Albania

In 2018, we launched a project to support the development of the Tropoja region in Albania, which has been affected by high unemployment, corruption and passivity of its inhabitants. Located in the beautiful Albanian Alps, this region has huge potential for nature tourism development, but faced threats from unsustainable mining and the construction of small hydropower plants, which threatened local communities. Working with local partners, we supported residents in pushing for development that would provide them with good and safe living conditions. We trained 25 young leaders in communication and strategic practices so that they could effectively fight for their rights. Activists from Albania came to Slovakia to learn about the experience of Slovak civil society initiatives to protect the environment. Together with the local community, we developed a local development plan that aimed to promote rural tourism, agriculture and community participation in decision-making in the region. This created an active community of citizens who began to engage in discussions with the local government and to put forward their own proposals to improve the development of the region. This project was supported by the International Visegrad Fund and was implemented in cooperation with the Albanian organisation TOKA and partners from the Visegrad Group countries.

In 2019, we successfully completed a project called “Rural Community Engagement: A Voice for Tropoja”, which helped strengthen the capacity of local communities in the Tropoja area. In collaboration with partner organisations from the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, we supported the local organisation TOKA in engaging residents in sustainable development processes. Together with the local government, we worked through public consultations to achieve goals that took into account environmental protection and livelihood security for local residents. In early 2019, we presented the Sustainable Development and Local Community Empowerment Plan, which was developed as part of the project.

In 2020, we continued to develop local communities in Tropoja, where we focused on addressing issues such as unemployment, the poor state of education, poor access to information and corruption. Tourism in the Albanian Alps was key to the region’s continued development, but faced serious threats from mining and hydropower plant construction, which were destroying biodiversity and endangering the lives of local people. Together with the locals, we organised a petition against illegal sand mining, which we managed to stop, and we continued to fight against the construction of hydropower plants. We also carried out a series of trainings and study visits to promote community-based tourism, sustainable agriculture and business development in the region.

Projekt je financovaný z prostriedkov Visegrand fund.