Partners Albania organized the first three two-day training programs on Advocacy and Lobbying, in Kavaja, Vlorë, and Tiranë, with the participation of 52 NPO representatives.

The program focused on designing concrete advocacy campaigns in their communities on priority issues such as infrastructure for people with disabilities, revitalization of vocational education, the inclusion of environmental education in school’s curricula, legal changes on punitive measures for the perpetrators of violence etc.

Aiming to increase the number of benefiting NPOs in the program, Partners Albania organized on May 2018, an online training session on “Advocacy and Lobbying” which was attended by 10 NPOs.

In June-July 2018, two other two-day training programs were offered to 24 NPO representatives. The training programs aimed to increase civil society capacity on Advocacy and Lobbying at the local level in order to foster civic participation in decision-making processes and increase co-operation between CSOs and local government.

The last training program on this topic was held in October 2018 in the Berat, where 16 representatives of local civil society organizations were able to engage, interact and work in teams, to draft and develop concrete advocacy campaigns to address local issues. Increasing awareness among young people on the importance of more active involvement in socio-cultural life, low level of interest in vocational education, lack of transparency in local government, violence against women, corruption phenomenon in schools, lack of sidewalks in the Lapardha neighborhood, are some of the issues translated into advocacy campaigns during the group-work.

The project “Partnerships of non-governmental organizations and self- government: Together for more effective participation” is implemented by Partners Albania in cooperation with Partners for Democratic Change Slovakia (PDCS) and is financially supported by Slovak Aid – Official Development Assistance of the Slovak Republic.