<Project 89597>
<1 March 2014 to 28 February 2015 >
INTERIM NARRATIVE REPORT
 The information provided below must correspond to the financial information that appears in the
financial report.
 Please ensure alignment and ensure that Outcomes/Outputs/indicators & activities correspond to
the approved Log Frame in the PRODOC/Plan of Action/Financial Report.
 Please include a table of content and a list acronyms used in the report.
 Please number and include clear references to any Annex to be included to the report.
1. Description
1.1.
1 March 2014 to 30 June 2015
Intervention in Kruja started on January 2015 and the activities reported here belongs to the
period 05 January – 28 February 2015
1.2.
Target country: Albania
Municipality of Kruja
1.3.
Final beneficiaries &/or target groups1 (if different) (including numbers of women and
men):

9 key institutions in Kruja will commit to act together and to formalize the Referral
Mechanism2 for addressing the domestic violence cases in a multi-disciplinary way.

The capacity of 24 professionals, representatives of the institutions part of Referral
Mechanism in Kruja will be built3.

Approximately 1020 women4 and 100 pupils5 (girls and boys) in Kruja will be reached
through awareness raising activities.

Approximately 20 cases of women and children survivors of domestic violence in Kruja will
be supported in terms of covering their immediate needs such as the need for food, clothes
and transport. In long-term, they will be supported also to solve their situation.
1
“Target groups” are the groups/entities who will be directly positively affected by the project at the Project
Purpose level, and “final beneficiaries” are those who will benefit from the project in the long term at the
level of the society or sector at large.
2
The referral Mechanism will be composed by the Leading Committee (LC) and the Multidisciplinary Technical
Equip (MTE)
3
Two two-day trainings will be organized for this purpose.
4
There are planned around 11 workshops, 10 with women working at Factories in Kuja and 1 with unemployed
women.
5
There are planned 3 workshops with pupils.
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2. Assessment of implementation of Project activities
2.1. Executive summary of the Project

Please give a global overview of the Project’s implementation for the reporting period (no
more than 1 page).

Include details on the country’s and project’s context. Include any reference to trends
or specific issues you consider relevant to showcase (i.e. interest of specific groups
such as men/boys to get involved with the initiative, new developments, etc).

Highlight any specific impact result of your Action.
Albanian state, through the years, has undertaken a lot of efforts in fighting gender
discrimination and has continued to be engaged for promoting and achieving in practice the
rights of women and girls, with the aim of making gender equality a reality. There is quite a
stock of developments since the adoption and ratification of main international documents,
but the most significant ones concerning gender equality, anti-discrimination and domestic
violence date back in 2006 and onwards. The national agenda against gender-based violence
and domestic violence encourages cooperation among various participants (public and nonpublic) and has key to establishing cross-institutional mechanism6 and interest groups
coordinated at the central or local level. There is, however, a lot to be done mainly to
strengthen the implementation of the law, improve access of victims/survivors of violence to
general and dedicated services, as well as to strengthen measures for preventing violence, and
for increasing awareness, education, and social inclusion. The establishment and wellfunctioning of the Referral Mechanism for the treatment of domestic violence cases, although
a legal obligation since 2011, is still facing many problems into practice 7 - there are many
Municipalities that need specific support in order to have it in place. Kruja is one of these
Municipalities at risk which needs specific support for establishing the Referral Mechanism
because due to the low number of reported cases, the institutions were working independently
and there were no specific awareness raising actions targeting women and girls or the
community at a large. So taking into consideration all legislative improvements and the defacto situation in Kruja, as well as based in the feedback provided by the Referral Mechanism
already in place and successfully functioning in Durres 8, UNDP targeted Kruja under this
project, aiming at establishing the Referral Mechanism, building the capacities of the key
institutions as well as raising awareness of women and youths regarding the VAW and DV
issues. The establishment of the full membership and the implementation of Referral
Mechanism in Kruja, is a very important step especially now, in the frame of preparation for
new territorial changes - this intervention will serve as a preliminary preparatory stage for
dealing with all new future social problems deriving from the enhancement of territorial
influence.
As requested specifically in the Law no.9669 date 18.12.2006 “For Measures against Violence in Family
Relations”; the Council of Ministers Decision no.334 date 17.02.2011 “For the establishment of the National
Referral Mechanism (NRM) for the treatment of cases of domestic violence and its way of functioning” as well
as in the National Strategy on Gender Equality and against Gender-Based and Domestic Violence (2011-2015)
and its action plan.
7
According to the Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth– as reported in Beijing+20 Report in 2014, the Referral
Mechanism is established only in 27 Municipalities (from 65 in totals).
8
Municipality of Kruja is under Qark of Durres so part of the cases treated by the Referral Mechanism in Durres
belongs to the areas around Kruja, a part of which will belong to new Kruja Municipality after the changes based
on the new territorial reform.
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The main results of our intervention so far are:
1. The Municipality of Kruja and 8 other key institutions are committed to establish the Referral
Mechanism and to treat cases in a multi-disciplinary way9.
2. All leaders of these key institutions are better informed on their institutional legal obligations
and they have discussed and revised in principle the draft Memorandum of Understanding
prepared for formalizing the Referral Mechanism10.
3. The capacity of Inspector for GE&DV for preparation of interventions and for better knowing
her duties and responsibilities is improved11.
4. A detailed plan of action for establishing the mechanism and raising awareness of the
community on the issue of VAW&DV is drafted and approved from Municipality of Kruja
and UNDP12.
5. The CCR premises in Kruja municipality have already the necessary equipment and furniture
to facilitate the work of the referral mechanism13.

Please list the indicators of the Outcome, and provide level of achievement if available at this
stage:
Outcome 1: Laws, policies and strategies are adopted/reformed and implemented to respond to
and prevent violence against women and girls,
Indicator 1b: Percentage of positive feedback received on the quality of service
provided by the Community Coordination Response (CCRs) in one municipality
N/A, under the reporting period. The intervention in the Municipality of Kruja is at the beginning
stage, so we cannot provide any indication of the quality of services provided from a mechanism that
is under its formalization process.
Indicator 1c: Number of registered cases of women victims of trafficking becoming employed
(disaggregated by: self-employed; employed through the National Employment Service
(NES)2.2.
Achievements and Results
What is your assessment of the results of the Project so far?
Include observations on the performance and the achievement of outputs, and how they have
contributed to the overall outcome and impact, and whether the Project has had any unforeseen
positive or negative results.
Following Annex A from the PRODOC, please list all the outputs with progress of the related
indicators and all the related activities implemented during the reporting period
Output 3 – The capacity of key actors in preventing and responding to trafficking including
reintegration of women and girls in Albania is strengthened
9
All institutions committed are key ones to be part of the Referral Mechanisms, as indicated in the respective
legislation.
10
Seven specific meetings organized for this purpose
11
Two months of intensively coaching and on-job training assistance provided to her.
12
The Municipality of Kruja and UNDP have signed a Letter of Agreement for the support that will be provided
for this purpose.
13
Equipment and furniture were purchased and sent to the referral mechanism in the municipality of Kruja during
the period May-June 2015.
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<quantify the achievement of each output from the beginning of the action and explain any changes,
especially any underperformance; refer to the indicators and assumptions in the Logframe>:
Indicator 1.3a: Number of professional reporting on trafficking cases during programme
duration
Indicator 1.3b: Percentage of staff of National shelter for women/girl victims of trafficking
with skills required in providing services
Indicator 1.3c: New Coordinated Community Response established (Yes/No)
Yes, the Referral Mechanism14 in the Municipality of Kruja is established and in the coming months
this structure will be formalized by signing the respective Memorandum of Understanding15 as
requested by the legislation in place.
Indicator 1.3d: Number of businesses provided with start-up support
A1.1 "Title of the activity: Conference at location W with X participants for Y days on Z dates"
Media (public and private, print and audio-visual. Albanian National Public TV, Albanian
Union of Journalists and Institute of Media)
Activity 3.1 - Establishment of a media mechanism with chief editors and media groups for
annual monitoring of professional reporting on cases of trafficking
Topics/activities covered <please elaborate>:
Reason for any changes in the planned activity <please explain any problems (e.g. delay, cancellation,
postponement of activities) which have arisen and how they have been addressed> (if applicable):
Please list any risks that might have jeopardised the realisation of some activities and explain how
they have been tackled.
(Repeat above instructions as appropriate for other outputs/indicators and activities)
Activity 3.2 – Development and publication of a manual on reporting cases for trafficking and
violence against women and training of journalists on the manual
Activity 3.3 – Establishment of a monitoring process for media reporting of cases on trafficking
and violence against women; Publication of Final Report with results and recommendations
Activity 3.4 – Drafting a national multi-sectoral Action Plan for the socio-economic integration
and reintegration of women victims of trafficking
Shelters:
Activity 3.5 - Establishing one new CCR in a high risk area
Please kindly note that after the CoM Decision no.334 date 17.02.2011 “For the Establishment of the National
Referral Mechanism for the Treatment of the cases of domestic violence and its way of functioning” entered into
force, the term “Coordinated Community Response” is replaced with the “Referral Mechanism”. So in order to
be in accordance with the legal terminology, we are using it instead of CCR.
15
The draft of this Memorandum of Understanding is already shared with the members of the Referral
Mechanism (the Coordinated Community Response)
14
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The establishment of the Referral Mechanism in the Municipality of Kruja is an on-going activity,
because after the commitment of all key actors – already accomplished under the reporting period –
there are planned other steps for making the Mechanism functional in practice by building the
capacities of the professionals as well as by raising awareness of the community at a large.
In the following pages we’re reporting in details the steps undertaken for completing the part of the
activity 3.5, which belongs to the reporting period:
3.5.1
Assessment of the situation in Municipality of Kruja – main findings.
a) General description: Kruja has a registered population in the number of 16,350 inhabitants (almost
50% women) with a number of 4,585 families. The demographic movement of earlier ’90 has
influenced a bit in the composition of the population, some citizens have moved in the capital of
Albania, while many others from villages have moved in the city. According to the statistics provided
by the Municipality of Kruja, there were 110 women who applied for the economic aid during 2014,
but only 74 of these women were approved by the Social Services Directory in Durres (Qarku level)
to be part of the economic aid scheme. There are 5 divorced women under the economic aid scheme,
one of whose is actually approved, while four are still under the verification process. Although the
city of Kruja is not considered as a city with major problems of domestic violence - there have been
only 2 (two) cases during the year 2014 for the city – the Police Department doesn’t say the same for
the region - there are 27 cases registered for the year 2014. This number of cases is being reported
although there have been no efforts to educate women and the public for speaking openly regarding
the gender-based and domestic violence.
b) Structure in the Municipality: The Municipality of Kruja has appointed a specialist as Inspector for
Gender Equality and against Domestic Violence16 to deal with the issues of gender equality and
domestic violence, as requested by the respective legislation. The Inspector has a separated office
inside the Municipality to be used as Office for Gender Equality and against Domestic Violence 17.
The existence of the needed structure in the Municipality is another factor supporting our choice why
we selected Kruja and it also facilitates the communication with other institutions and makes them
more confident towards the entire intervention, since it shows the real commitment of the
Municipality and not a casual interventions just because there will be some outside support.
c) Main actors: In Kruja there are located the major institutions, responsible to deal with the issue of
domestic violence as requested by the legislation i.e.: District Court, Prosecutor Office, Police
Department, Bailiff Office, Employment Office, Educational Department and Directory of Public
Health. There is also a Forensic Doctor appointed for Kruja but he’s living in Tirana and Kruja is part
of his duty, but not the major work – he is on call.
3.5.2
Ensuring the commitment of all key partner institutions for the establishment of the
Referral Mechanism in Kruja.
Three field missions18 and eight specific meetings19 are organized for accomplishing successfully this
step of the activity 3.5.
The mission objectives were:
1. To discuss with the local authorities the establishment of the Referral Mechanism in the
Municipality of Kruja, with the support of UNDP under EIDHR project;
16
Ms. Ernida Taga is appointed in this position.
Although a small space, it can be transformed in a very nice and confidential environment, appropriate for
meeting with women in need and provided to them support and information – this will be a follow intervention
step of UNDP in the coming months.
18
Organized respectively on 19th of January, 18th of February and 23rd of February 2015.
19
Please kindly refer to the list of persons and the institutions they represent attached to this report as annex 1.
17
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2. To decide on the main needs and the ways of collaboration.
Key persons met for these purposes were: the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and the Inspector for GE&DV
in Municipality of Kruja, the Head of District Court, the Chief of Order in the Police Department, the
Director and a Specialist in the Employment Office in Kruja, the Head of Bailiff Office and the
Prosecutor of Kruja.
In all meetings organized, the UNDP team of experts have explained in details the EIDHR project
aim, the specific mission of UNDP, the rationale of establishing the new coordinated services in
Kruja in line with the CoM Decision no.334 date 17.02.2011 “For the Establishment f the National
Referral Mechanism for the treatment of domestic violence cases and its way of functioning”, and the
modalities of this cooperation in order to set up the mechanism and to support additional actions for
capacity building and awareness raising activities.
Some results from the field missions and the meetings organized were:
1. The representatives of the Municipality identified the need for a focused and specialized
intervention in order to establish the multi-institutional response against gender-based and domestic
violence and requested support from UNDP for this purpose.
2. All other institutions supported the idea and committed to be engaged by accomplishing the
respective legal obligations, exchanging information and identifying further needs for capacity
building and other actions required for having an effective Referral Mechanism in place.
3. The main specific needs identified from the institutions were: (i) the need for a crises centre/shelter
for the victims/survivors especially for the period between 24 – 48 hours that there are undertaken the
procedures for issuing the protection order; (ii) the need for having specialized staff i.e. psychologist
to deal with cases of GBV&DV, (iii) the need for more trained and specialized staff and supportive
resources to enhance the work of the institution towards domestic violence issues.
3.5.3 Agreement o the type of intervention and the respective modalities.
Based on the results of the field missions, the UNDP and the Municipality of Kruja agreed on the
needed type of intervention and the required modalities for this purpose.
The main aim will be to contribute to the development of the Referral Mechanism against Domestic
Violence, at the local level, in Kruja. Municipal domestic violence structure will build a network of
local stakeholders to expand the networks of the services available to victims. The intervention will
also aim in strengthening the role of women and youths in society. Capacity’ building of the
Inspector for GE&DV and other professionals will also be part of this intervention.
The expected results from this intervention will be:
 Local protection structures effectively manage a Referral Mechanism as required in the
respective legislation and based on the philosophy of the coordinated community response.
 Local duty-bearers have the capacity to respond to domestic violence cases and to implement
the domestic violence legislation professionally and in coordination with each-other.
 The awareness of the community on domestic violence, prevention of violence against women
and available services/initiatives is increased and dialogue on gender-based violence related
issues between municipality and the community is promoted.
The ultimate beneficiaries of this intervention are women and family members’ survivors of violence.
The holistic, sustainable and replicable model which this intervention is trying to put in place, will
entail the creation of a critical local support system for women who are victims of domestic violence
or vulnerable. At the same time, given its strong emphasis on prevention, whether primary – stopping
violence before it occurs, or secondary – an immediate response after violence has occurred to limit
its extent and consequences, the intervention will have a significant impact in not only reducing the
incidence of domestic violence, but also diminishing the probability of its occurrence. In order to
achieve the desired impact, the Municipality of Kruja believes it is essential to engage all key actors.
The guiding principle is targeted inclusion, which refers to an all-inclusive approach implemented
through a process that, in the first place, carefully identifies activity target groups-whose behaviour is
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intended to be modified, partners-with whom the Municipality will work, and community
stakeholders-who will give their support, and subsequently engages them through customized
messages and prompts to action. The activity target groups include institutional actors, i.e.: judges,
prosecutors, lawyers, doctors, police and social workers. The Municipality’s partners are other local
government institutions. Religious leaders, media, youth, private businesses make up the group of
community stakeholders. The division reflects the different scale of legal responsibilities for each
member and is useful in terms of assigning roles within the model intended to be built. Otherwise, it
goes without saying that these groups are neither exclusive nor interchangeable.
All details on the support that will be provided to the Municipally of Kruja from UNDP under the
EIDHR project are specified in the Letter of Agreement prepared for this purpose 20.
3.5.4. Preparation for formalizing the Referral Mechanism in Kruja.
a) Preparation of Draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) – a draft of this document based on
the existing legislation, is prepared by UNDP and sent to the Municipality21 as a preparatory stage for
formalizing the Referral Mechanism. With the support of UNDP, the Inspector of GE&DV has also
organized some explanation meetings with key institutions about the draft MoU in order to gather
their direct feedback and to better orient the intervention in accordance with their needs and
requirements. The signing of this draft (planned to happen during March 2015) will be the official
formalization of the Referral Mechanism in Kruja.
b) On job coaching of Inspector for GE&DV – since the Municipality is key actor for the well
functioning of the Referral Mechanism, UNDP has dedicated specific efforts to the on-job training
and coaching of the Inspector for GE&DV. Intensive sessions for these two months have covered the
philosophy of the Referral Mechanism as a coordinated community response against VAW&DV, the
duties and obligation of the Municipality according to the respective legislation in place, as well as
the needed steps to formalize the mechanism. UNDP has also supported the Inspector in all further
steps undertaken, i.e. the consultative meetings for the draft MoU, preparation of specific letters,
invitations, drafting of the specific action plan, etc. This will be an on-going activity during the entire
intervention in Kruja.
Activity 3.6 - Supporting capacity building activities to increase employability and facilitate
self-employment of women in the 6 shelters
A capacity and training needs assessment exercise has been initiated in late February targeting the
women residing in the public shelter “National shelter for the treatment of women victims of domestic
violence”. The assessment will provide an analysis of the skills of the women survivors of domestic
violence, their employability and entrepreneurship potential and training needs. This will serve as the
basis for framing the employment support and entrepreneurship support to be provided to the targeted
beneficiaries.
Activity 3.7 - Support through NGOs the start-up of 3 social businesses that will employ women
victims of trafficking and violence
Output 5 – “Increased public awareness and social mobilization to stop violence against
women”…
Indicator 1.5a: Percentage of women and girls, who participated in awareness raising programs
20
Please kindly refer to the Letter of Agreement signed on February 5 th, 2015 and attached to this report as annex
2.
21
Drafted on 12th of February 2015
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N/A under the reporting period
Indicator 1.5b: Percentage of men and boys, who participated in awareness raising programs
N/A under the reporting period
Indicator 1.5c: Number of members of the National Coalition of Anti Trafficking Shelters
Activity 5.1 – Establish a yearly media event that will provide incentives/recognition to media
that professionally reported on trafficking and violence issues
Activity 5.2 - Media Campaign during the “Anti-trafficking week”
Activity 5.3 - Photo –novelas are produced and disseminated
Activity 5.4 - Develop and disseminate information leaflets on economic rights and alternatives
Activity 5.5 - Promote the network of victims of trafficking - the National Coalition of Anti
Trafficking Shelters - and strengthen its support to victims of trafficking
2.3.
Overall difficulties encountered and measures taken to overcome problems.
The lack of experience of the Municipality on working with projects has resulted on some delays on
implementing the planned steps. UNDP consider this intervention highly important not only on
building the capacities of the Municipality on the targeted issue (combating VAW&DV by
establishing the Referral Mechanism) but also on improving the Municipality potential for using the
additional resources (i.e. donor’s funds). So this will be an important learning process not only
regarding the issue of the domestic violence but also in terms of internal institutional capacity
building of other key sectors (in parallel with the social sector, part of which is the office for gender
Equality and against Domestic Violence). In order to overcome the difficulty faced, UNDP has
prepared a detailed plan with specific filed missions and on-line communication and support.
2.4.
Overall changes introduced in implementation
N/A under the reporting period.
2.5.
Details on the Implementing Partners
When possible describe interaction and work with beneficiary(ies) and affiliated entity(ies) in the
Project.
Where applicable, describe your relationship with any other organisations involved in implementing
the Project
UN Women is cooperating with UNDP for this specific component of the project, taking into
consideration the experience and expertise of UNDP on establishing similar Referral Mechanism in
other municipalities in the country.
How would you assess the relationship between your organisation and State authorities in the Project
countries? How has this relationship affected the Project?
Although the first experience in collaborating with this Municipality, UNDP has found the ways of
facilitating the process and by the other side, all important actors located in Kruja have expressed
their commitment – so we are working in a positive environment and we hope this will help
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improving the performance of the Municipality and achieving the planned results in the coming
months.
Where applicable, outline any links and synergies you have developed with other actions
At the end of the intervention, we aim to create a good synergy of this mechanism with other ones
already established with UNDP support (i.e. the Referral Mechanism in Durres) and a better relation
of Municipality with the Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth, particularly expressed on a regular
filling of the on-line data base system and regular periodical reporting as requested in respective
legislation.
2.6. Please provide an updated action plan 22
EXPECTED
OUTPUTS
PLANNED ACTIVITIES
Half year 1
1
Output 1
Local protection
structures effectively
managed a referral
mechanism for cases’
management, as a
coordinated response to
domestic violence, at
municipal and
commune level
1.1. Providing multi-disciplinary
services against violence against women
and domestic violence, through casemanagement round tables.
22
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
M10
M11
M12
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
1.3. Capacity building activities for the
members of the referral mechanism.
Output 2.
The awareness of the
community on domestic
violence, prevention of
violence against women
and available
services/initiatives is
increased and dialogue
on gender-related issues
between municipality
and the community is
promoted.
2
1.2. Immediate response for covering
the basic needs of the victims/survivors
of VAW&DV emergent cases
1.4. Improving infrastructure
(equipment and furniture) for the office
of GE and DV in the municipality of
Kruja
Half year two
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
2.1. Informative and awareness raising
activities.
x
x
2.2. Informative materials
This plan will cover the financial period between the interim report and the next report.
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3. Visibility
How is the visibility of the EU contribution being ensured in the Action?
UNDP has clearly mentioned that this intervention is supported from EU and it carefully revise all
the informative materials that the Municipality of Kruja will prepare in the coming months, in
order to ensure that EU contribution will be properly addressed.
Please give detailed description of the of communication activities, with concrete examples and
impact.
If possible attached Annex with press cuttings etc.
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