legal mechanisms (National Gender Machinery); ii) Increasing Women’s Participation in decision making; and iii) Reducing Gender Based Violence.

36^ INSTAT- Census 2011

37^ Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities and UN Women Albania - National Report of the Status of Women and gender Equality in Albania (2011)

38^ European Network for Ombudsmans persons for children. http://crin.org/enoc/resources/infodetail.asp?id=29953

39^ Law No. 7895, dated 27 January 1995 “the Penal Code”; Law No. 7905, dated 21 March 1995 “the Code of Penal Procedure”; Law No. 7850, dated 29 July 1994 “the Civil Code”; Law No. 9062, dated 8 May 2003 “the Family Code”; Law No. 7961, dated 12 July 1995 “the Labor Code”; Law No. 10347, dated 4 November 2010 “on the Protection of the Rights of the Child”; Law No. 10221, dated 4 February 2010 “on the Protection against Discrimination”; Law No. 9669, dated 18 December 206 “on Measures against Domestic Violence”; Law No. 7952, dated 21 June 1995 “on Pre-University Education”; Law No. 8432, dated 4 April 2002 “on Asylum in the Republic of Albania”; Law No. 9098, dated 3 March 2003 “on the Integration and Family Reunion of Persons with Asylum in the Republic of Albania”; Law No. 8876, dated 4 April 2002 “on Reproductive Health”; Law No. 8528, dated 23 September 1999 “on Promoting and Protecting Breastfeeding”; Law No. 9695, dated 19 March 2007 “on Adoption Procedures and the Albanian Adoption Committee”; Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 384, dated 20 May 1996 “on Protection of Working Minors”.

40^ MoLSAEO - National Action Plan for Children 2012-2015

41^ Interview with the MoLSAEO- November 2012

42^ MoLSAEO - National Action Plan for Children 2012-2015

43^ Committee of the Rights of the Child- Geneva October 2012

44^ Save the Children- Child Rights Situation Analysis- Albania 2012

45^ Urban Research Institute, National Center for Social Studies, Reforming Economic Aid: from Survival to Investment in Poverty Reduction, 2011.

46^ Report of the Committee of the Rights of the Child on Albanian situation 2012

47^ Ibid

48^ Visit to Nursery in Durres Municipality- November 2012.

49^ Save the Children- Child Rights Situation Analysis- Albania 2012

50^ Visit to nursery in Durres Municipality- November 2012

51^ Interview with Ministry of Education – November 2012

52^ Interview with Ministry of Education – November 2012

53^ Visit in Kukes to rural kindergarten – November 2012

54^ This data on quality was provided by the Ministry of Education during interview – November 2012

55^ Interview with service provider Irene from Kukes, november 2012.

56^ The results have a high prevalence of unemployment on the suburban area because of the number of surveys conducted in the suburbs of Tirana. This is an area where its population is mainly constituted of poor families of migrant population from all over the country.

Directory: albania
albania -> Communications strategy
albania -> Various structural reforms in albania

Download 247.72 Kb.

Share with your friends: