TIRANA RESPONSE FOR EUR ENGAGEMENT ON WOMEN'S ISSUES

UNCLAS TIRANA 000827

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/SCE; EUR/PGI KUYKENDALL; DRL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KWMN PGOV PHUM XG AL
SUBJECT: TIRANA RESPONSE FOR EUR ENGAGEMENT ON WOMEN'S ISSUES

REF: STATE 124579


1. The following is in response to reftel request and answers are
keyed to reftel format.

-- Provide details on current women's issues programs which
highlight Post's work with civil society, NGOs, local governments,
international or regional organizations, and other relevant
interlocutors.

Embassy efforts have been systematic in supporting women's issues in
Albania by closely following political, social, economic, and
legislative developments regarding women's issues. Democracy
Commission funded projects, AID projects, IIP Speaker programs,
public appearances by the Ambassador, DCM, and Embassy staff,
thematic trips and events, and IVLP programs all play a part in
supporting women's issues in Albania.
During the past two years, the Democracy Commission Program has
supported the initiatives of 13 women's organizations:
- Through six Democracy Commission grants the Embassy helped raise
awareness on domestic violence. During these grants, 1,012 women
and girls from the rural areas of Diber, Shkoder and Tirana, and 244
high school students of Berat district, were trained on how to face
and fight domestic violence.
- One grant helped train 500 women in three communes of Elbasan
district with vocational skills (agriculture),resisting domestic
violence, and anti-trafficking.
- Four projects focused on activities related to women's
participation in elections and decision-making. 100 members of the
Women's Forums of the political parties participated in shaping a
cross-party approach to gender equality issues, based on the
exchange of the best practices from various political forces; 376
women activists in seven cities of Albania contributed to increasing
the number of elected women in local government units in the last
elections.
- Through an IIP Speaker program in March 2009, U.S. speaker Ann
Stone met with women's NGOs, political party women forum
representatives, and media about women's empowerment and increased
representation in all aspects of life in Albania. Stone spoke with
about 30 political party women representatives in preparation for
the upcoming June parliamentary elections in the country and gave
workshops on campaign planning, public speaking, and message
development.
- The IVLP has continued its tradition of sending women leaders from
different fields in programs such as "The Role of NGOs in Promoting
Global Women's Issues" and "Women and Entrepreneurship."
- The Ambassador, DCM, and Embassy staff speak on a regular basis at
events which mark the celebration of thematic days, achievements,
and important issues related to women's rights. For example,
Ambassador hosted an event during Women's History month in which he
recognized a local Albanian woman for her role in fighting human
trafficking. The DCM spoke recently at a forum on women in
parliament and underscored the State Department's Office of Global
Women's Issues as well as the work of embassy colleagues who are
females.
- USAID has started a new initiative which aims to address the
sustainability of anti-trafficking efforts in Albania and protect
victims of trafficking and persons vulnerable to exploitation.
USAID will provide support to existing TIP victim shelters and
continue civil society's advocacy work to help the GOA become
compliant with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Activities
will focus on: building capacity of individual NGO shelters to
achieve financial sustainability to assist trafficked women with
reintegration; building capacity of shelters to advocate for policy
changes; and enhancing cooperation between civil society and the
GOA. As a result of these interventions, USAID assistance will help
to ensure sustainability of social services provided by the shelters
and full reintegration of exploited women and create successful
linkages among NGOs that provide services (such as shelters) and
appropriate local government. Assistance will also strengthen the
shelters' ability to advocate on trafficking in persons and inform
policy changes.
- USAID's Women in Development Office made funds available for a
project to improve the capability of women-run NGOs, associations,
and businesses to advocate for enhancing women's participation in
politics at the local and national levels. Experts from civil
society (local governance members, anti-trafficking council members,
higher education rectors, political think tank experts, current
politicians, lawyers, judges, business leaders, Chamber of Commerce
leaders, etc.) met in multiple national forums to discuss 'where we
stand' and how to improve gender equality through laws, regulations,
funding, emphasis, etc. Trainings consisted of multiple roundtables
and meetings followed by selected trainings in-country to gain
greater exposure to other methods.

- While women in Albanian society are still subject to
discrimination, disabled women face even greater challenges as they
represent one of the most marginalized groups of society.
Unfortunately, little or almost nothing is said about the reality of
women with disabilities in Albania. To combat this, USAID funded a
study entitled "Women with Disabilities in Albania- Included or
Neglected?" which was published in May 2009. The study represents an
evaluation of the rights of women with disabilities in Albania and
focuses on achieving gender equality and disability rights. In
addition, the study aims to make an assessment of the inclusion of
women and girls with disabilities in the strategies, programs and
activities of the organizations focused on gender equality and
disability. Thirty eight nonprofit organizations (NPOs) whose work
focuses on women and gender equality expressed their willingness to
participate in the study, along with 28 NPOs whose work focuses on
disabled persons as well as six international organizations.
-- Provide a list of best practices on these issues, identified
through both current and past programs.

- The USAID funded "Women with disabilities in Albania- Included or
Neglected?" study, published in May 2009, made recommendations to
combat discrimination against women with disabilities which have
been drawn from by the GOA and other organizations in their efforts
to stem discrimination against women with disabilities.

- Post's numerous roundtables on women's issues have increased the
dialogue on women's issues and brought more much needed attention to
the role of women in society.

-- Provide illustrative examples of success stories, from current
and past initiatives that have focused on women's issues.

- Two Public Affairs projects focused on activities related to
women's political empowerment in elections helped lead to the 30
percent quota in the new electoral law by promoting awareness and
dialogue. (Note: As part of the new electoral code passed in 2008,
female candidates are required to make up 30 per cent of the
candidates on a party's ballot. However in practice, many women's
names are placed very low on ballots ensuring that they would not be
elected under Albania's regional proportional parliamentary system
in which votes are allocated to candidates in order of their
appearance on the ballot. Nevertheless, in the June 28 elections
the number of women in the parliament increased from 9 to 23, making
women 15 per cent of the MPs, including the Speaker. End note.)
- With USAID's Women in Development funds, Post sponsored six
roundtables which were held around the country and engaged nearly
300 female and male leaders in identifying and discussing the main
issues that limited the role of women in the family and society.
High priority issues included: mentality/culture/ tradition of the
role of women; high unemployment among women and economic
dependency, low participation of women in politics/decision making,
women's health issues and lack of awareness, treatment and policies,
obstacles to education, and domestic violence.

- In addition to the roundtables, six 15 minute documentaries were
produced and broadcast on national TV. All had as a subtext the
issue of the traditional role of women. The central figure of each
was a woman who had overcome obstacles to become a successful
business woman, to find employment, to become a decision-maker (with
a subtext regarding women's health),to excel in the field of
education, to assist victims of domestic violence, and to assist
people with disabilities. The message in each of them encourages
women/girls to play a fuller role in society and encourages
decision-makers to give that space to women.

- One woman who has worked tirelessly on anti-trafficking
initiatives was nominated by Post as a TIP Hero for the 2009 TIP
report. This woman traveled to Washington to participate in the
rollout ceremony for the 2009 TIP Report and was featured in the
report. Local media outlets highlighted her award.

-- Identify opportunities where there is potential for increasing
cooperation between the United States and local governments and/or
civil society groups on these issues.

Domestic violence and human trafficking, lack of economic
empowerment, and increasing the level of women's participation in
politics and decision-making remain pressing issues. Approaches to
address these needs could include:
- Promoting women's involvement in political campaigns.
- Creating cross-cutting formal coalitions of various women's groups
in civil society, political parties, trade unions, academia and
business, and student networks.
- Engaging the younger generation, and encouraging it to move
forward with this issue.
- Working with NGOs and government for the full implementation of
the Domestic Violence Law, which was passed in 2008, but its
implementation is considered lacking.
- Continue IVLP and IIP programs that focus on women's issues.
-- Identify areas where additional U.S. action and/or cooperation on
women's issues could be useful.

- Work with NGOs and government to battle cultural mores that can
"track" women from an early age. For example, discrimination in the
home towards young girls can often have a deleterious effect on
their development.

JONES