1. Name, affiliation and country

Alma Marku
Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities
Directorate of Policies for Equal Opportunities and Family

Albania2. Basic information on Albania• Albania lies inSoutheastern Europe, inthe western part of theBalkan Peninsula;• The surface of Albania
covers 28.748 square km;• Albania borders withMontenegro, Kosovo andMacedonia in the north,while in the south andsoutheast it borders withGreece.

• The population in
Albania is 3.619,778;• The capital city isTirana;• The official language isAlbanian;• The national currency iscalled Lek;• Albania is a Parliamentary
Republic;• Independence day is 28
November 1912;• Albania is a member of theUnited Nations, North
Atlantic Treaty Organization,
Organization for Securityand Cooperation in Europe,
Council of Europe, World
Trade Organization,
Organization of the Islamic
Conference and has acandidate status for theaccession to the EuropeanUnion.

Mother Teresa
The pride ofAlbanians…
but not only

Butrint,
a UNESCO
WorldHeritage Site

For more information regarding Albania please
visit:
http://www.albaniantourism.com/

3. Three major challenges/obstacles
in mainstreaming gender in Albania• Raise awareness among all actors on gendermainstreaming importance;• Revision of legislation based on gender
perspective;• Implementation and monitoring of policies withthe focus of gender equality;

4. Three priority issues in the present
main national policies/plans• Reinforcing the protective legal and institutional
mechanisms;• Empowering women through their increased
participation in decision-making;• Ensuring women’s economic empowerment andtheir increased opportunities for employment andvocational training;• Promoting women and young women’s equal
access to quality education, health and socialservices;5. Job descriptions• To ensure the formulation and development ofpolicies/strategies/plans• Prepare technical proposals for legislation
and/or revise the legislation• tracking and monitoring the implementation oflegislation and policies or programs in order to:– promote gender equality in society,– prevent and combat violence against women,(including domestic violence),– protect from discrimination due to sexual orientation,– protect the rights of children;6. Issue to be address inmainstreaming gender

Raise awareness among all actors
on gendermainstreaming importance7. Justification for choosing theissue(s)Lack of the gender mainstreaming in the preparationand development of sectorial and cross-cutting
strategies.

8. Useful knowledge and skills gainedin the training course
The knowledge gained through out the training course
on Gender Mainstreaming, especially those related tothe preparation of a Gender Responsive PDM, but also
the interexchange experience with the Japanese andother colleagues were very relevant to thepreparation of the project.

9. Action Plan on mainstreaming gender
1. Title

Raise awareness among government
officials on the importance of Gender
Mainstreaming

2. Period

October 2010 – March 2011

3. Target
areaAll 14 Ministries

4. Target
beneficiary

14 General Secretaries of all ministries; 14Gender Equality Employees in all ministries

5.Implementing Directorate of Policies for Equal
agencyOpportunities and Family
6. Overall goal

Gender is mainstreamed in the national
policies and programmes

7. Project
purposeMinistries become more gender sensitiveTo conduct a survey in order to evaluate theknowledge of the target beneficiaries in thefield of gender mainstreaming at thebeginning of the meeting, training andworkshop

8. Activities To conduct one day meeting with 14 General
Secretaries of all ministries in order to provide
information regarding gender mainstreaming(from the experience gained in the training
course in JICA) so they become aware of its
importance while giving the direction whendrafting a strategy or a law

8. Activities

To organise 5 days training with 14 gender
employees in all ministries on their role inmainstreaming gender while prepare a strategy,
programme or law. In the first day of the training
the participants will be able to get the theoreticalpart of the knowledge on gender mainstreaming
and the other 4 days they will be able to prepare agender mainstreaming PDM
To conduct a workshop to share the experienceand results of the training and to hear from the 14
gender employees their examples on themainstreaming gender in their strategies and havesome recommendations

9. Outputs

A.14 General Secretaries
become aware of theimportance of Gender
Mainstreaming
B.14 Gender Employees areable to mainstream gender inthe preparation of the
programmes and strategies