Leave No One Behind

LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND

01.06.2017 – 31.05.2021

ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT JULY 2019 – JUNE 2020 Submitted by UNITED NATIONS

JULY 2020

General Information This report is presented to the Programme Steering Committee and it provides a summary of the Leave No One Behind (LNB) programme’s main achievements during the implementation period of June 1st, 2019 – June 30th, 2020. The LNB programme, financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), is a four- year programme (2017-2021) implemented by UN agencies under the management of UNDP. The implementation arrangements are formalized through a Standard Administrative Agreement on May 31, 2017, covering the period of June 1, 2017 – May 31, 2021. Its main goal is to empower the vulnerable persons in Albania to have equal access to public services and opportunities, to have a voice in public decision-making affecting their lives.

Executive Summary The Government of Albania is committed to address social protection and inclusion, with a particular focus on the most marginalised groups with high proportions of them living close to the poverty line. Social Fund1, the Social Enterprise Fund2 and the Social Housing programmes are operational and constantly resourced in the recent years where Social Housing Programme is tripled in 20203 and integrated in the Medium-term Budget Program of MHSP. Cash benefits continue to take up more than 95% of social protection expenditure at the central level in 2018 and 2019 as well. Non-cash social protection expenditure, including administration of social care services as well as management activities, has slightly increased in nominal terms (988 million Lek in 2018 and 2019, as opposed to 900 million Lek in 2017). The pace of growth of general government expenditures was faster than the increase in social protection expenditures. Local government own expenditure to social care services has increased and for the first time in 2019, local spending from discretionary resources is bigger than central government spending on social care services. In terms of the target municipalities, the 15 LNB target municipalities4 have spent 637 million Lek from their discretionary resources in social services, or more than 70% of all local discretionary spending in the sector.

Leave No One Behind (LNB) programme (2017-2021) funded by Swiss Agency for Development and Coop- eration (SDC) and implemented by UN agencies under the management of UNDP is a response to government’s efforts to social inclusion of VGs. Its main goal is to empower the vulnerable persons in Albania to have equal access to public services and opportunities, to have a voice in public decision-making affecting their lives.

LNB programme focuses on three interlinked outcomes: • Empowered persons with disabilities, Roma and Egyptians, and vulnerable women, to request and have access to social services, as a pre-condition to improve their lives • Enabled municipalities to effectively manage the provision of rights-based social services and promote social inclusion

1 150 million Lek were appropriated in the budget of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection. 2 249 760 000 ALL 3 2,629,000,000 ALL in 2020 vs 730,000,000 ALL in 2019 44 Midline budget survey UNDP/LNB 2020 2

• Strengthen capacities of national institutions to implement their policy framework, to fund and provide social services LNB has advanced in its third year of operation to support the Government of Albania, at central and local level. Continuous support in capacity building, advocacy, research and technical assistance have yielded visible results in achievement of programme outcomes and overall goal. Concrete results are achieved at several levels: (i) at community level: Vulnerable groups are empowered on their rights and entitlements to social services and are mobilized for a meaningful participation in advocacy forums and public consultation mechanisms supported by the programme (Local Social Dialogue Groups, Forums of Persons with Dis- abilities, Youth Voice Network, field reporters and Y-Peer Network) to advocate for their rights at central and local level, which are accounted in local social care plans and the public agenda of the government. Over 7,000 R&E, PwD, women and youth engaged in forums and debates with local authorities on issues of their concern such as access to social care services, employment, health and inclusive education. During COVID-19 lockdown, vulnerable groups were supported with information on preventive measures on COVID-19 as well as emergency support and online counselling;

(ii) at local government level: Thirty-six municipalities5 (59%) have developed social care plans and 19 (51%) of them already endorsed and responding to the needs of vulnerable men and women. Munic- ipalities have strengthened their capacities in social care service planning, budgeting, management and delivery. New innovative models of integrated social services are implemented in 3 municipali- ties6 and community-based services for persons with disabilities are being implemented at 8 munici- palities7 providing models of quality service delivery for vulnerable groups. Over 2,750 R&E, PwD, women and youth received quality social care services. Participatory Budgeting Network established in 6 municipalities along with an online network of professionals of community centers for children with disabilities operating in 8 municipalities8 to enable peer exchange and provision of online specialized social services during COVID-19. Fifteen best practices across the country in social care services provision for vulnerable population is completed and available for dissemination and scale up at local level.

(iii) at policy level: Relevant legal and financial framework for the efficient operation of social enterprises is in place and registration of social enterprises has initiated; legal framework on Social Housing is further completed with 15 by-laws approved and 17 pending approval, Law on Youth approved; the Law 93/2014 on Inclusion of and Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities has been completed with 1 by-law approved and 3 pending approval and; the Protocol on the Functioning of Public and Non- Public, Non-Residential Centers, Providing Services for Persons with Disabilities, during and after the Natural Disaster Period including the COVID-19 pandemic adopted. The work is ongoing to review existing national policies and action plans and alignment with EU accession agenda (Pre-University

5 Tirane, Durres, Korce, Shkoder, Vlore, Mallakaster, Sarande, Shijak, Malesia e Madhe, Librazhd, Maliq, Permet, Ura vajgurore, Fier, Pogradec, Bulqize 6 Kruja, Fier and Lezha 7 Diber, Ure Vajgurore, Permet. Dibra, Permet, Ure Vajgurore, Lushnje, Pogradec, Sarande, Bulqize, Shijak 8 Pogradec, Lushnje, Bulqize, Diber, Shijak, Ura Vajgurore, Përmet, and Saranda 3

Education Policy, National Action Plan of the Social Housing Strategy 2015 – 2025 and its Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, National Action Plan for PWD). LNB was subject to an independent mid-term review in January-February 2020 which rated highly satisfactory its relevance to the country’s needs and satisfactory its progress towards expected results/outcomes (Outcome 2: capacitated local government to deliver social services and Outcome 3: strengthening policy framework on social inclusion) and highly satisfactory progress to Outcome 1 (community empowerment). The mid-term review acknowledged LNB’s contribution to systemic change in the country’s policy reform and legal framework on social inclusion, social care and social services and its responsiveness to the needs of vulnerable groups and their empowerment via advocacy, lobbying, networking, and awareness raising actions promoting social inclusion and social services at the national and/or local level.9 It also provided a set of recommendations to support LNB’s performance in the remaining implementation period for the current phase and its potential follow-up phase focusing mainly on i) ensuring that all municipalities achieve a basic level of progress linked to planning, budgeting and monitoring of social care services and provision, ii) ensuring full transfer of the results and their sustained operation by the partners, iii) continuing efforts to support the government to strengthen the function and delivery operations (effectiveness/ efficiency) of the recently established set of state financing mechanisms for social inclusion and social care services, iv) continuing to support the development of social care models (e.g. integrated service approach, financing models for sharing of social services), v) supporting networking, knowledge sharing, peer to peer support, and the capitalization of experiences and results achieved so far between different partner groups. LNB faced two major challenges during this reporting period i) the aftermath of earthquake in November 2019 and ii) COVID 19 lock-down during March-June 2020, yet kept its focus sharp on supporting the most vulnerable in close coordination with local government and its partners at local level. LNB succeeded to adjust its modus operandi by being flexible in rapidly shifting from physical /face to face activities to the new reality of physical distancing, remote online working, monitoring and counselling of beneficiaries relying extensively on technology and ensuring delivery of activities as planned and also needed by beneficiaries. To maximize support and avoid overlapping, the interventions of UN agencies created synergies with other ongoing initiatives and programmes in the country implemented by either UN or other donors. LNB adopts gender mainstreaming approach in planning and implementation of its interventions and GRB is being adopted in 6 municipalities with LNB support. Gender balance has been ensured through equal representation of women and girls, men and boys participating in project activities and accessing inclusive services whereas good governance principles were showcased in project activities and promoted with relevant stakeholders at central and local level. Institutional partnerships with relevant stakeholders were consolidated at central and particularly at local level and continuous consultations and coordination mechanisms are in place to ensure their commitment in ensuring sustainability beyond implementation of project activities.

9UN PoCSD Evaluation Draft Report June 2020 4

Chapter 1: - Introduction 1.1 Context: Albania has undergone significant economic development since the fall of communism in early 1990. Its transition to a market-based economy has sustained positive economic growth10 rates during the last 15 years despite the late 2000 recession and global economic crisis. EU integration is the overarching policy priority for Albania. The country was granted candidate status in June 2014 and the European Commission advised the opening of negotiations with Albania in 2016 and 2018, while in March 2020, it gave the green light to the opening of negotiations as a results of social and economic reforms and in particular advance- ment of the justice reform. Albania has made progress in implementing the legislative and institutional social care reform. It recently approved the extension of the National Protection Strategy 2015 – 2020 and its national action plan to 2023. The policy document sets the government vision for an integrated social protection system, and it provides the ground to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the poverty targeted cash assistance; improve the situation of persons with disability; and establish an integrated system of social care services at decentralized level. This is to be accompanied with adequate and effective budgetary allocations as the current investments in social protection remain low. According to MTBF data, the budget allocated for social protection is about 9% of the GDP, including contributory social insurance programmes which oc- cupy about 80% of the allocations, and less than 1% of GDP are allocated as child and family allowance, which includes the cash transfers for poverty and disability. The data show an increased coverage with pension contributions, as well as support of families, men and women, through the baby bonus policy. The 2020 budget foresees a continuation of financing the establishment of social services for men and women with disabilities, families in need, in addition to economic aid and disability schemes. The social protection allocations are low and should reach a threshold which is comparable with other countries in the region – the average investment on social protection for ECA region is about 16 % of the GDP.The at-risk of poverty rate is 23.4%11 as reported by INSTAT SILC in November 2019. The national minimum wage is 232 USD and the average 470 USD (31% vs EU average). Household consumption fueled by remittances (9.4% of GDP in 2019) continues to be one of the main drivers of growth. Unemployment is high and long-term unemployment represents 66% of the unemployed. Women, youth and those with limited education are more excluded from jobs. Agriculture continues to be one of the main economic pillars of Albanian economy, contributing 19% to the country GDP and providing jobs to one third of employed people in the country. Migration of skilled workers, especially those with advanced educations and skills is affecting certain professions such as medical staff but also sectors such as information technology. A skills mismatch of labour market demand and supply persists as the education institutions struggle to integrate vulnerable groups into the labour market and help boost economic growth and increase com- petitiveness. Active labour market policies remain insufficiently targeted, underfunded, limited in scope and unavailable in rural areas. Employment promotion programmes are not targeted and tailored ade- quately to the needs of vulnerable categories of jobseekers. Secondary legislation necessary for the enactment of the Law on Social Housing received continued attention in 2019-2020 with 13 new secondary legislation (DCM developed and approved using LNB

10 Average 2.4% in the last decade 11 EU countries’ average is 16.9% 5

technical expertise and in consultation with groups of interest). The allocation of public funds to resource Social Housing Programmes at local level in 2019 was 730,000,000 ALL, but only 84% was spent due to the lack of capacity of municipal structure to absorb available funds. The budget allocated for Social Housing Programmes in 2020 was significantly increased to 2,629,000,000 ALL in response to the earthquake of November 2019. 90 % of these funds are already allocated for social rented housing programmes in support to the homeless due to this natural disaster12. Gender equality improvements are noted in Albania during recent years. Amendments to the Law ‘On measures against violence in family relations’ improved legal definitions of domestic violence in line with the Istanbul Convention and CEDAW. Albania also made outstanding advances in integrating gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) into the Medium-Term Budget Planning cycle. The Medium-Term Budget Plan (MTBP) 2019–2021 includes 33 programmes13 in compliance with GRB. During 2018 and 2019, the social protection expenditure of the state budget has amounted respectively to 23,5 and 24 billion AL L compared to 21,7 billion ALL in 2017. However, central expenditure in the social sector is dominated by the two programmes of cash benefits: social assistance and disability benefits. Since 2019, a third cash benefit programme was introduced, a one-time baby bonus awarded to families. Cash benefits continue to take up more than 95% of social protection expenditure at the central level in 2018 and 2019 as well. Non-cash social protection expenditure, including administration of social care services as well as management activities, has slightly increased in nominal terms (988 million ALL in 2018 and 2019, as opposed to 900 million ALL in 2017). Overall, social protection expenditure has increased in relative terms, but its impact decreased in relative terms – the pace of growth of general government expenditures was faster than the increase in social protection expenditures. In contrast, local government expenditure on social care services has increased dramatically. In 2018 and 2019, local governments spent 1,7% their total budget in the social sector14 (compared to 1,4% in 2017, or 842 million ALL and more than 1 billion ALL respectively in 2018 and 2019 vs 545 and 684 million ALL in 2016 and 2017). The central government support for local social care services has not changed much in nature. The lion-share of central government transfers to the local level in the social sector continues to be allocated to expenditure for cash payments (poverty assistance and disability benefits) making up more than 95% of total expenditure. The Social Fund became operational for the first time in 2019 with 150 million ALL allocated in the budget of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection funding 14 eligible municipal projects15. However, by the beginning of 2020 only less than 7 million ALL were awarded to 6 mu- nicipalities16. Local government own expenditure on social care services has increased and for the first time in 2019, local spending from discretionary resources is higher than central government spending on social care services. In terms of the target municipalities, the 15 LNB target municipalities have spent 637 million ALL from their discretionary resources in social services, or more than 70% of all local discretionary spending

12 MoFE monitoring report 13 28 in 2017 14 LNB/UNDP Municipal Social Service Expenditure – Mid-Line Survey 15 23 applications assessed eligible 16 The Social Fund budget allocated to support new municipal social care services amounts 337,740,000 ALL for year 2021 and 370,000,000 ALL for year 2022 showing a gradual and steady increase in the investment for social care services. (reported by MHSP officials in the working group discussions)

in the sector. The increase is driven by the bigger cities in nominal terms. However, the biggest changes in relative terms are observed in smaller municipalities such as Prrenjas and Diber. Municipalities allocate their own-source budget to social services to different extent: bigger (and richer) municipalities have established an array of different social care services as well as appear to be able to attract more donor funding to support their services. During the last two years some smaller municipalities including those supported by LNB have managed to establish social care services. Yet, the ability of local governments to plan and manage the Social Fund remains a very important challenge due to their limited capacities and resources. The Social Enterprise Fund is set up as well in the approximate value of 250 million ALL for the timeframe 2019-2021 and integrated in the Medium-term Budget Program of MHSP. While efforts were stepping up to advance the social protection reform, Albania faced two major crises during this reporting period: the earthquake on 26 November 2019 and Covid-19 pandemic as of March 2020. The 6.3 magnitude earthquake was the strongest in the last 30 years. Eleven municipalities situated in three prefectures (Tirana, Durres and Lezha), with an estimated population of 1,185,286 persons, suffered to varying degrees from the earthquake with 202,291 people affected directly or indirectly adding their vulnerability and adversely affecting the ability of the individuals and communities to recover after the earthquake. According to Post Disaster Needs Assessment - PDNA for Social Protection Sector, about 17,090 persons vacated their homes and over 10,000 still live in temporary tents in rural areas. Social protection system suffered as well by the earthquake affecting governance, coordination, and disaster management as well as referrals, psycho-social counselling and social care services which are estimated at 623.5 thousand EUR, while needs of the sector amount to 2.83 million EUR. The outbreak of the COVID-19 virus as early March 2020 led to country’s lock down and restrictive measures for over two months exacerbating poverty, inequality and vulnerability in the country. 17,000 people lost their jobs and many families and children faced challenges in accessing social protection services in emergency situation. The pandemic disrupted the work of the municipalities into providing social protection services (particularly cash assistance) to families and children who faced social isolation along with economic and financial shocks due to the strict lock down in the country. As the country opened up and the restrictions eased, the pandemic has become more concerning. The numbers are rising and this is creating fear and confusion among the population and the service providers. The threat for spreading the infection is preventing municipal workers from delivering social care services, which should be remod- eled and adapted to mitigate the challenges of COVID-19. Due to exacerbated socio-economic situation, it is expected that GDP will be contracted by 5% and the recession and economic support measures are projected to increase the fiscal deficit to 5.4% of GDP in 2020, pushing government debt up to 75.8 percent of GDP17 creating difficulties for investments and budgetary increases for social protection programs which were limited in terms of the number of staff, technical competency and funding prior to the above crises. Social inclusion of vulnerable people requires ensuring the availability and capacity of social services at the local level across the country. The weak functioning of social dialogue in both the public and private sector indicates a need for sustained capacity building.18

17 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/457181588085856454/pdf/The-Economic-and-Social-Impact-of-COVID-19-The-Country- Notes.pdf 18 Joint Conclusions of the Economic and Financial Dialogue – EU, May 2019 7

LNB program in close partnership with MHSP and local government in addition to its planned activities supported response actions to both crises aiming to reduce impact on the poorest and other vulnerable groups by re-aligning its activities to their emerging needs and priorities and relying on extensive use of technology. In addition to emergency support such as delivery of food, hygiene packages and didactic materials, the vulnerable groups were supported in accessing public services (applying for housing bonus and reconstruction, cash assistance, on line counselling and support services for persons and children with disabilities, on line education for children and training for professional staff of community centers ) along with information on protection measures on COVID 19 including videos in sign language. 1.2 Intervention logic The Joint UN programme “Leave No One Behind” (LNB) aims to empower the vulnerable persons in Alba- nia to have equal access to public services and opportunities, to have a voice in public decision-making affecting their lives. LNB builds on the solid policy and legal framework for social inclusion set up in previous UN projects, supports the central and local government in the effective roll-out of the social services reform and social inclusion measures across Albania, to benefit all marginalised and vulnerable persons. It is closely aligned with national policies, needs and priorities linked to the promotion of social inclusion and the reduction of the number of persons at risk of poverty or social exclusion. The LNB programme specifically focuses on the strengthening of social care service provision, as part of the wider development of the social protection system in Albania. Under the umbrella of LNB programme, the UN Agencies continue to support GoA in implementing interventions that aim at strengthening intersectoral and cross-sectoral vertical cooperation between central and local governments as well as intra-governmental cooperation in delivering, monitoring, collecting data and reporting delivery of specific social inclusion measures. This is one of the gaps within the current Social Protection sector which LNB is seeking to address in order to maintain GoA’s commitment to mainstream the SDGs as expressed in the National Strategy for Development and Integration 2016-2020 (NSDI). LNB programme is clearly designed with a focus on the principle of “Leave no one Behind” in terms of the identification of the ‘left behind’ communities and vulnerable population in Albania, marginalized and vulnerable families, women and men, and PWDs, and the R&E communities. With regard to the global policy framework for international development, the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, and LNB’s contribution to supporting Albania’s progress in achieving the SDGs, LNB identifies linkages related to its contributing to SDGs 1-5 (no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality), to SDG 10 (reduced inequalities), and to SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities). In addition, LNB Midterm review report also identified LNB’s contribution to supporting SDGs 16-17 (peace- ful and inclusive societies, global partnership). LNB programme focuses on three interlinked outcomes:

• Empowered persons with disabilities, Roma and Egyptians, and vulnerable women, to request and have access to social services, as a pre-condition to improve their lives • Enabled municipalities to effectively manage the provision of rights-based social services and promote social inclusion • Strengthen capacities of national institutions to implement their policy framework, to fund and provide social services

These are being achieved through an array of interventions at national and local level contributing to the achievement of all three outcomes and their deriving nine outputs. Since service delivery is realised mostly at local level, the project’s interventions focus largely at local level service provision. Two of the three outcomes reflect this thrust: (1) persons in need of benefiting from social protection measures are empowered by the project to demand and obtain meaningful access to the system and to contribute themselves to their social inclusion, and (2) municipal service providers have enhanced capacities to provide better services and to promote social inclusion. The third outcome reflects the project’s concern with anchoring its interventions at system level: furthering development and implementation of policies relevant to social inclusion, including related funding.

LNB provides direct technical support to municipalities to fulfil obligations linked to the provision and management of social care policy and services at the local level. This benefits all municipalities in the country through provision and use of methodologies linked to the planning, mapping and monitoring of local services along with tools, guidelines and training materials to support detailed policy implementation as well as specific support provided to selected municipalities to pilot test different mechanisms at the local and/or regional level, so as to learn practical lessons prior to facilitating their wider roll-out and scaling up in the next years. The measures target vulnerable women, youth, R&E people and people with disabilities, by working closely with municipalities and relevant line ministries, under the close partnership with MoHSP. Attention is paid to building capacity and transferring knowledge created through UN agencies’ interventions to the municipalities and the national institutions involved. The provision of tailored and customized capacity building support responding to the real needs and priorities of partners ensured that knowledge transfer and the quality of outputs is high. The main programme instruments ensure knowledge transfer, ownership and embeddedness of social service modes, standard and procedures by national authorities, LGUs and service providers (CSOs). The strengthening of organizations (for social services provision, adapting and monitoring policies, providing financial support), the introduction and improvement of coordination mechanisms between institutions at central and local level, and the development of capacities of individuals (service providers, policy makers, beneficiaries of social services, etc.), together with strengthened governance, participatory policy, monitoring capacities, and willingness to innovate and adapt the policy, are expected to have effects beyond the project’s duration. LNB has a clear strategy on identifying and sharing good practices with a potential for scaling up among LGUS and service providers such as models of service delivery, policy dialogue and advocacy forums / participatory mechanisms to support local decision-making, which could also evolve into regional networks and a national platform to promote awareness, dialogue, and advocacy linked to social inclusion / protection. 1.3 Synergies with development partners The LNB Programme relies on UN agencies’ technical expertise and know-how in the country for greater impact and outreach by focusing on the municipal level and its linkage to the national level. The explicit positioning of activities within the DoA Programme of Cooperation benefits by supporting priorities already agreed by Government and the UN and minimizes stand-alone activities requiring special procedures. The use of the UN SDG Acceleration Fund – in support of the DoA approach – further incentivizes 9

UN cooperation and strengthens its policy and advocacy voice vis-à -vis partners. Programming remains result-oriented to ensure that engaged UN agencies have a clear value-added contribution to activities. LNB has further consolidated its partnership with the strategic partners and development partners at national and local level. The participating agencies closely cooperate with the focal points in Ministry of Health and the Social Protection, Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth, Ministry of Finance to coordinate and implement interventions in target areas and ensure that the target groups are supported in a holistic way. In particular cooperation with MHSP is strengthened on interventions targeting persons with disabilities leading to assignment of structure/focal point in line ministries to coordinate, monitor and report on measures and actions for persons with disabilities at national level. Cooperation with municipalities has been positive ensuring engagement of staff in capacity building process, and adherence to the agreed responsibilities in the joint Memorandum of Understanding and Letter of Agreement. Tailored and coordinated assistance is provided by participating agencies and their local partners to local governments ranging from integrated approach in service delivery in 6 municipalities (Permet, Ura Vajgurore, Diber, Korce, Tirana and Lezha) to maximize the impact of interventions to mul- tifaceted support to 27 municipalities (Berat, Bulqizë, Dibër, Durrës, Fier, Fushë-Krujë, Korçë, Kukës, Lezhë, Lushnje, Përmet, Pogradec, Prrenjas, Sarandë, Shijak, Shkodër, Tiranë, Ura Vajgurore, and Vlora, Puke Roskovec and Kamez) in 5 main areas of support: social policy (design/planning/monitoring); institutional development; capacity building of beneficiaries; advocacy and awareness raising; community social care services. Three of these municipalities (Lezhe, Fier and Kruje) are benefiting directly from the specialized support of Ndihme Per Femijet (NPF) in addressing social inclusion challenges for R&E people. This has contributed in setting up information sharing systems, networking, joint monitoring in target locations, communicating objectives and results in joint activities with local authorities and local development partners, etc. LNB has adopted a systemic approach in capacity building on social care planning ensuring geography coverage when planning the intervention. The LNB programme has successfully contributed to capacity building and organisational development of national and local government structures and service providers including CSOS, which will be an on-going process to consolidate the achieved results and scale-up of good practices. To this end, the programme’s institutional partnerships with relevant stakeholders are being further consolidated at central and local levels, and continuous consultation mechanisms are in place to support the transfer of the project results to be embedded within the partners’ organisation. LNB has coordinated and collaborated closely with all concerned UN agencies, SDC and other donors. The programme strengthened coordination with other programmes and organizations working in the disability area such as World Vision (e.g. joint activities in Dibra), and several UNDP Programmes such as STAR 2 Programme, UNDP Youth for Employment Programme (disability employment funding), and the Joint SDG - Improving Municipal Social Protection Service Delivery programme. LNB is specifically referenced in the EU’s programme action acknowledging the strong role played by the UN in Albania in promoting social inclusion and social service reforms.

Chapter 2: Programme implementation

Outcome 1: The vulnerable population requests and receives adequate social services from local authorities that support their social inclusion. 10

LNB contributed to further empowerment of vulnerable people through advocacy, awareness raising, capacity building and consultation structures and facilitated access to inclusive social services even during Covid-19 lockdown:

• Vulnerable groups equipped with knowledge and information on (i) importance of children’s education and procedures for vulnerable children’s enrolment in the education system, (ii) their social rights and entitlement including their right to quality integrated Sexually Reproductive Health (SRH) services; iii) preventive measures on Covid-19 as well as online support and remote counselling to pupils, parents, teachers and families to manage Covid-19 lock down; • 1,054 vulnerable households supported with emergency support in 12 municipalities during the Covid-19 lock down; • Persons with disabilities supported with inclusive services models: i) independent living service model for adults with intellectual disabilities; ii) 7 community centers in 7 municipalities refur- bished and being staffed with trained professionals to work with children with disabilities; iii) 40 assistant teachers trained on inclusive education methodology for vulnerable children especially those with disabilities; iv) printed information materials on Covid-19, video messages and counselling services in sign language; • Capacities of Roma and Egyptian health mediators strengthened in the monitoring of for the implementation of the Plan of Action of the Roma and Egyptian Strategy 2016-2020; • Early Warning System (EWS) for school drop-out mainstreamed at national level through setting up the school EWS monitoring/inspection platform and 51 teachers’ professional networks; • Implementation of the Swiss model of integrated social services model through an inclusive package of social services for R&E implemented in three selected LGUs with the potential of scaling up in other LGUs; • Vulnerable youth capacitated on monitoring the implementation of local social service policies using innovative methods and mechanisms as peer to peer learning, field reporters and Y-Peer Network;

Output 1.1: Marginalized and vulnerable persons and groups throughout Albania and in selected municipalities are empowered to request social inclusion.

• LNB supported MHSP and municipalities with a comprehensive package of information on preventive measures on Covid-19, which were distributed in printouts, electronically and even in sign language19 to reach out vulnerable groups. Daily press releases delivered by the MHSP on government’s measures to contain the virus were accompanied with interpretation in sign language20. 24-hours hot line was established to receive requests and provide information and referral services through remote video calls in sign language provided via WhatsApp for deaf community. ANAD produced 58 videos in sign language that reached 61,828 people, explaining health issues and addressing social care needs of the deaf community under these unusual circumstances. • As COVID -19 restrictive measures deprived many households of income due to country’s lock down, LNB activated support to provide vulnerable communities in 12 municipalities with emergency

19 A video was produced by the Albanian National Association of the Deaf19 for people with hearing impairment 20 https://www.facebook.com/PNUDSHQIPERI/videos/3552202471516480 11

assistance consisting of packages of food, didactic materials, and sanitary products, benefiting 1,045 vulnerable households21. • 24 informative sessions22 during July – September 2019 were conducted with 400 Roma parents23 on how to register children in school and on importance of education for breaking the cycle of poverty. Six OOSC local group meetings24 during February-March 2020 were conducted with 200 Roma community members25 for verification and identification of out of school children in the settlements of Roma community and Egyptian community. A media spot26 was launched in two national Albanian televisions to raise awareness on children’s registration in the 1st grade reaching out at least 400.000 people. • A workshop to report on the challenges of the implementation of the mechanism for Early Warning System (EWS)27 as a tool to reduce school dropout as well as to discuss jointly the next steps for its implementation was held in July 2019 attended by representatives of the local departments of education in 4 LGUs28 and Ministry of Education Sports and Youth. A documentation in the format of a video on OOSC was prepared with the interviews and inputs from representatives of UNICEF, MoESY, Municipalities, Child Protection Units, teachers and children Early Warning System (EWS) for school dropout was mainstreamed at national level through estab- lishing 51 teachers’ professional networks29 and strengthening their organizational capacities in de- signing and implementing networks’ action plans as of November 2019 as well as strengthening network leader capacities on EWS. School EWS monitoring/inspection platform was finalized and approved by ASCAP. 51 curricula specialists and inspectors of Local Education Offices (one representa- tive per local office) were trained on line on its use along with 20 inspectors at national level (ASCAP) and 9 schools served as EWS learning hubs. • LNB responded quickly to the situation of school closure due to Covid-19 lock down by shifting to online delivery of activities. In addition to face to face training of 51 teachers’ professional networks on legislation and school dropout prior to lock down, about 1,200 teachers30 at national level attended monthly EWS network meetings31 and trainings32 during January-May 2020 led by network leaders receiving information on effective strategies to address students at risk of school dropout and challenges created by the Covid-19 social isolation and distant learning with a special attention to students at risk of school dropout33.

21 . Roma and Egyptians, people with disabilities, the unemployed, the elderly living alone, those with underlying health conditions, women headed households 22 6 sessions in Durrës; 6 sessions in Korçë; 6 sessions in Lezhë; 6 sessions in Shkodër 23 80 fathers and 320 mothers 24 2 meetings in Durrës; 2 meetings in Korçë; 2 meetings in Shkodër 25 57 man/ boys and 103 women/ girls 26 The spot was aired 288 times 27 A documentation of the experience is attached the report, while a video showcasing the experience from the children point of view is also attached in the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbpbcdlJ9RY&feature=youtu.be 28 Korca, Berat, Tirana and Durres 29 Led by 51 appointed network leaders 30 20 teacher in each professional network 31 255 EWS network meetings have been organized face-to-face and online 32 4 online training sessions on school dropout effective strategies and social-emotional learning; 4 online training sessions on strengthening parents-school relationships; 27 regional learning events 33 300 students at risk of school dropout were supported by implementing EWS in 10 resource schools; 60 students at risk of school dropout received individual academic mentoring in distance during mid April-mid June 2020; 60 Individual Education Plans (IEP) were developed to support them to address gaps in knowledge created by social isolation of Covid-19 Pandemic 12

• 31 info-days on rights and entitlements of persons with disabilities were organised in three project sites34 and attended by 587 PWDS35 and their family members. The participants raised the main concerns for this community related to i) accessibility of the built environment and transportation, ii) reimbursement of medicines and assistive devices, iii) access to inclusive education, employment, social care services and social housing. The info-days concluded with a photo mobile exhibition and the broadcast of three local TV programs to raise the awareness of all relevant stakeholders and public at large to change discriminatory attitudes and promote inclusion. • Seven awareness sessions promoted and expanded the community-based model to increase demand of the vulnerable groups for quality integrated Sexually Reproductive Health (SRH) services in the dis- tricts of Puke and Malesi e Madhe, and in the remote areas of Elbasan, Berat and Korça. 8736 Roma community members in rural areas attended the awareness sessions. • The thematic and operational capacities of two CSOs in three LGUs37 working with IDUs, MSM, SW, young people in prison settings, and other young vulnerable groups in the country were strengthened to advocate on their sexual and reproductive health rights. • A capacity building programme for Disabled People’s Organizations (DPOs) and individuals with disabilities was designed38 and implemented during the second half of 2019 aiming to strengthen capacities of DPOs to better play their advocacy and lobbying roles in consultation and decision-making processes affecting the life of PWDs. 30 participants representing 13 DPOs nationwide attended the four residential training workshops benefitting organizational, managerial and technical knowledge and skills along with networking opportunities for concerted advocacy and lobbying actions. To further strengthen the capacities of these organizations, LNB in collaboration with MHSP issued a Call for Proposals and 12 selected applicant DPOs started to implement small-scale projects covering the entire territory of the country addressing issues of concern for persons with disabilities through capacity building, awareness raising, networking, advocacy activities, as well as service provision to com- plement advocacy activities for a greater impact. • LNB supported the research study39 “Fostering the social inclusion of young people with disabilities in Albania” in partnership with Worcester Polytechnic Institute WPI/USA focusing on gaps, quality and outreach of social services for youth with intellectual disabilities and other neurological or developmental disorders 40 in Tirana, which highlighted the discrimination, insuﬃcient services, and the mis- treatment of this target group. • Deconcentrated offices of health in 4 target regions41 were supported to strengthen regulatory frame- works and to enforce mechanisms for sustainable application of family outreach and home visiting techniques by health care front-liners, in close alignment with existing and newly developed social care and child protection outreach approaches. 1,223 home visits42 were conducted by trained staff of the 20 health centers in 4 target regions using the new model and standards acquired during training. A review of the results of the implementation of the new standards for home visits carried out

34 Diber, Permet Ure Vajgurore 35 184 women 36 60% women 37 Tirane, Durres and Fier 38 Based on 2018 survey on DPOs’ training needs assessment 39 31 interviews with persons with intellectual disabilities (aged 16 to 37 years old), their parents, service providers, and government oﬃcials in Tirana 40 intellectual disabilities and other neurological or developmental disorders 41 Elbasan, Korça, Tirana and Vlora 42 360 in Elbasan, 349 in Korça, 110 in Tirana and 404 in Vlora 13

showed that the overall work performance of the trained personnel has significantly improved in identifying families suffering from social problems.43 During the second quarter of 2020, the programme adopted alternative modalities of capacity development to address the challenges posed by the pandemic control measures. A platform for online training covering key areas for home visiting is being prepared and will be operational during the second half of 2020.

Output 1.2: Roma, Egyptians and persons with disabilities throughout Albania and in selected municipalities are supported in their access to specific services. • In compliance with the newly approved Local Social Care Plans, and in close cooperation and coordination with the respective municipalities and service providers of Kruja, Lezha and Fier municipalities, the programme continued to support implementation of integrated inclusive social services through a set of services provided for 300 R&E families with complex long-term needs. - Access to quality and inclusive education: 300 school age children (50% girls) from R&E commu- nities44, are continuously supported to access quality education. - Social inclusion: 205 R&E children participated in 3 summer camps together with 95 other children from the community; - 100 teachers and school directors are capacitated on "Positive Discipline in Inclusive Class- rooms’’, an accredited module, and on "Ethics and Communication in Multicultural Schools, and about 2,500 children are benefiting from the improved techniques on inclusive learning; - Referral & Facilitation services to access social services at local level – this included access to social services provided for 254 R&E families45 such as civil registration, education, health; - Access to employment opportunities: 22 R&E are provided with counselling for employment and 14 of them have been employed; 5 R&E supported with start-ups business activities; 23 project beneficiaries have been supported to enroll at a suitable professional courses and 18 others to access local business for an internship; - Economic empowerment: 82 R&E families are supported with income generation schemes. Ben- eficiaries are households and parents of children supported through the project; - Community awareness raising: 75 R&E parents raised awareness on the importance of education; 25 R&E parents were informed about the school enrolment process; 145 R&E community members are informed about safe and long-term employment, migration among R&E community members, heart diseases and risk factors, early marriages and bullism, 453 school aged children, parents and teachers participated in awareness rising on child wellbeing; - Post disaster emergency response in Lezha, Kruja and Tirana municipalities – 240 families, affected by the earthquake of November 2019, are supported with packages of supplies for emergency situation.

43 370 families were identified as having problems ranging from poor and inadequate living conditions (around 14%), low income (9.2%), parents' abuse with tobacco, alcohol, etc. (6.7%), families having faced traumatic situations - including divorce, prisoning or death of one parent, or other issues (4.7%), environmental pollution (4.7%) in Vlora to poor living conditions (10.3%), families having faced traumatic situations (5.8%), environmental pollution (4.4%) and higher number of children with health issues (2.8%), in Elbasan, and poor living conditions (9%), and low income (4%), in Korca. 44 175 of them were from the Roma and 125 from the Egyptian minority 45 95 families in Fieri, 87 in Kruja and 72 in Lezha 14

- During the COVID-19 pandemic all project families were supported with food packages including sanitary and children school materials and support with official procedures for economic aid. Online and remote counselling was provided to pupils, parents, teachers and families on Covid- 19 pandemic restrictions. The project social workers have pursued the evolving situation for each and every project child in relation to education, have facilitated child-teacher online communication, child-parents’ relations, provided specific online counselling for children etc.

• Youth Voice network46 responded to the difficult situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic by volunteering to support 254 vulnerable families identified by municipal staff in three municipalities47 with food and hygiene packages during the period 12-18 May 2020 in compliance with following the required health protocols. • During the period of May 2019 - April 2020, LNB joined forces with UNDP employment programmes and in partnership with a local NGO (Albanian Disability Rights Foundation) implemented a project to promote the employment of persons with disabilities through social enterprises. More specifically, support48 was provided i) to enhance the knowledge and awareness of organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) and other CSOs on social enterprises and related recently adopted legislation, ii) build capacities of persons with disabilities for employability in the social enterprise sector , iii) provide information to employers, VET institutions and parents on employment of persons with disabilities and ensuring accessibility and reasonable accommodation at the work place, iv) explore the legal opportunities of setting up social enterprise. As a result, a map of organizations of and for persons with disabilities with the potential to transform into social enterprises is in place, twelve OPDs are knowledgeable about the existing legislation on social enterprise along with the methodology for con- ducting a feasibility studies for local NGOs to transform into a social enterprise. • Following a series of awareness raising activities and meetings with Education Regional Directories and schools in Pogradec and Fier municipalities, 40 Roma and Egyptians adults49 above 16 years old, who haven’t completed low secondary education, enrolled and are attending the school program in Fier and Pogradec during 2019-2020. During the Covid -19 pandemic the students were supported through remote counseling and provided access to internet in order to successfully attend the lessons.

• Independent living for 10 adults with intellectual disabilities50 over 21 years old is piloted with support from a specialized NGO/DPO in Tirana. A manual comprising the service model description, the staff job description, and the training modules for the staff and beneficiaries is prepared. The initiative of “Pathing the way towards independent living for adults with intellectual disabilities in Albania” was concluded with a conference held in February 2020 to share the designed and piloted service model with the beneficiaries and their families, MoHSP, Municipality of Tirana, State Social Service, Anti- Discrimination Commissioner Office, SDC, UN agencies and local organisations of persons with

46 Youth Voice Network members: SOS Children’s Villages Albania, AIESEC (Shkodra); Roma Active Albania and Y-Peer (Korca); Y-peers (Klos) 47 135 families in Korçë Municipality, 60 families in Shkodër Municipality, 50 families in Klos Municipality. 48 100 persons with disabilities benefited from cycles of coaching for employment (C4E) sessions, 49 young persons with disabilities assisted with internships, employment or attend a VET course, 98 public and private entities aware and knowledgeable on employment related issues of persons with disabilities , 45 parents and other family members of people with disability have become knowledgeable about employment/self- employment of persons with disabilities.

49 41% females 50 3 girls 15

disabilities. The service model was fully embraced by the parents of persons with disabilities who expressed their concern for the sustainability while representatives from MHSP and Tirana Municipal- ity committed to promote the model continuity and replication by public and non-public service providers in Tirana or elsewhere. • Following the local elections in end of June 2019, meetings with the new mayors were organised in 4 municipalities51 to discuss the functioning of the rehabilitated community centres and provision of social services, which are furnished and staffed. As of December 2019, 4 professional staff in Diber, Permet and Ura Vajgurore provide services to 44 children with disabilities52. During the COVID 19 lock down, 12 staff of these centres received distance training sessions (via Skype) on providing online specialized social care services to children with disabilities as well as acquired new knowledge to apply in their daily work, once the situation returns to normal. The community centres in Maliq, Korce and Vlore are fully rehabilitated and while Maliq has recruited 4 professional staff and is identifying the beneficiaries, Korca and Vlora are in the process of staff recruitment. • LNB provided technical support to Korca and Vlora municipalities for the transformation of the existing centres into community center in Vlora and Community and Resource Centre in Korca that provide comprehensive and integrated support to children with disabilities and support the mainstream education institutions for children with disabilities. The professional staff of both centers will be trained on the bio-psycho-social model assessment, needs assessment of early aged children with disabilities and on providing quality education services and habilitation and rehabilitation therapies for these children to maintain and develop their potential and steadily conduct autonomous and independent living. • A methodology to train the assistant teachers on inclusive education concepts, principles and approaches was developed in supporting vulnerable children, especially those with disabilities. 40 assistant teachers were trained in a TOT in September 2019 and will serve as a core group to train 983 assistant teachers in the next two years on the rights-based approach on inclusive education, the roles and responsibilities of assistant teachers, the child-centred pedagogy and planning or inclusive education. As a follow up, the Ministry of Education Sport and Youth has approved the new guideline No. 26 date 25.11.201953 on the role of the Assistant Teacher in the Pre-University Education Institutions. • 8 proposals for innovative social services at local level in line with the grant scheme’s regulations are approved by the SC. Letters of Agreements with 8 selected municipalities54 are signed and funds are disbursed in November 2019. 7 proposals for innovative social services at local level in line with the grant scheme’s regulations are being implemented in 7 selected municipalities55. 50 children with disabilities in Permet, Prrenjas and Diber are receiving specialised rehabilitation services. In addition, 20 youth and 30 children with disabilities in Kamza municipality are empowered about their right for social services. Roskovec community center is renovated and ready to provide specialized services for children with disabilities and their parents. Due to COVID 19 pandemic situation, the project implementation in Puka and Shkodra municipalities is delayed, while the Municipality of Vlora did not sign

51 Diber, Permet, Ure Vajgurore and Kruja municipalities 52 17 in Dibra, 10 in Permet and 17 in Ura Vajgurore) 53 The guideline describes the selection criteria, education requirements, the duties and the responsibilities of the assistant teacher. It highlights the importance of collaboration with the subject teacher, school psychologist, social worker and parents for developing the Individual Education Plan to guarantee full intellectual, social-emotional and physical potential and inclusion for all children. 54 Roskovec, Shkodra, Prrenjas, Vlora, Kamza, Permet, Dibra, Puka. 55 Roskovec, Shkodra, Prrenjas, Vlora, Kamza, Permet, Dibra, Puka 16

the contract with LNB since the designated facilities were not released to be transformed into the emergency service center for street children. Output 1.3: The capacity of groups of Roma, Egyptians and persons with disabilities as well as CSOs and researchers is improved in holding municipal service providers accountable.

• Capacities of Roma and Egyptian health mediators are strengthened with knowledge and information on Sexual and Reproductive Health. A training toolkit is designed and tailored on the specifics of R&E community is developed and 7 meetings were organized with health mediators, R&E community representatives, activists and other stakeholders in Korça, Berat, Elbasan and Shkodra. Three advocacy meetings with representatives of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection served as a forum for discussion on the recognition of the role of health mediator in health system as an important element for the implementation of the Plan of Action of the Roma and Egyptian Strategy 2016-2020. Output 1.4: Vulnerable and marginalised persons and groups, including Roma and persons with disabilities, participate in the monitoring of national policies and strategies relevant for social inclusion.

• 60 marginalised/vulnerable youth in three municipalities56 are capacitated on monitoring the implementation of local social service policies, using innovative methods such as peer to peer learning and field reporters. As a result, 1,135 youth57 benefited knowledge and shared experience on social service policies at local level through 59 peer to peer learning sessions, and 23 issues have been raised by the young reporters on social services using social media and other formats. • Two LGUs58 are supported to monitor the implementation of the Child Rights and Protection Agenda with the participation of the vulnerable and marginalized groups. In July 2019, each LGU published cross-sector data on child-focused indicators for years 2017 and 2018 providing information on child health, education, protection, and other related demographics improving the administrative data availability and their utilization for informed decisions. (Annex 2) • Efforts have been ongoing to strengthen the sub-national (municipal) systems to collect and generate data on children/adolescents. Technical support was provided to publish statistics on children/adolescent for the Korca and Shkodra municipalities, with at least 20 indicators, none of them accessible before by interested users. Further support will be provided on the use of data to informing improved policies and actions for children/adolescents at local level. • The monitoring model for the implementation of SRH & Youth policies and strategies on the most vulnerable and marginalized is established in 3 LGUs59 and work has started to establish it in 2 other municipalities60. The capacities of youth advocates are strengthened by periodically monitoring the municipalities and their commitment progress to the youth agenda. “Youth Voice” network prepared the monitoring progress report on Tirana municipality work on youth, based on the Declaration of Engagements compiled by Youth Voice and signed with the Mayor of Tirana since November 9th, 2015. The findings of the report were shared with the Tirana Municipality and made available on youth voice portal.

56 Pogradec, Korca and Kruja 57 59% females 58 Korca and Shkodra 59 Kruje, Ure Vajgurore, Shijak 60 Permet & Durres 17

“Youth voice” advocacy platform was established in 3 additional LGUs61 and the capacities of the municipality staff and CSOs were strengthened in advocacy on SRH/ ICPD/ SDGs through several (on-line) trainings62 in several topics: i) fundraising, EU funding and diversification of funding sources , ii) strategic planning of the network ; iii) SWOT analysis of the network; iii) identification of youth advocacy issues. Work is on-going for the standardization of the SRHR training manuals for youth workers at non-formal education settings based on youth peer methodology, which will be later accredited by the respective institutions. • LNB supported the development of two local intervention plan documents63 in the two municipalities targeting youth in full compliance with the Law on Local Governance and National Action Plan for Young People 2015 – 2020. • Y-Peer network, a member of “Youth Voice” network is supported to design an online Peer Education (PE) Plan to respond to the youth needs and problems faced during this period, especially needs on Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR). Y-PEER conducted rapid polls via Instagram and Facebook, to identify main topics64 to address as part of the Online PE plan.

Outcome 2: Municipalities effectively manage the provision of rights-based social services and promote social inclusion.

LNB contributed in further strengthening the capacities of municipalities in implementing social inclusion policies at local level and providing inclusive services: • 20 municipalities are supported to develop municipal social care plans, and 5 of them already are endorsed by the municipal councils. In total LNB has supported 36 municipalities in developing their Social Care Plans, of which 19 are endorsed. • 11 municipalities prepared budget briefs on social care services; • 7 municipalities are supported through the grant scheme/the Social Fund to introduce innovative social care services at local level65. • The capacities of social care service providers have been enhanced through trainings and study tours: 31 professionals in 9 community centers in 9 municipalities trained on advanced methods to work with children with disabilities, 15 representatives from 5 municipalities trained in implementation of the integrated social services model through study visits in Switzerland. • Resource and knowledge materials and mechanisms for social workers are developed or under preparation: 15 best practices across the country in social care services provision for vulnerable population is completed, training curricula for in-service training of social workers and the Stand- ard Operations Procedures Manual (SOP-M) for social workers responsible for case management in provision of social care services are under preparation, online network of professionals of

61 Krujë, Urë Vajgurore, Shijak 62 Delivered by Partners Albania as pasrt of the 63 Budgeting for young people with young people - Belsh Municipality”, ii) “Budgeting for young people with young people – Roskovec Municipal- ity” 64 Sexual and Reproductive health services, online services and counselling, information dissemination through online interactive tools, Inter generational solidarity and mental health 65 The grant with Vlora Municipality has not yet been disbursed due to the non-availability of facilities to be turned into an emergency center. 18

community centers for children with disabilities operating in 8 municipalities66 was established to enable peer exchange of methods and techniques for the provision of online specialized social services for this target group during COVID-19. • EMIS/SMS system for identifying out of school children is operational countrywide and out of school children reintegration mechanisms (intersectoral groups) established at local level (4 municipalities). • Participatory Budgeting Network established in 6 municipalities

Output 2.1. Municipal and non-public service providers are strengthened in their capacity for providing and monitoring social services and promoting social inclusion. • LNB supported INSTAT to conduct a vulnerability mapping study in 15 municipalities67 to assess social exclusion, vulnerabilities and gender-based discrimination at local level by using as a baseline the EU- SILC survey68 and updating it with some additional variables needed for the analysis. The study inves- tigated three elements of the measurement of at-risk-of poverty and social exclusion (AROPE): mate- rial deprivation, income poverty and low work intensity (LWI). A gross sample of 6, 816 households was selected for this EU-SILC survey based on the Population and Housing Census 2011. Work is ongoing and the mapping will provide policymakers with information about the current situation and main poverty-risk-factors for citizens, including women and girls, in the target municipalities. The last phase of the implementation, consisting of data processing and analysis through INSTAT specific software, coincided with containment measures to avoid the spread of COVID 19 such as limited circula- tion for pedestrians and vehicle, closure of schools and institutions etc. Although data has been collected, processing and analyzing of these data need the use of very specific software which are based in the INSTAT offices. The report will be submited in September 2020. • The capacities of three selected LGUs69 are strengthened to include and operationalize their SRH & Youth functions. A survey was conducted with 300 young people from urban and rural areas in the three selected LGUs to measure the perceptions and knowledge of young people on SDGs, SRH and health services offered by municipalities. Three Factsheets (one for each municipality) were designed, published and distributed to respective municipality officials and broader audiences through the youth voice portal70 and social media. Two local action plan documents71 were developed in compliance with the Law on Local Governance and National Action Plan for Young People 2015 – 2020 including initiatives and programs for young people supported respectively by two municipalities. Several youth issues are included in municipal annual budget and plans as a result of systematic advocacy: i) promotion of young people’s participation in democratic processes and decision-making at local level, through establishment of youth councils, ii) promotion of youth employment at local level,

66 Pogradec, Lushnje, Bulqize, Diber, Shijak, Ura Vajgurore, Përmet, and Saranda 67 Berat, Ura Vajgurore, Dibër, Durrës, Krujë, Fier, Lushnje, Prrenjas, Kukës, Lezhë, Pogradec, Shkodër, Përmet, Tiranë, Korçë 68 The survey is designed in compliance with Eurostat’s methodological guidelines and recommendations, as outlined in reference document ‘EU- SILC Doc 065’ and CAPI Software and updated CsPro program. 69 Kruje, Ure Vajgurore, Shijak 70 www.jotabu.al and the Jotabu apps, provide information on sexual and reproductive health through interactive windows and rubrics with around 95,000 visits per month and 2300 followers on Facebook. 71 Budget Analysis and Youth Local Action Plan for Maliq Municipality “Budgeting for young people with young people”: - Maliq Municipality” at: https://observator.org.al/sq/publikime/ Budgeting for young people with young people - Pogradec Municipality’ https://observator.org.al/sq/publikime/ 19

iii) promotion of young people’s participation in environment protection and cultural activities in the city/town, iv) promotion of young people’s participation and crucial role on sexual and reproductive health education through peer education and youth friendly services, v) real engagement of young people on the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). • Four intersectoral groups in 4 LGUs72 involving representatives of policymakers and practitioners at local level are established and convened under coordination of the Prefect’s office to identify cases of out of school children (OOSC) along with local solutions for their reintegration. 4 technical level events were conducted on OOSC mechanisms attended by 80 representatives73 of intersectoral groups to discuss about the children education as a multi-sectorial issue. 166 representatives74 of education institutions75 attended 8 training sessions conducted in 4 LGUs76. The themes of the training sessions focused on the new procedures to request additional funding for children in need as well as on reporting dropout by the new education structures. • The system of SMS alert77 has reached more than 2,000 service providers representing various insti- tutions78 with 9,387 text messages, with 17 various SMS content, during the period July 2019 – May 2020. Informative leaflets in Albanian and Romani for the registration of children at the first grade were produced79 and used as a prior information to local meetings with Roma community members. The OOSC Calendar for the year 2020 was produced by defining and specifying the duties and responsibilities of each of the education sector policymakers and practitioners at central and local levels, according to the deadlines described on inter-ministerial mechanism for identification and inclusion of children out of school. It was distributed in 190 various institutions80 of Albania. • Training on the use of MIS will be provided to all interested service providers in 42 other LGUs. While MoHSP is committed to start piloting the platform and start building the capacities of government structures and service providers on how to use the system, there is a need to update and validate the set of indicators that will be collected, inputted and processed in the system according to the existing legislation and practices around case management practices and social care services delivery. • Capacity strengthening of the duty bearers and service providers at local level for the implementation of the integrated social service model as provided in their social care plans was in the focus of LNB during this period. 15 representatives from 5 municipalities81 participated in an exchange visit in Zur- ich, Switzerland, which focused more the practical learning of Swiss social services model such as access to social services for vulnerable persons, networking and the referral system, service delivery mechanisms; the role of social workers and their ongoing qualification on planning and budgeting for social care, the provision of social services and the role of NGOs as providers of services within the system. In addition, 30 social workers, head of social departments and practitioners from Kruja and

72 Durres, Korce, Lezhe and Shkoder 73 MoESY, Institution of Prefecture, Regional Education Directory (RED), Regional Health Services Directory, Health Centers, Municipalities, Child Protect Units, Police Commissariats, civil society, teachers 74 directors, teachers and school staff 75 Local Education Office and schools 76 Durres, Korce, Lezhe and Shkoder 77 Used by service providers at national and local level as per the Trilateral Joint Order 78 Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Health and Social Protection, Local Education Office, Institution of Prefecture, Municipality, Police Commissariats, Schools. 79Informative Leaflets for parents can be found at: Albanian language - https://observator.org.al/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Kartolina-OOSC- shqip-2020.pdf; Romani language - https://observator.org.al/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Kartolina-OOSC-romisht-2020.pdf 80 3 Ministries (MoESY, MoI, MoHSP), 12 Prefectures, Local Education Offices, Regional Health Directories/ Public Health Directories, 61 Munici- palities, 36 Directories of Police/ Police Commissariats, UNICEF, grassroots NGOs

81 Fier, Lezha, Kruja, Permet, and Korça 20

Fier exchanged experience and learned from each other’s practice, discussed challenges and analyzed the most effective approaches on social services provision for vulnerable people. • During this reporting period, LNB supported 20 municipalities82 to develop through a participatory process the municipal Social Care Plans by providing technical assistance and capacity building to the municipal staff and other relevant stakeholders to conduct participatory planning, budgeting and monitoring social care services. Five of them are already endorsed by the municipal council/ VKB, bringing the number of Municipalities with social care plans to 36. 157 municipal staff are trained on the new legislation on social care services and their tasks and duties as per the same law. • The social care plans for 19 LGUs83 have been approved by the municipal councils and available on their websites along with costed action plans. Two other LGUs84 have finalized and validated them and with pending approval by the municipal councils, whereas 15 social care plan are in process. • The municipal social care departments/directories staff were supported during July – December 2019 on issues related to the Social Care Plan implementation strengthening their capacities to plan and finance social care services, engage into innovative partnerships and implement the Social Care Plan to maintain the positive momentum created following the approval of the plans. Support is provided to mentor and support the capacities in those LGUs where structures handling social care services are still incomplete. • LNB supported development of budget briefs in 11 municipalities85 along with analysis on funding of social care services at central and local level, indicating that albeit delays, there is progress in financing the reform on social care services. Each budget brief provides information on financial resources from the state budget and municipal budgets as well, planned expenditures on social care services and recommendations on better and more effective budget planning for social care services. Budget briefs were designed through a participatory process, which encouraged a functional dialogue between budget directories and social care directories at municipalities accompanied with capacity building of municipal staff into budgeting social care services. In the 6 municipalities where LSDG have been established, the budget briefs have been discussed within this forum aiming to increase the transparency of budget processes, but also to ensure that decisions about donors funding can be in- fluenced by the budget brief data. Budget briefs86 were finalised during September – October 2019 and have been used as a main tool to advocate with the municipalities to increase the budget for social care services in 2020. Relevant municipal departments and other local stakeholders were engaged into a series of guided discussions87 on i) financing sources of SCSs from national and local sources;, ii) revenue sources and expenditure trends, iii) the actual SCS budget of each LGUs according to sources of revenue, iv) SCS services financed and their link with Medium Term Budget Planning (MTBP). Consultation meetings with representatives of vulnerable groups88 on the implementation of social care plans have been organized. They were led by representatives of municipal councils and contributed to collect the opinions of the interested groups on their needs and prioritize them in

82 Divjaka, Blesh, Patos, Kocove, Tropoja, Vore, Vau i Dejes,Tepelene, Pustec, Kolonje, Klos, Himara, Gramsh, Selenice, Finiq, Libohove, Konispol, Kelcyre, Has, Mirdite 83 Tirana, Durres, Korca, Vlora, Maliq, Saranda, Librazhd, Mallakaster, Belsh, Patos, Kucove dhe Divjake 84 Malesia e Madhe and Shijak 85 Tirane, Durres, Korce, Shkoder, Vlore, Mallakaster, Sarande, Shijak, Malesia e Madhe, Librazhd, Maliq 86 Example of budget brief available at: https://www.unicef.org/albania/media/2451/file. 87 Highlights of discussions available at: https://www.facebook.com/epd.development.9. 88 Roma community, families recipients of cash assistance, persons with disability, parents of children with disability, households eligible for social housing, persons in need for employment 21

budget allocations for 2020. LSDG groups proved to be an extremely important forum which enriched the discussions and the recommendations, which will be shared with the national audience. • LNB partnered with the Department of Social Work at Faculty of Social Sciences started a partnership in September 2019 to contribute to pre-service and in-service capacity strengthening of social workers and other social protection staff involved with administering aspects of social protection through aligning the social work curriculum with the new legislation and the new requirements of the system, so as to develop the capacities of the social workforce on the best practices of research and practice in dealing with children and families in vulnerable situation. Work has already started to review the existing curricula of Social Work education in University of Tirana, University of Shkodra and University of Elbasan. Department of Social Work has established a team and has led two major consultations: one consultation with about 100 students of bachelor degrees and one consultation with about 50 representatives of different services providers to discuss what are the challenges that the social workers face today and how can the curricula adapt to prepare the social workers for the new system of social care services in the country. • LNB is providing technical assistance to develop the first outline of 7 modules for in-service training of social workers on: needs assessment, planning, case management and evaluation, staff burn-out, group supervision, final evaluation. A resource package including all relevant policies, laws, tools, training materials on social work development has been drafted. The resource package has been developed in consultation with the major stakeholders working on social protection services. A national workshop has been organized in February 2020. The workshop provided feedback for the improvement of Resource Package and reiterated the need for its availability to social workers in the field of social services. • LNB partnered with the University of Lucerne to design and deliver a tailored capacity building pro- gramme89 for 31 professional staff of 9 public community centres90 to provide specialized quality services, enhance their technical and management capacities and prevent burn-out. In addition, training of trainers (TOT) workshop for 16 professionals was delivered to provide cascade training on methods91 considered worldwide effective for working with children with disabilities, in particular those with autism spectrum disorders. Due to COVID 19 pandemic, the workshop planned for June 2020 was cancelled and instead the training materials prepared by Lucerne University professors will be delivered to the professional staff of the 9 centres. A final online concluding workshop in Septem- ber 2020 is planned with the participation of all relevant stakeholders to share the transferred experiences, methodologies and approaches and discuss the way forward. • LNB formalised through a Letter of Agreement the partnership with the Quality Assurance Agency of the Pre-university Education (QAAPE), a public entity subordinate to the MESY, to enhance the skills of assistant teachers (i) to support the students with disabilities during the teaching/learning process and ii) cooperate with their families and the community-based social care services for an integrated support to students with disabilities. To this end, QAAPE will develop and accredit a training curriculum for assistant teachers through their professional networks which will be first implemented in four municipalities. The best related practices will be collected and disseminated for replication by

89 Three residential workshops of 3-day each on specific work methods with children with disabilities was proposed and conducted for all 31 professionals from 9 community centres. 90 Dibra, Ura Vajgurore, Permet, Kruja, Lushnje, Pogradec, Sarande, Shijak and Bulqize 91 TEACH (Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication handicapped Children); AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Commu- nication).and other connected methods 22

assistant teachers in other locations. It is expected that the beneficiaries will be over 1,000 assistant teachers, 51 professional networks, up to 15 professional staff of four municipal social care service providers and about 100 families of children with disabilities.

• Building on the previous experiences and in relation to the emergency situation created by COVID 19, LNB is developing two key documents on i) standards of care for municipalties and municipal workers and ii) Standard Operations Procedures Manual (SOP-M) for social workers responsible for case management in provision of social care services92 for children and families with considerations also to COVID 19. The SOP-M will serve as an operational guide for managers, service providers and professionals engaged in case management especially focused on NARU (Needs assessment and referral unit) staff to provide practical tools/ for the NARU social workers on overall family need assessment and referral. • Support for structures of 21 LGUs93 in monitoring social care services started with the mapping exer- cise which is crucial for strengthening the capacities of LGUs to plan, implement and monitor the delivery of social care services in terms of types of services, human and financial resources. As the delivery of social care services is now grounded at LGU level, the regular mapping will serve the Di- rectories of Social Care Services to retain updated knowledge on the availability of services in their respective territory, on the quality of services in terms of number and professional qualifications of the staff providing the services; and ultimately on the sustainability of these services. • Six Municipalities94 and rural AUs were assisted to conduct participatory practices for gender responsive budgeting at local level by involving local civil society organizations to engage the community and vulnerable women. 60 consultation meetings were attended by 739 women from urban and rural areas in the targeted LGUs where women engaged in discussions and defined their needs and priorities focusing mainly on infrastructure upgrading, economic empowerment and support services for vulnerable groups to facilitate their integration in the society. Focus was placed in mentoring and supporting the local moderators (local NGOs) to activate and engage the groups of women and LGUs to partake in the meetings and to enter into discussion with women groups in the 6 target municipalities. Specific issues related to earthquake post situation were accounted as well. • Participatory Budgeting Network was established in 2020 with support of local partner organizations of Elbasan, Lezha, Dibra, Durres and Lushnja and work is on-going to formalize it. Local partner organizations engaged in mid-March 2020 to coordinate efforts in response to pandemic situation with regard to data gathering at municipal level on women’s and communities’ changing needs and monitoring of municipalities priorities in the view of response of emergency due to Covid-19. LNB is supporting directly through specialized and dedicated technical assistance the municipalities of Durres, Korça, Tirana, Elbasan, Lezha in using GRB as a tool to advance gender equality and ensure that vulnerable women and girls’ needs are incorporated in policies and related budgets associated with municipal integrated social care services. Output 2.2: Social services that have demonstrated their effectiveness are scaled up.

92 A broad definition of ‘social care’ is used to include health, adult social care, children’s services, housing, police, criminal justice, education and social security services managed and financed at local level by municipalities or administrative units 93 Tirane, Durres, Korce, Shkoder, Vlore, Mallakaster, Sarande, Shijak, Malesia e Madhe, Librazhd, Maliq, Vore, Vau i Dejes, Tepelene, Pustec, Kolonje, Klos, Himare, Gramsh, Selenice, Finiq 94 Tirana, Elbasan, Lezha, Dibra, Lushnja and Durres 23

• Documentation of the 15 best practices across the country in social care services provision for vulnerable population is completed. 4 information sessions were organized in four locations95 attended by 112 representatives of public and non-public social service providers from 24 municipalities. The emergency situation following the earthquake and the Pandemic of COVID-19 has delayed this process. • An online network of professionals of development and community centers for children with disabilities operating in 8 municipalities96 was established to enable peer exchange of methods and techniques for the provision of online specialized social services for this target group during COVID-19. A designated national expert provided on line support and counselling on how to engage parents and other family members to work with these children. The professional staff were advised to set up vir- tual connections with the parents where possible or provide printed working materials to guide them respecting physical distancing and other preventive measures. Since the outbreak of the Covid-19, 138 children with disabilities have benefited from specialized social services, of which 117 from online services, and 21 others from home-to-home visits. Output 2.3: A grant scheme is set up for municipalities to introduce innovative social services that draw on community mobilization.

• In close coordination with MoHSP, and in line with the grant scheme’s regulations for new social care services at local level, LNB allocated funds to resource Social Fund and support social care services at local level: about 13,602,264 ALL will be provided to 7 municipalities97. Cooperation agreements are signed, and the first and second tranche of funds are already disbursed to 7 LGUs. A two-day training on Project Cycle Management and Financial Reporting equipped 16 employees from winning municipalities with the appropriate skills and useful tools in managing the implementation of the new innovative services. • The 2nd Call for Proposals for the grant scheme on Community Based Social Services is launched in June 2020 to support of the establishment of new social care services (including services in response to covid-19 pandemic) consistent with the Social Fund financial mechanism.

Outcome 3: National institutions implement their policy framework for providing social services and ade- quately fund social services.

LNB continued to make steady progress in supporting national institutions in advancing and implementing the policy framework for the provision of adequate social services. Delivery of planned activities and outputs has contributed mainly to: • Development and implementation of policy framework on inclusive policies (review of Action Plan of the Social Protection Strategy 2015 – 2020 and its Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, four draft bylaws of the Law 93/2014 on Inclusion of and Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities, implementing and monitoring of two year Accessibility Plan of Action, revised National Action Plan on Persons with Disabilities (NAPPWD) 2016-2020, draft guidelines for the universal progressive home visiting for the health care professionals, 32 draft legal acts/ by-laws on social housing

95 Tirana, Shkodra, Korça and Vlora 96 Pogradec, Lushnje, Bulqize, Diber, Shijak, Ura Vajgurore, Përmet, and Saranda 97 Permet, Vlora, Roskovec, Shkoder, Kamez, Prrenjas, Puke and Diber 24

drafted and consulted (15 approved and 17 pending approval) , endorsement of the Youth Law by Parliament; • Establishment of monitoring mechanisms of social inclusion national policies and strategies: (standardized data collection system (SILC, child-targeted indicators, Children, Adolescents and Youth Wellbeing Indicators)

Output 3.1: The Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth and other competent Ministries are supported in their implementation of policies and strategies relevant for social inclusion and in plans for funding and in • LNB supported MoHSP to undertake multi-stakeholder consultations to review the Action Plan of the Social Protection Strategy 2015 – 2020, which is expanded and costed until 202298 along with updated Monitoring and Evaluation Framework in line with to the new guidelines of the PM’s office, the EU Action document for IPA 2019/2020 Programmes which will provide budget support to advance the social care agenda reflecting the policy reforms of the government of Albania in economic aid, disability and social care reform. The draft is discussed and approved by the IPMG on social inclusion and employment. • LNB provided technical expertise to MoHSP and the ad-hoc inter-ministerial working group to draft four by-laws of the Law 93/2014 on Inclusion of and Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities. The draft by-law on “The modality of provision of personal assistance and the criteria for the selection of the personal assistant” was approved by DCM in December 2019, whereas two other DCM drafts and a Minister’s instruction are pending approval. • LNB engaged three senior national legal experts to lead a working group composed of MoFE housing and legal experts and other non-governmental and inter-governmental advisors tasked with the preparation of secondary legislation (by-laws) for the enactment of Law 22/2018 on Social Housing. 32 pieces of legal acts / by-laws are being drafted99 and expected to be finalised within 2020 following multi-stakeholders’ consultations. To date all by-laws100 are developed and consulted with national and local government institutions through round tables and/or GoA’s electronic platform of consultations to discuss and share experience and provide inputs. • In September 2019, the National Council for Child Rights approved and published the Mid-term Im- plementation Report on the National Action Plan for the Right of the Child 2016-2020”. The report provides an overview on the progress of implementation in terms of results, actions and budgets and challenges. A special hearing session was called by the Speaker of the Parliament requesting the government to commit and take measures for the implementation of actions and priorities until 2020. • LNB engaged two senior national experts to revise the National Action Plan on Persons with Disabili- ties (NAPPWD) 2016-2020 and reflect the necessary measures and anticipate new ones as recom- mended by the NAPPWD mid-term evaluation report, in line with the changes imposed by the national policy and legal framework in the respective areas of NAPPWD. The timeframe will be revised in line with the EU Action document for IPA 2019/2020 Programmes on advancing social inclusion agenda, and will include measures in response to the concluding observations made to the Albanian

98 The support consisted mainly in reviewing and expanding the action plan envisaged under policy objective 3: social care services for all families and children in vulnerable situations. 99 Decisions of the Council of Ministers (DCMs) and various ordinances and guidelines, desk studies, and analyses. 100 15 are approved by the Council of Ministers 25

Government by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The process pays particular attention to the participation of all concerned stakeholders including DPOs. • MoHSP is being supported to coordinate and guide the Inter-Ministerial Working Group (IMWG) on “An accessible environment for all” to successfully implement, monitor and report on the Two-year Accessibility Plan of Action which aims to remove the existing barriers for persons with disabilities, hence, contribute to their social inclusion and integration. More specifically, MHSP will be supported to further define the 2-Year Accessibility Platform measures: collect inputs for changes to the existing accessibility legislation; assist LGUs to develop local accessibility action plans and develop their capacities. COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down the work, however, the IMWG members are providing inputs as requested. • National Statistical Office (INSTAT) is supported in compiling and generating the first official publication of Children, Adolescents and Youth Wellbeing Indicators 2016-2018, setting the practice for its annua) publication including a comprehensive list of SDGs indicators. The menu of indicators is diverse in terms of sources (combination of administrative and survey based) and profile (capturing a wide range of child/adolescent’s rights domains). The publication serves as a monitoring tool to track and measure progress in various areas/sectors, as well as inform planning of policies and actions that target children, adolescents and youth. The publication was promoted in visual and social media.101 LNB supported the development of the guidelines102 for the universal progressive home visiting focusing on the holistic care of the most vulnerable including child needs prioritizing. Health personnel were trained on the implementation on the guidelines to ensure sustainable change in work practices. The supportive supervision guideline was developed103 along with personalized address booklets for each health center104. • LNB supported the review of the national Pre-university Education policy document which will feed the development of the new policy document in line with the international benchmarks and national commitments of Albania. Multi-stakeholder consultations have started along with a SWOT and PESTLE analysis by shifting to online methodology. U- REPORT has been used to capture the students’ ideas and suggestions for the future education strategy. The final draft is expected by end of this year. • At national level, the representatives from MoESY, MoI and MoHSP were trained to implement jointly the process of cross-checking the lists of children at compulsory school age based on the Trilateral Joint Order105. A meeting was conducted with the ministerial group of OOSC experts (as responsible education sector policymakers and practitioners at central level) for strengthening OOSC mechanisms implementation at country level. While the process is continuing, the necessity of an efficient EMIS system has emerged as a priority in identifying out of school children (OOSC). • LNB technical support contributed in finalization of the Youth Law, which was approved by the Par- liament in December 2019. Due to earthquake emergency situation, the review process of the Youth Action Plan 2015-2020 and development of the new Youth Action plan is postponed in 2020.

101 Video on General Statistics and SDG related indicators 102 The guideline includes the principles, approach, standards, as well as the role of the health system and the health personnel in the shift 103 Key issues included principles, approach, required skills for supervision, models and tools to use the supportive supervision of the health personnel trained in home visiting 104 detailed contacts of key stakeholders (local government, police, child protection units, social services) where each HC’s personnel may refer the identified problems/issues related to children in the respective catchment areas in the 4 target regions. 105 published in the Official Gazette nr 105, date 19 July 2019, pg 7775 at https://qbz.gov.al/eli/fz/2019/105/24f2afc2-1a5c-4bb1-b036- 44818dff0836 26

• MoHSP with LNB support made further progress in improving the legal and financial environment for the development of social enterprises to address social and economic exclusion of vulnerable groups and promote the social responsibility. Relevant legal and financial framework for the efficient operation of social enterprises is in place.106 The fund for Social Enterprises has been created in the value of 249 760 000 ALL for the timeframe 2019-2021. The Fund subsidizes: Social Enterprises Activity; New job positions enabled for the employment of disadvantaged groups; Social and Health Securities of disadvantaged groups employed in Social enterprises. The programme guided the entire process by providing expertise in the drafting of bylaws and designation of the Enterprise Fund and also tech- nically supported the Ministry’s Budget users to integrate the Social Enterprise Fund in the Medium- term Budget Program of Ministry of Health and Social Protection. • MOHSP was assisted to develop the Protocol on the Functioning of Public and Non-Public, Non-Resi- dential Centers, Providing Services for Persons with Disabilities, during and after the Natural Disaster Period, until the end of the physical / social distancing measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which was approved by Order of the Minister of Health and Social Protection, no. 381, dated 23.6.2020107. Output 3.2: The establishment of state funding mechanisms that support the development and scaling-up of innovative social services is supported. • LNB supported the design of the financial mechanisms at local level to support vulnerable children at risk of dropping out of school. The piloting of the experience on OOSC in Durrës and financial analy- sis108 developed as part of the multisectoral efforts on OOSC led to the Council of Ministers' deci- sion109 on awarding financial support for children who are out of school or at risk of dropping out along with the guide110 for its practical implementation by the LGUs in coordination with Local Educa- tion Office, Schools and Child Protection Unit. As a result, 600 children benefited in 2019-2020 academic year. 4 human stories of children that have benefited from the financial support for their school enrolment and integration were also developed and will be used to for showcasing and encouraging other Municipalities to apply.

Chapter 3: Gender Equality and Good Governance The LNB programme is oriented by two cross-cutting themes: governance and gender equality, as an ar- ticulation of human rights principles. LNB has promoted gender equality in the entire project implementation and interventions have been designed to be gender sensitive, thus promoting social inclusion also from a gender perspective.

106 DCM ‘On the forms of supporting social enterprises through subsidies” as well as by-laws on Registration of Social Enterprises, determination of the Periodic Reporting Forms, on the activities exercised and the categories of the employed persons by the Social Enterprises and Promote the Development of the Social Enterprises. 107 Fletorja Zyrtare, Viti 2020 – Nr. 122, Tirane - E merkure, 1 Korrik 2020 https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fqbz.gov.al%2Fshare%2FooFNRxfpTOGfSkwKJEPe_g&data=02%7C01 %7Cmirela.bylyku%40undp.org%7C324574908c17491f044808d81e6ccf5d%7Cb3e5db5e2944483799f57488ace54319%7C0%7C0%7C63729280 0134703293&sdata=Hef48WOfKASKQEFJbKK%2FhjVQvMdyUH%2F2%2BCjDIKmh3yA%3D&reserved=0 108 The financial analysis for education of out of school children can be found at: https://observator.org.al/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Raport-teknik-Mbeshtetja-financiare-per-regjistrimin-ne-shkolle-te-femijeve-jashte-shkolle.pdf 109The Council of Minister’s Decision no. 666 can be found at: https://observator.org.al/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/VKM-nr.-666-dt.- 10.10.2019.pdf 110 The Guide for practical implementation of the Council of Minister’s Decision no. 666, can be found at: https://observator.org.al/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Udhezues-Miratimi-Bursave-Financiare-OOSC_2019-2020.pdf 27

3.1 Gender Equality • LNB believes that access to social care services should be increased for all men and women and its activities ensure inclusiveness and consultations with men and women to produce better analysis on the different barriers on social services provision and accessibility by both men and women. UN Agen- cies have involved men as well in the community of social protection advocates – a field usually considered essentially “a woman’s job” to ensure responsive social services to men and boys as well. • LNB adopts the gender mainstreaming approach in planning and implementation of its interventions. Visible results are achieved in three target municipalities (Fier, Lezha and Kruja) supported through the Swiss model of Integrated Social Services (education, VET programmes, employment and income generation activities), where girls and women constitute 50% of the total number of beneficiaries. • LNB keeps a sharp focus on vulnerable women and youth who are involved in participatory budgeting processes in 11 municipalities and LSGDGs. (Roma and Egyptian) women and girls and youth with disabilities (also with severe hearing impairment) are supported and empowered on their rights and entitlements as and advocacy to claim them.

3.2 Good Governance • LNB has promoted good governance and transparency through its activities as well as supported local governments’ transparency and accountability in the participatory processes for the development of local social care plans in consultation with citizens and CSOs (e.g. Pogradec, Permet, Bulqize, Ura Va- jgurore, Fier, Mallakaster, Sarande, Shijak, Malesia e Madhe). Multi-stakeholders’ consultations were held in 21 municipalities to consult the first phase of drafting the secondary legislation for the enactment of the new Law on Social Housing, monitoring of implementation of NAPwD, Youth law, Pre- University Education Strategy.

3.3 Internal Monitoring LNB staff conducted regular monitoring of programme activities to observe progress, to ensure quality of activities and inter-agency coordination and to identify bottlenecks and challenges to improve programme implementation. The monitoring methodology includes field visits of LNB staff, joint field visits with UN agencies and implementing partners, meetings with the representatives of LGUs and/or discussion with social services municipal staff, meetings with beneficiaries and internal quarterly reports of UN agencies. The Annual Work Plan and the M&E Plan were the key tools to support programme monitoring along with internal quarterly reports. An external evaluation took place in January-February 2020 with the aim to identify the project’s suc- cesses and challenges, and to contribute to the planning of the next project phase. Main findings provided evidence on the LNB progress and its main achievements along with a set recommendations on way forward.

Chapter 4: 4.1 Major challenges and Mitigation strategy Challenges and mitigation measures 28

LNB faced a number of challenges related mainly to political factors as well external factors such as the earthquake that hit Albania on 26 November 2019 and COVID 19 outbreak.

Political challenges: Political polarization on main reforms such as election administration, judicial reform implementation and main national investment priorities continued to dominate public debate, impacting longer term sustainable development policy-making. The political crisis in 2019 led to one-party local elections in June 2019 lacking competitive political and social program offers and advocacy for social issues with running mayors and councilors’ candidates. The local elections brought political changes in the municipal administration at leadership and senior management level posing risks with regard to i) retention of (trained) social services staff and their motivation, ii) maintaining the commitment of previous municipal leadership to LNB planned activities. LNB staff has established contacts with the newly elected mayors to gain their political support for smooth implementation of the program at municipal level.

Economic challenges: The two major crises of the devastating earthquake in November 2019 followed by the COVID-19 outbreak and lock down in March 2020 have significantly affected the economy. There is expected a negative impact on the current account, as tourism, a driver of growth over the past two years, foreign direct investment (FDI) and remittance flows will likely shrink affecting the sustainability and effectiveness of public finances to fund public services. It is imperative the need to coordinate efforts among various stakeholders and partners to maximize resources to reach out and support with public services the most vulnerable groups. While these two crises have mobilized resources from the government and partners to address the emergencies, LNB has succeeded to keep sharp its focus to mitigate delays and at the same time remain flexible in re-scheduling and re-shaping and tailoring planned activities to respond to the emergency situations.

Institutional Capacities: The capacities and resources of public administration in charge of social protection and social services remain limited at all levels, both in terms of the number of staff, technical capacity and financial allocations. This was more conspicuous during COVID 19 pandemic where public administration at central and particularly at local level showed low level of preparedness to respond to natural disasters caused by the earthquake in November 2019 and COVID 19 pandemic in early March 2020 along with weak disaster management capacities to identify vulnerable segments and respond to their needs quickly. It was noted also an unclear division of roles between national and local government which is a pre-requisite for a well-coordinated and targeted response in emergency situations. This added to difficulties to transfer the integration social service model to targeted municipalities. The project made efforts to maintain persistent communication and coordination with beneficiary municipalities to ensure that those most in need received adequate support. Increased support for capacity building in disaster management as well as MIS operationalization at municipal level is imperative to collect data and populate the system for enabling delivery of social care services to the most vulnerable along with continuous advocacy increase the public investment for social protection and social services.

Democratic Space: Recent protests by students, theatre alliance, and more recently the Venice Commis- sion stand on the anti-defamation law, show that there is shrinking civic space and public participation of

civil society and the most vulnerable. This situation adds risks to further exclusion, conflict and unbalanced development, contributing to perpetuation of corruption and impunity. It is important empowerment of local communities and vulnerable groups to demand their rights and voice their concerns.

Social issues. The main challenge for the project at community level remains the “quick-gains mentality” of families particularly R&E who condition their involvement in the project with provision of different forms of economic support such as food supplies, clothes, cash so their children particularly girls be involved in the project activities (school attendance, enrollment in VET courses, employment schemes, awareness campaigns). Consistent counselling, continuous family visits and monitoring as well as involvement of families in project awareness activities and close cooperation with municipal social services staff have contributed in gaining the community trust and their commitment to the project, raising awareness on their limited skills to access labour market and slowly changing their mentality for considering sustainable (self) employment opportunities provided by the project for breaking poverty cycle.

Crises due to Natural Disasters. Albania experienced two natural disasters of high economic and social impact: i) the earthquake on 26 November 2019 which posed serious challenges to large communities where the project is operating with regard to safe housing, provision with food and other supplies as well as psychological distress. The project provided counselling and emergency support to affected families as well as helped them follow the procedures for social housing bonus, economic assistance and supported children to return to school. ii) COVID -19 lockdown as of early March 2020 caused major disruption to the social and economic activities in the whole country, which affected in particular vulnerable families and children and R&E communities (including beneficiaries of the project who had started with income generation scheme, internships or formal businesses). The project assessed the economic situation of the beneficiary families it supports and provided food emergency packages in close coordination with respective municipalities along with counselling, orientation and online information and monitoring of the beneficiaries regarding instructions about working businesses, hygiene, on-line school attendance etc. The project was flexible in shifting its modus operandi from physical /face to face activities to the new reality of physical distancing, remote online working, monitoring, counselling of families, teachers and children relying extensively on technology and ensuring delivery of activities as planned.

Chapter 5: Communication and Visibility Please see Annex 2

Chapter 6: Updated action/activity plan and Finances Overall financial delivery (disbursed and committed) till June 2020 is 99%

Funds allocated Disbursed Commitments Total Disbursed and Com- Total Disbursed and Commit- in USD mitted USD ted USD in % UNDP 4,203,155 3,943,384 412,287 4,355,671 103.6 30

UNICEF 1,166,419 906,357 58,875 965,232 82.8 UNW 463,137 385,205 65,096 450,302 97.2 UNFPA 293,443 285,243 8,200 293,443 100 Totals 6,126,154 5,520,189 544,459 6,064,648 99

* Disbursed till 30 June 2020 (cumulative) * Committed till 30 June 2020

Abbreviations: ANAD – Albanian National Association of the Deaf ASPA – Albanian School of Public Administration AUs – Administrative Unites C4E – Coaching for Employment CEDAW – Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women CSO – Civil Society Organizations DCM - Decisions of the Council of Minister DoA – Designation of Authorities DPO – Disabled Peoples Organizations ECA - Eastern Europe and Central Asia EMIS – Education Management Info System EU – European Union EU SILC – Statistics on income and living conditions EWS - Early Warning System FDI – Foreign Direct Investment GDP – Gross Domestic Product GoA – Government of Albania GRB – Gender Responsive Budget IDU – Injecting Drug User ICPD – International Conference on Population and Development IMWG – Inter Ministerial Working Group INSTAT – Albanian Institute of Statistics IPA – Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance IPMG – Integrated Planning and Management Group 31

LGU – Local Government Units LNB – Leave No One Behind LSDG – Local Social Dialogue Groups LWI – Low Work Intensity M&E – Monitoring and Evaluation MIS – Management of Information Systems MoESY – Ministry of Education Science and Youth MoFE – Ministry of Finance and Economy MoHSP – Ministry of Health and Social Protection MoI – Ministry of Internal Affairs MSM – Men who have sex with Men MTBF – Mid Term Budget Framework MTBP – Mid Term Budget Plan NAPPWD – National Action Plane on Persons with Disabilities NARU – Needs Assessment and Referral Unit NGO – Non-Governmental Organizations NPF – Organization Help for Children NSDI – National Strategy for Development and Integration OOSC – Out of School Children PDNA – Post Disaster Needs Assessment PE – Peer Education PESTLE – Political Economic Sociological Technological Legal Environmental PMO – Prime Minister Office PwD – Persons with Disabilities QAAPE – Quality Assurance Agency of the Pre-University Education R&E – Roma and Egyptians RED – Regional Education Directory SC – Steering Committee SCS – Social Care Services SDC – Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDG - Sustainable Development Goals

SRHR – Sexual Reproductive Health Response SIIG – Statistical Indicator and Integrity Group SILC – Statistics on Income and Living Condition SIPD - Social Inclusion Policy Document SOP-M – Standards of Operation Procedures Manual SRH – Sexual and Reproductive Health STAR 2 – Supporting Territory and Administrative Reform SW – Sex Worker SWOT – Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats ToT – Training of Trainer UN – United Nations UNDP – United Nations Development Programme UNICEF – United Nations Children’s Fund USD – United States Dollar VET – Vocational Education Training VKB – Decisions of the Municipal Council WPI – Worcester Polytechnic Institute

List of annexes: Annex 1: Updated Performance Monitoring Framework (Programme log frame) Annex 2: Communication and Visibility Annex 3: Risk Analysis