The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
Presented to: UNICEF’s Albanian Country Office
Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
The impact of Early Childhood Care and Development services on
Women’s empowerment in Albania
Table of Contents
Map of Albania.................................................................................................................... 2
List of acronyms .................................................................................................................. 3
List of tables and graphs ...................................................................................................... 3
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. 4
I. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 4
II. Presentation.................................................................................................................... 5
III. Women’s empowerment, child care and child development ........................................... 5
IV. Methodology ................................................................................................................. 8
V. Country context ............................................................................................................ 12
Social and demographic context ................................................................................................................................................... 12
Albanian women in the labor market and the community .................................................................................................. 14
Situation of children’s rights in Albania ...................................................................................................................................... 16
VI. Early Childhood and Development services in Albania .................................................. 19
VII. Results ........................................................................................................................ 21
VIII. Final discussion .......................................................................................................... 32
IX. Recommendations ....................................................................................................... 34
Bibliography ...................................................................................................................... 37
Appendixes ....................................................................................................................... 38
1
The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
Presented to: UNICEF’s Albanian Country Office
Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
Map of Albania
2
The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
Presented to: UNICEF’s Albanian Country Office
Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
List of acronyms
-
ECD: Early Childhood Care and Development
CRC: Convention on the Rights of the Child
GoA: Government of Albania
CWD: Children with Disabilities
MLSAEO: Minister of Labor, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities
MoE: Ministry of Education
REA: Regional Education Directorates
SAPCD: State Agency on Protection of Children’s Rights
FDGs: Focus Group Discussion
SICS: Social Inclusion Cross-Cutting Strategy
LGU: Local Government Units
NCCR: National Council for Children’s Rights
NGO: Non Governmental Organization
UNICEF: United Nations Fund for Children
SC: Save the Children
EU: European Union
CEDAW: Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
LMVFR: Law on Measures against Violence in Family Relations
NSGE-GBV-DV: National Strategy for Gender Equality, Gender-Based Violence and Domestic Violence
NSPE: The National Strategy on Pre-School Education
List of tables and graphs
-
Table No. 1. Sampling: Study units Urban vs. Rural
Table No. 2. Structured interviews, regional sampling and urban vs. rural
Table No. 3. Focus Group Discussion distribution
Table No. 4. PICOT+R Question- Objective of the study
Table No. 5. Primary and secondary indicators
Table No. 6. Indicators to measure women’s empowerment in Albania- Physical Capital
Table No. 7. Indicators to measure women’s empowerment in Albania – Social and Human Capital
-
Graph No. 1. Working hours of ECD services in Albania
Graph No. 2. Aspects parents would change from existing ECD services in Albania
Graph No. 3. Aspects women like the most of ECD services
Graph No. 4. Reported positive changes in the family
Graph No.5. Women’s unemployment: urban vs. rural distribution
Graph No. 6. Most common jobs of employed women
Graph No. 7. Specifications of Mother’s personal changes
3
The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
Presented to: UNICEF’s Albanian Country Office
Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
Acknowledgements
This study was possible thanks to the efforts of the UNICEF Albania Country Office , Ms. Linda Bushati
– UNICEF Early Childhood Development Officer, and Ms. Alketa Zazo, UNICEF Youth and Adolescent
Development Officer. Fieldwork, data collection and processing was done by the team of the Albanian
Social Services Association, headed by Livia Nano, MSC. Many thanks to all public officers from the
National, Regional and Local level who agreed to talk to us, members of the International Organizations,
private sector and mothers and fathers of Albanian children who participated in this research.
I. Introduction
International evidence shows that women’s empowerment is correlated with the possibility of their
entering the job market, amongst other variables1. The world’s tendency during the last decades has
been an accelerated increase in participation of women in the labor market2. This has led to a decrease
of the number of children being born, a tendency to marry later in life, an increase in household salaries,
and women tend to go back to work earlier after childbirth. This has motivated policy makers, activists
and governments to undertake gender issues in a more active way, changing legislation, policy and
programming in order to adapt to this new reality. Amongst many of the social and economic effects
this tendency has on families and society in general, child care becomes an issue that needs to be
studied and fully understood in order to act in a coherent way taking into consideration the best interest
of the child as the priority and principle that guides all actions3 and that above all, guarantees the
adequate integral development of all children during their early years.
This study focuses on the current situation of vulnerable women who have children under 6 years of
age in Albania, on the Early Childhood Development – ECD services that exist in the country and the
relationship between the two of them. This implies that it is not enough to look into gender policies,
programmes and context, but it is fundamental to understand the situation of children’s rights, which
also includes policies, programming and general understanding of childhood in the country4.
The scope of the study is based on quality and coverage of ECD services in order to allow mothers of
children under 6 to have the option of accessing the job market or having free time for leisure or other
activities that will increase the levels of empowerment of vulnerable Albanian women. Given Albanian
recent achievements and development in legislation, policy and programming for gender and children’s
issues, it is not a surprise that the coverage levels are very high and although they are not yet universal,
there is a clear intention to achieve this goal in the coming years. Quality is a concern of policy makers,
local actors and caregivers and it is an issue that needs work and resources in order to continue
improving.
1
Chioda Laura, Work and Family- Latin American and Caribbean Women in Search of a New Balance. The International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development. World Bank, 2011
2 Klerman Jacob Alex, Leibowitz Alreen, Childcare and women’s return to work after Child Birth. American Economic Review, Volume 80,
No.2, May 1990
3 Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989.
4 Michael M. Lokshin, Elena Glinskaya, and Marito Garcia, The Effect of Early Childhood Development Programs on Women’s Labor Force
Participation and Older Children’s Schooling in Kenya. World Bank, 2000
4
The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
Presented to: UNICEF’s Albanian Country Office
Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
There is sufficient evidence that programming for ECD services must be of the highest quality as poor
quality services have a very negative impact on child development5. Also, mothers will more likely leave
their small children in services that guarantee better quality.
II. Presentation
This document presents an analysis on how the existing ECD programmes and services in Albania affect
or not vulnerable women’s empowerment. It looks into coverage and quality issues, differences in
service provision depending on demographic conditions, ethnicity and other life circumstances such as
children with disabilities.
For the purposes of this study, women’s empowerment is defined as: 1. Women’s employability
coming as: i) a result of women having the possibility to work because children are taken care of in an
ECD center, ii) women, because they have free time as children are in ECD centers, participate in ECD
community participation events, different capacity building, counseling, vocational training etc., which
in turn are translated to an increased role in decision making in the family, society etc. as well as to
more employability” (Terms of Reference for an international consultant to help coordinate, supervise
and implement an assessment on the impact of ECD services on women’s empowerment. UNICEF 2012);
and 2. Women’s role in family and community understood as: i) creation and utilization of social
networks, ii) lowering levels of abuse and domestic violence against women, iii) enhancing women’s
voices in the community and iv) raising women’s participation in decision making in the household.
The document is divided into seven sections, besides the introduction and presentation. The first
section presents an international analysis of child care and its relationship with women in the labor
market and gives some examples of what different countries have adopted as policies in this regard;
the second section presents the methodology used by the ground team to collect the information; the
third includes contextual information on Albania, Albanian women and children and their rights; the
fourth presents a description of Albanian services for children under 6 years of age; the fifth is a
description of the results of the field work; the sixth contains a final discussion and analysis of the
results and finally the seventh section contains final remarks and a set of recommendations for the
Albanian Government.
III. Women’s empowerment, child care and child development
Women’s empowerment, understood as women’s employability and active role in the community and
family, started to take place a couple of decades ago6. For the majority of, and until half way through
the twentieth century, legislation, policies and programming in the vast majority of countries stated
that women’s role in society was that of household caring and children upbringing 7 . This changed
abruptly and women’s active role in politics, social change and labor market has changed family and
5
Heckman, J y Lafountaine P (2007) The American High School Graduation Rate: Trends and levels. Working Paper 13670, National
Bureau of Economic Research, http://ftp.iza.org/dp3216.pdf.
6 For this study we will focus on this definition of empowerment, knowing that the concept is much more vast and implies many
additional variables.
7 Vegas Emiliana, Cerdán- Infantes Pedro, Dunkelberg Erika & Molina Erika. Evidencia Internacional sobre Políticas de la Primera Infancia
que Estimulen el Desarrollo Infantil y Faciliten la Inserción Laboral Femenina. World Bank- May 2006
5
The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
Presented to: UNICEF’s Albanian Country Office
Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
social paradigms rooted in many societies around the globe. Women’s participation in the labor market
has led to a decrease of the number of children being born, the tendency to marry later in life, increase
in household salaries, and a return to work earlier after childbirth.
Amongst the many social and economic effects this trend has on families and society in general,
childcare becomes an issue. If mothers leave the household to go to work, multiple questions arise:
Who is taking care of the younger children? Are there services available to leave the children for some
hours during the day? Who pays for these services? What happens to the poor or vulnerable women
who cannot afford them? Different authors have analyzed this issue and research has been done in
many countries around the world. There are various approaches to this issue. The two which are the
most relevant for this study are: i) the need for women to be in the labor market, even if they have
small children and ii) the need to strengthen families so that women can stay at home during the first
years of their children’s lives. Both positions are relevant, have strong empirical evidence that support
them and there are policies and programmes that incentive both in different countries.
Bringing mothers into the labor market soon after giving birth requires specific legislation and policy
changes that, for instance, makes it mandatory for children to attend ECD services from age 3 months
to 5 years. In order for this to happen, ECD services have to be universal and flexible so mothers and
fathers can choose whatever they find most suitable to their needs in terms of schedules, availability
of food for the children within the service and proximity to their households8.
One of the reasons for mothers of young children to stay away from the labor market is the cost of
these services. High costs or any costs for poorer families, discourage families from sending their
children to preschool or other ECD services 9 . Therefore families tend to look for alternatives for
childcare such as leaving older siblings in charge, which does not necessarily represent the safest and
most convenient option for the child. In countries like Holland and the United Kingdom, economic
incentives are given by the government to parents who enroll their younger children in ECD services.
Given the high costs of these and the percentage they represent of the monthly household expenditure
in both countries, 30% and 60% respectively, these types of interventions have successfully resulted in
bringing mothers of young children into the workforce. From an economic perspective Lokshin,
Glinskaya, and Garcia (2000) stated “Thus, well-targeted ECD programs may be seen as optimal
economic investments that affect both the current and future welfare of households with small
children”10.
Additional factors like having strong family networks, especially those who live in proximity to families
with younger children also affect the level of women’s participation in the labor market, giving them
another possibility of leaving their children to be taken care of by people they trust11.
The other global tendency that is being adopted by some countries is the effort to keep mothers away
from the labor market during the first years of the baby’s life. Studies show that the quality of the
relationship between parents and babies during those first years impact significantly on the
developmental process of the child. For example, the bond created between mother and child through
8
Idem World Bank May 2006
Op. Cit Lokshin, Glinskaya, and Garcia- World Bank 2000
10 Op. Cit Lokshin, Glinskaya, and Garcia- World Bank 2000. Page 22
11 Compton Janice, Pollak Robert A. Family Proximity, Childcare and Women’s Labor Force Attachment. National Bureau of Economic
Research- NBER. NBER Working Paper Series. Cambridge, MA 2011.
9
6
The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
Presented to: UNICEF’s Albanian Country Office
Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
breastfeeding during the first two years is fundamental for the wellbeing of the child, as it strengthens
the child’s ability to develop appropriately socially and emotionally, makes him more independent,
reduces the probability of child abuse, violence and abandonment12.
Countries such as France and Finland give economic incentives for mothers who stay in the home taking
care of their younger children. Finland established this policy in 1986 and since then women’s
participation in the labor market dropped significantly. Currently, 60% of Finnish children under the age
of 2 stay at home with their mothers or fathers13.
In other countries like Denmark and Sweden policies are oriented towards equity between mothers
and fathers providing subsidies to both depending on their salaries and giving extended periods of
maternity leave for both which each couple can arrange accordingly to their needs14.
The dilemma of which approach to pursue, should be studied and analyzed by each government
accordingly to its socio-economic context and situation. Whatever route a country decides to
undertake, must always prioritize the best interest of the child and understand that children’s rights
exceed the rights of the rest of the population. Therefore ECD services and all policies directed to family
and gender must have a starting point that is the human rights perspective, prioritizing children.
From this perspective, early childhood development has to be approached in a holistic and intersectoral
way: holistic, because childhood development is multidimensional and dynamic. It is not sufficient that
children are well nourished if their caretakers do not have the necessary skills and capacities to take
care of them, or if they do not have the adequate vaccinations in accordance to their needs and age. In
order to achieve an integral development, children must have all their needs fulfilled and rights
guaranteed. Inter-sectoral, because not all services are nor should be the responsibility of one sector
or institution. This means that actions and interventions directed to families and communities to
address the needs and uphold the rights of children between the ages 0-6 years old, have to be
implemented by all different social sectors through coordinated and integral actions.
Interventions in early childhood have to consider all environments where children spend their time
while they are growing up and developing. These include: at home, at the institutional level
(educational facilities, health facilities) and in the community. Here is where mothers and the protective
environment of the families are key actors for empowerment and to achieve the integral development
of children and a better quality of life. Empirical evidence in Latin American countries, shows that family
plays a key role in the empowerment of women as well in the development process of children. The
male figure becomes very relevant as well as the social network that women have around them in order
for them to be employed, run errands, go to trainings or even go to the doctor. So whether children are
to stay at home with their mothers or go to an ECD service, the focus has to be on assuring quality of
both types of care.
There seems to be a tendency in developing countries to invest more in qualifying ECD services and
aiming for universal coverage, given the need for economic growth and development, than to give
incentives to families to stay at home during the early years of their children’s lives. This seems to be
12
Amamantar, Compromiso de Todos. Plan Nacional de Lactancia Materna. Colombia 2010-2020.
Op. Cit Vegas Emiliana, Cerdán- Infantes Pedro, Dunkelberg Erika & Molina Erika. World Bank 2006
14 Idem.
13
7
The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
Presented to: UNICEF’s Albanian Country Office
Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
the case of Albania, where the legal framework and policy development on gender and ECD policies
have been developing at a very fast pace in the last years. In these types of contexts, it becomes even
more relevant that ECD services comply with the elements of coverage, quality and that these are
implemented in a holistic and intersectoral way.
IV. Methodology
The methodology used for this assessment included different types of information gathering and
analysis. A desk review, one fact finding mission from the lead consultant and fieldwork done by the
local partner were the main activities for the data collection process. The information was collected
through semi-structured interviews, surveys and focus group discussions that were designed by the
lead consultant, adjusted during the field visit and applied by the local partner. Since the study intended
to explore the direct link between women’s empowerment and the existing of ECD services, the
methodology was supported on three focus areas of analysis: women’s empowerment, services and
institutions.
The study phased some limitations in terms of resources and time, which might have had some effect
in the results obtained. The sample therefore, was designed in a way that the mothers who responded
the questionnaires were those who had one or more of their children enrolled in some ECD service. It
can be fair to assume that, given Albania’s socioeconomic situation, the women included in the sample
are not the poorest women in the country or the more isolated. Generally, in developing countries,
people who have access to services are poor but not the poorest. This decision on the sample
responded with the objective set for the study that is to assess if and how ECD services in the country
are or not impacting at all on women’s empowerment; this can only be obtained for women who do
have access to services. However, to mitigate the risk of this option of sampling, the study also
conducted Focus Group Discussions that included other segments of Albanian population that included:
women that did not have children enrolled in any ECD services, men, adolescents, and Roma mothers
and fathers. Results obtained from these FDG’s are qualitative results and should be analyzed as an
added value for the information collected in the in-home surveys.
Women’s empowerment
Being the main focus of the analysis, this variable implied revising data on current employment
conditions of women (pregnant and mothers of children under 6 years) in the country; analyzing social
and cultural dynamics of relationships between men and women on household division of labor,
families structure; analyzing Albanian women’s preferences and behaviors regarding empowerment in
their context; and analyzing current community based strategies for child care in the different regions
of the country.
Services
Provision of ECD services is related to family’s and women’s behaviors given that these represent an
alternative for many men and women who need to leave their children in order to work or carry out
other activities. In order for these services to be implemented and have a positive impact on
beneficiaries they have to be: of the highest quality, have good population coverage and be cost
efficient. The study focused on analyzing three main types of services:
8
The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
Presented to: UNICEF’s Albanian Country Office
Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373

Services for mothers: programmes (private and public) directed to pregnant women and mothers
of children under 6 years. E.g. community centers, vocational training, formal education, parenting
skills, others implemented in Albania.

Services for children: programmes (private and public) directed to children between 0-6 years. E.g.
day care centers, kindergartens, community centers, others implemented in Albania.

Services for families: programmes (private and public) directed to families who have children under
6 years. E.g. community centers, training on care and parenting, training on building strong social
and family networks, home visits, others implemented in Albania.
Institutions
The study included data collection and analysis on the different institutions that provide the services
stated before. The analysis of services includes looking into types of services, responsibilities,
institutional capacity and intersectoral work.

Types: services providers can be public or private.

Responsibilities: what are the responsibilities and mission statements of the different public and
private institutions that provide ECD services in Albania.

Institutional capacity: quality of ECD services is tied to the institutional capacity because their
sustainability depends on them. This includes, human resources (training and education,
availability, etc), infrastructural resources (adequate spaces, adequate amount, in what conditions)
and financial resources (sufficient funds, are these services prioritized in public annual budgets and
annual budgets of private organizations, are they financed with donor resources, etc).

Inter-sectoral work: analysis of inter-sectoral interventions in Albania regarding ECD programmes
and services. Analysis of feasibility of setting up inter-sectoral actions directed to children under 6
years and their families.
For the data collection process, and in order for it to be representative of the country, including rural
and urban areas as well as regional and ethnic differences, four study units were randomly selected
based on the knowledge and advisement of key national stakeholders. The study areas finally selected
were: Tirana (includes the outskirts), Elbasan, Fier and Kukes.
In all four study units the same instruments were applied: in-home surveys to beneficiaries (vulnerable
mothers of children under 6 years old), structured interviews to service providers, semi structured
interviews to local governments and focus groups with women and men which will be described later
this document.
In- home surveys
9
The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
Presented to: UNICEF’s Albanian Country Office
Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
A total of 490 in home surveys15 were applied to beneficiaries who are mothers of children under 6
years old who have access to ECD services. The sampling of the surveys regionally and the division
between urban and rural areas was as shown in Table 1 16. The number of surveys applied in each region
was done accordingly with the population size for each unit. Albania’s population is slightly higher urban
than rural, which is a worldwide tendency for developing countries.
Table No. 1. Sampling: Study units Urban vs. Rural
Study Units
Tirana
Elbasan
Fier
Kukes
Total No. of surveys
Urban
78 (100
suburban)
50
57
26
311
Rural
39
Total
217
61
55
24
179
111
112
50
490
Structured interviews
Twelve structured interviews were conducted with service providers in the four units selected for the
study. Due to budget issues the sample was small, however this does not compromise the thoroughness
and validity of the information collected. The following was the final distribution of the surveys17.
Table No. 2. Structured interviews, regional sampling and urban vs. rural
Study Units
Tirana
Elbasan
Fier
Kukes
Total No. of surveys
Urban
1 suburban
2
4
1
8
Rural
1
1
1
1
4
Total
2
3
5
2
12
Semi structured interviews
There were 26 semi-structured interviews conducted for this study. Of these interviews, 11 were
applied to local government and 15 to national government officers. The division of the local interviews
was 3 interviews per unit (except Elbasan where only two were conducted). In all the units the
15
Appendix 1. In- home surveys for beneficiaries
Sample size for surveys with beneficiaries was calculated according to the total no. of population in the region. Selection of
participants: Randomized clustered sampling – random selection of ECD services of Tirana based on the list of existing ECD service in the
region. Then, random selection of beneficiaries in the selected ECD services was based on the list of enrolled children in the respective
services. Albanian Social Services Association- 2012
16
17
Appendix 2- Interview guide to service providers
10
The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
Presented to: UNICEF’s Albanian Country Office
Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
interviews were done with one representative of the Department of Education and two of the
Municipality one from the education sector and the other one from the social services sector.
At the national level, the lead consultant did a total of 14 interviews with different key actors of the
national and local governments, public and private service providers, NGO’s and UN agencies18.
Focus group discussions
The focus groups (FGD) were divided into four categories in order to cover the main aspects of
population differences that affect how Albanians are, or not, impacted by ECD services. These
categories are: families of children under 6 years of age, teenagers (girls and boys), families of children
with disabilities, and Roma families19.
Five FGD were done in each study unit. All categories are divided into those who have access to ECD
services and those who do not (one focus group per category), and they all include urban and rural
families. This makes a total of 25 focus groups done for the study.
Five of these focus groups were done with Roma families and two with families with children with
disabilities. The distribution of the groups was undertaken as described in Table 3.
Table No. 3. Focus Group Discussion distribution
Focus Groups with mothers, fathers and teenagers: Total no. of FDGs: 18
-
7 FGDs with mothers:
o 1 FGD in suburban area Bathore, Tirane;
o 2 in Elbasan (1 in rural area & 1 in urban area);
o 2 in Fier (1 in rural area & 1 in urban area);
o 2 FGDs in Kukes (1 in rural area & 1 in urban area)
-
7 FGDs with fathers:
o 1 FGD in suburban area Bathore, Tirane;
o 2 in Elbasan (1 in rural area & 1 in urban area);
o 2 in Fier (1 in rural area & 1 in urban area);
o 2 FGDs in Kukes (1 in rural area & 1 in urban area)
-
4 FGD with teenagers:
o 1 FGD in Bathore, Tirane;
o 1 FGD in Elbasan (with participants from rural & urban areas);
o 1 FGD in Fier; (with participants from rural & urban areas);
o 1 FGD in Kukes (with participants from rural & urban areas);
FGDs with parents who have children with disabilities under 6 years old. Total No. of FDGs: 2
-
18
19
2 FGDs with mothers who have children with disabilities
o Participants: mix groups (mothers with children who have & don’t have access to specialized
and/or mainstream ECD services). 5 participants in the 1st FGD & 6 participants in 2nd FGD
Appendix 3- List of organizations and people interviewed for the study
See Appendix 4- Focus groups guides- 2012
11
The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
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Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
Focus Groups with Roma community. Total No. of FDGs: 5
-
2 FGDs with Roma mothers who have children under 6 years old: 1 in Elbasan and 1 in Fier
2 FGDs with Roma fathers: 1 FGD in Elbasan and 1 FGD in Fier
1 FGDs with teenagers (in Fier)
V. Country context
Social and demographic context
Albania is a country that has grown significantly economically in the last couple of decades in
comparison to other developing countries in the world. Also, it is on the list of becoming a member of
the European Union and this has lead the government to implement important actions towards
reaching social goals such as working on gender equality and child’s rights. However, despite the
government’s efforts, Albania continues to have low social indicators, in particular due to the disparity
of growth between the more developed regions, that tend to be the center and south of the country
and the rural and northern area, with substantial inequalities amongst rural and urban contexts and
high levels of exclusion of vulnerable population such as women, children, people with disabilities,
Roma and Egyptian communities20. This suggests that Albania has experienced what economists call a
non “pro-poor growth” of the country, which shows an accelerated economic growth of the middle and
higher socio-economic class and a stagnant growth situation for the poorest cohorts.
According to the last census21, Albania has a total population of 2.800.138 people, of which 1.397.079
are women, 1.403.059 are men and 163.493 are children under the age of 4. Of the total Albanian
population, 25.4% are poor and 4.7% are extremely poor 22. The poorest region is in the Mountain
Region (44.5% poor and 10.8% extremely poor), followed by the Central, Coastal and Tirana regions,
respectively. This distribution unfortunately coincides with the insufficient provision of social services
and employment opportunities, given that these are concentrated in the urban areas. This reality
affects all the Albanian population, but even more the most vulnerable groups amongst which women
and children are included.
The only official data found on the number and percentage of the Roma population is in the 2011
National Census. The community constitutes 8,301 people (0.30%) of the total Albanian population.
However the census does not provide data on sex or age groups. This information is the official
numbers, but it is not consistent with the information provided by different studies that have been
done in the country regarding Roma communities, which state that this community ranges between
10.000 and 120.000 people23. Despite the lack of official and valid demographic data on this population,
it is a specific ethnic group that seems to be largely excluded from services and employment
opportunities and larger efforts should be done to improve their quality of life.
20
National Report Status of Women and Gender Equality in Albania 2011- UNWomen & United Nations Albania
INSTAT- Census 2011
22 Living Standard Measurement Survey, LSMS 2002, 2005, 2008
23 This is the case of the following documents: UNICEF Albania- Maping Roma Children 2012 and OSCE National Strategy for Improving
Roma living conditions 2009.
21
12
The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
Presented to: UNICEF’s Albanian Country Office
Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
The 2011 National Census states that there are 137.435 people with disabilities, from which 75.239 are
women and 62.196 are men. To date the CENSUS presents only data for people 15+. The census also
divides the resident population with disabilities 24 into the following types: seeing (49.996), hearing
(37.919), mobility (81.585), cognition (40.586), self-care (39.402) and communication (33.084). This
means that approximately 5% of Albanian population reported some type of disability that indicates
the need for inclusion policies and programming in order to uphold the rights of this group. In particular,
actions need to be focused on those families with young children.
The registered unemployment rate for 2011 was 13.3% of which women represent 14.3% and men,
12.4%. The largest unemployment rate rests in the age group that falls between 15-29 years and it is
estimated that there is at least 50% of employment in the informal economy. These indicators are
consistent with the rest of the social indicators of the country, being lower in the rural areas and for
vulnerable communities.
Violence against children and women, women’s participation in the black market, exclusion of people
with disabilities and of Roma communities are social problems that are still rooted in Albanian society25
and important actions of social mobilization, policy and programming need to be undertaken in the
short and medium term. Investment in these strategic areas has not only to increase substantially, but
also to be better targeted.
Despite this, the Government of Albania has developed a set of policy strategies in order to address all
these social issues and improve the quality of life of its citizens. The more relevant strategies for this
study are: The Social Inclusion Cross- Cutting Strategy (SICS) 2007 – 201326, the Social Protection
Sector Strategy (2007-2013)27, The National Action Plan for Roma (2010-2015), the National Strategy
on People with Disabilities (2006) 28 , the National Strategy for Gender Equality, Gender-Based
Violence and Domestic Violence 2011-2015 and the Action Plan for Children (2012-2015).
The two first strategies focus on poverty alleviation, equality, social protection programming, cash
24
There can be cases when people report more than one disability, which is the reason why the number appears to be larger than the
total number of people with disabilities.
25 Interview with Terre Des Hommes- Tirana November 2012
26 National Report Status of Women and Gender Equality in Albania 2011- UNWomen & United Nations Albania. 2001. “The Social
Inclusion Cross-Cutting Strategy (SICS) (2007 – 2013) focuses on poverty and social exclusion and as a crosscutting strategy, it is meant
to be fully consistent with underlying sector strategies and in particular those policies and institutional arrangements described in these
strategies that aim to assist vulnerable families and groups in the community. It outlines targets in the following main areas: raising
incomes; increasing access to services and special attention to vulnerable groups, such as children at risk, children with disabilities and
Roma. The strategy is a first step towards identifying important social policy areas that require improvement and promoting interministerial cooperation and involvement of civil society in the process. However, the targets presented are limited, far from
comprehensive, have very different – and sometimes no – timelines, and do not allocate clear responsibilities in terms of who should
do what. The strategy does not address directly questions of institutional change in terms of the day-to-day work practices of the
institutions responsible for services. The ultimate objective is to lay the ground for the formulation of a social inclusion action plan, a
standard requirement for EU accession - http://www.aidharmonisation.org.al/?fq=mesi&pos=1&mt=shfaqart&aid=218
27 Ibidem. “The Social Protection Sector Strategy (2007-201341) covers all the social protection policies of MoLSAEO. Its priorities
include the improvement of cash benefits targeting the decentralization of social services and also: Respect for the rights of groups in
need, in particular children, the disabled and the elderly, meeting their needs and supporting their integration into social life (…)”
http://www.aidharmonisation.org.al/?fq=mesi&pos=1&mt=shfaqart&aid=191
28 Government of Albania, Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities- OECD. National Strategy on People with Disabilities.
2006
13
The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
Presented to: UNICEF’s Albanian Country Office
Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
transfer alternatives, and intersectoral collaboration and they both target vulnerable populations that
include women and children.
The National Action Plan for Roma communities, although there is still much financial and technical
effort to be done, includes areas of work such as: education and training, cultural heritage and family,
economy and employment, poverty and social protection, health and infrastructure, public order,
justice and civil administration. This strategy is important because the level of commitment and interest
shown by the government in this policy, contradicts the reality that this population group faces in the
country regarding access to services, job market and others29.
Similarly the National Strategy on People with Disabilities has the objective of ensuring “significant
improvement in the status and life quality of people with disabilities in the Republic of Albania”30, and
has the specific goals to: i) encourage and educate for a non-disabling society; ii) ensure rights for
people with disabilities; iii) provide the best education for people with disabilities; iv) employment and
economic development for people with disabilities; v) aware and responsive public service; vi) support
quality living in the community for people with disabilities; and vii) collect and use relevant information
about people with disabilities and disability issues.
Despite this important milestone of the strategy, there is still important work to be done in order to
increase visibility of people with disabilities and in particular children in policy design and
implementation. It is also a reality that the issue of people with disabilities is still a taboo, in particular
in the poorer more isolated areas of Albania, where parents of CWD still “hide in” their children, do not
have any skill sets to cope with their condition31 and there are no specialized child care services in their
areas32.
Albanian women in the labor market and the community
Gender equality in Albania is a priority for the State and so it is stated in its National Constitution
(1998)33. Even before, in 1993 Albania had ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women -CEDAW and then the Optional Protocol in 2003. Given that the country
is in the process of accessing integration into the European Union, Albania’s main gender policy
obligations are established within the EU Strategy for equality between women and men 2010-2015.
Regarding national legislation, Law No. 9669 On Measures against Violence in Family Relations –
LMVFR was adopted in 2007 (with amendments in 2010). It aims at preventing and reducing domestic
violence and establishes it as a crime that can be penalized. Law No. 9970 On Gender Equality in Society
entered into force in 2008. This normative tool strives to include gender perspective in all governmental
actions including, policies, programmes, budgeting, legislation, etc. In 2010, the Government of Albania
adopted law No. 10221 On Protection against discrimination that prohibits discrimination of all kinds
including those related to gender, gender identity, sex and sexual orientation.
29
European Commission- Albania 2011 Progress Report - 2011
Government of Albania, Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities- OECD. National Strategy on People with Disabilities.
2006. Page 8.
31 Interview in Kukes with the Department of Education. November 2012
32 Focus group- Mothers of Children with disabilities
33 Constitution of the Republic of Albania 1998- Article 18.
30
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The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
Presented to: UNICEF’s Albanian Country Office
Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
In 2011, the Government of Albania came up with a four-year policy plan called the National Strategy
for Gender Equality, Gender-Based Violence and Domestic Violence 2011-2015- NSGE-GBV-DV. The
goal of this strategy is to achieve “a society in which gender equality is respected and appreciated,
taught, supported and promoted; gender-based violence of any form is not tolerated, but is punished;
victims of gender-based violence are supported and protected; and equality in opportunity and
treatment is a reality for all women and men”34.
The NSGE-GBV-DV has four areas of work and each has its Action Plan. One of these strategic areas is:
Empowering Girls and Women Economically which include activities such as: i) Increasing women’s
economic independence by improving access to loans, support programs, and social care and
protection services; ii) professional training of women through measures to support participation of
women in the labor market; and iii) expanding employment programs for women and girls35.
Currently women represent 14.3% of the unemployed population in Albania compared to a 12.4% of
unemployed men 36 . Although unequal, this is consistent with the global tendency of women to
participate less in the labor market than men. In the last decade, the unemployment rate has dropped
overall in Albania at least 4%, however the decrease has been more representative in the male
workforce than in the women’s workforce. According to UN-Women, the significant decrease of women
in the workforce is related to the lack of work spots for women in particular in rural areas where jobs
in agriculture are more physical and directed to men and to the fact that women are less skilled (have
lower levels of education).
Another fact that impacts significantly women participating in the workforce is that Albania is still a
very patriarchal society that prioritizes men at work because they are traditionally the breadwinners
and women are seen as needed to take care of the household. This implies that women stay home
taking care of domestic activities including taking care of the children, in particular the younger ones.
This type of work is unpaid, is not sufficiently recognized and has the aggravate fact of decreasing or
eliminating the possibility of having leisure time or time to look for job opportunities.
There is little evidence in the literature on the Albanian context and situation, that there is a direct
relationship between the availability of care services for children and women’s participation in the
workforce. Despite this fact, the National Report of the Status of Women and gender equality in Albania
(2011) presents a set of recommendations for the country in order to increase women’s participation
in the labor market and moving towards gender equality that includes: the provision of “social
infrastructure and affordable, high-quality child care facilities for all children” and “promote the sharing
of child care and care work, between women and men including the promotion of responsible
fatherhood and paternity leave”37.
34
Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunites and UN Women Albania - National Report of the Status of Women and
gender Equality in Albania (2011)
35 The other tree priorities are: i) strengthening institutional and legal mechanisms (National Gender Machinery); ii) Increasing Women’s
Participation in decision making; and iii) Reducing Gender Based Violence.
36 INSTAT- Census 2011
37 Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities and UN Women Albania - National Report of the Status of Women and
gender Equality in Albania (2011)
15
The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
Presented to: UNICEF’s Albanian Country Office
Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
The trend continues to stay similar to the rest of social issues and it is the most vulnerable cohort of
the population, that are the most deprived of access to the workforce. This is the case for Roma mothers
and women with disabilities or those mothers of children with disabilities.
The issue of women’s participation in society in general, is also tackled by the National Strategy and by
the organizations that work for gender equality in Albania such as UN Women. Women’s participation
in high decision making positions in the government, the military and the private sector is substantially
lower than men. This tendency, along with the rooted patriarchal customs of Albanians, mostly remains
in all layers of society and particularly with regards to the less educated women, who are the ones who
participate the least in their communities and in their households.
Situation of children’s rights in Albania
The Government of Albania has set high standards and goals in order to guarantee the protection of
children’s rights and therefore it has adopted a vast number of laws and established strategies in order
to achieve these.
The Albanian National Constitution refers to the rights and protection of children in the following
articles: i) Art. 54(1): requires the State to provide special protection for children, the young, pregnant
women and new mothers; ii) Art. 54(2): provides that children born out of wedlock have equal rights to
those born within marriage; iii) Art. 54(3): provides that every child has the right to protection from
violence, ill-treatment, exploitation and his or her use for work, especially under the minimum age for
work, which could damage their health and morals or endanger his or her life or normal development;
and iv) Art. 59(1)(d): in setting out the State's social objectives requires the State to “supplement private
initiative” with education and qualification according to the ability of children and the young, as well as
unemployed persons38.
In the international field, the country has ratified the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) in
1992; the ILO Convention “On the Minimum Age for Admission to Employment” in 1998; the ILO
Convention “On Prohibition and Action for the elimination of all forms of Child Labor” in 2001; “The
European Social Charter” in October 2002; “The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of
International Child Abduction” in November 2005; “The Council of Europe Convention on Action
Against Trafficking in Human Beings” in November 2006; the Optional Protocol to the Convention on
the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict in December 2008 and the
Optional Protocol to the Convention on sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography in
February 2008. Domestically, there is a vast legal framework is either specifically directed to children
or impacts their lives one way or another39.
38
European Network for Ombudsmans persons for children. http://crin.org/enoc/resources/infodetail.asp?id=29953
Law No. 7895, dated 27 January 1995 “the Penal Code”; Law No. 7905, dated 21 March 1995 “the Code of Penal Procedure”; Law No.
7850, dated 29 July 1994 “the Civil Code”; Law No. 9062, dated 8 May 2003 “the Family Code”; Law No. 7961, dated 12 July 1995 “the
Labor Code”; Law No. 10347, dated 4 November 2010 “on the Protection of the Rights of the Child”; Law No. 10221, dated 4 February
2010 “on the Protection against Discrimination”; Law No. 9669, dated 18 December 206 “on Measures against Domestic Violence”; Law
No. 7952, dated 21 June 1995 “on Pre-University Education”; Law No. 8432, dated 4 April 2002 “on Asylum in the Republic of Albania”;
Law No. 9098, dated 3 March 2003 “on the Integration and Family Reunion of Persons with Asylum in the Republic of Albania”; Law No.
8876, dated 4 April 2002 “on Reproductive Health”; Law No. 8528, dated 23 September 1999 “on Promoting and Protecting
Breastfeeding”; Law No. 9695, dated 19 March 2007 “on Adoption Procedures and the Albanian Adoption Committee”; Decision of the
Council of Ministers No. 384, dated 20 May 1996 “on Protection of Working Minors”.
39
16
The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
Presented to: UNICEF’s Albanian Country Office
Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
One of the major policy initiatives of the Government of Albania to address children’s rights was the
National Strategy on Action Plan for Children. According to the Government, this strategy allowed the
country to achieve the following:

Children’s rights were included in an important and complex political program that harmonizes the
legal, institutional, financial, monitoring and evaluating instruments.

Children’s rights policies and their impact on the wellbeing of children have become a component
part of political discussion in the country and part of every national report.

Children’s rights issues have become part of inter-institutional co-operation at central and local
level. In some regions of the country, this co-operation finds expression in the regional strategies
and action plans for children.

Children’s rights issues are being transformed into issues for the entire society thus calling for the
inclusion and commitment of many stakeholders from the government and the civil society sectors,
as well as children themselves.

The establishment of the initial technical secretariat for children as an organ within the Minister of
Labor, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities (MLSAEO), which subsequently turned into State
Agency on Protection of Children’s Rights (SAPCR), as a separate agency under the Minister of
Labor, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, were important measures to create the institutional
framework for monitoring and reporting on the implementation of the rights of the child
countrywide. Actually, SAPCR is the responsible institution for monitoring the implementation of
the law, coordinating stakeholders at both the central and local level and evaluating the
implementation of children’s rights in Albania40.
After this policy document, the most significant piece of legislation has been the Law No. 10347 On the
Protection of the Rights of the Child, given that its the tool that reformed the system in order to make
it more “child friendly” creating a comprehensive institutional work frame. The Law established the
creation of the National Council for Children’s Rights that is currently chaired by the MoLSAEO and is
conformed by 9 people from different Ministries, local units, the People’s Advocate (Ombudsperson)
and two civil society organizations41. The NCCR “coordinates and formulates the policies impacting
children and monitors the implementation of the National Strategy on Children’s Rights”42 and intends
to be an intersectoral response to child’s needs.
Besides the Council, the Law also created, in 2011, the State Agency for Protection of Children. The
agency has the responsibility of monitoring the implementation of the Law No. 10347 and coordinates
the stakeholders in charge of the policies regarding children’s rights, gives technical support to regional
and local governments and coordinates with all the responsible parties in order to draft the documents
and reports on children’s rights national and internationally.
40
MoLSAEO - National Action Plan for Children 2012-2015
Interview with the MoLSAEO- November 2012
42 MoLSAEO - National Action Plan for Children 2012-2015
41
17
The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
Presented to: UNICEF’s Albanian Country Office
Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
This agency is in the MoLSAEO and played a key role in the drafting and monitoring of the Action Plan
for Children 2012-2015. The Plan is a clear political stand from the GoA to achieve the protection of
child’s rights. It includes the following key aspects: i) The child’s right to development and quality and
inclusive education from an early age; ii) The child’s right to healthcare; iii) The child’s right to legal
protection and iv) Increasing participation of children in decision-making in and outside the school.
The institutionalization of all these strategies for the protection and guarantee of children’s rights is the
responsibility of the national, regional and local governments. Given that Albania has undergone a
decentralization process, specifically at the regional level, the agencies responsible are the Regional
Education Directorates (REA), the Directorates of Social Services and the Regional Directorates of Policy.
Besides these institutions, and created particularly to follow up with the Law On the Protection of the
Rights of the Child, the Child Protection Units are responsible for monitoring the situation of children
and their families in the municipalities. The national government, allocates budgets to the regions
specifically for the implementation of these strategies based on conditional grants. Most of the budget
that these organizations receive is donor resources from the international organizations that support
children’s issues in Albania.
Despite the visible efforts of the GoA in this matter, the last report of the Committee of the Rights of
the Child (October 2012) states that the Action Plan is not inserted into any public policy, it does not
include a holistic perspective of the child therefore the response is not intersectoral or integral and has
no budget allocated43.
In particular, the GoA has also begun addressing the issue of early education as one of the priorities for
their ECD work. The leading document for this issue is The National Strategy on Pre-School Education
(NSPE 2009–2013) that “aims at broadening the provision of pre-school education, by improving not
only academic performance but also services for vulnerable children in rural areas and children from
the Roma community”44. Despite this Strategy and the efforts of the Government, the coverage of ECD
services in Albania is too low. Teacher training, infrastructure and other indicators of quality are not
satisfactory. ECD services are not completely free, even the “public” service, which leads parents who
can not afford this expense to refrain from sending their children to these services45.
This general overview evidences the vast legal and policy framework the Albanian Government has set
in place to respond to the needs of children. Despite the recent efforts, the situation of Albanian
children continues to be a matter of worry for the Committee for the Rights of the Child and other
organizations working in the country.
Child mortality rates, although they follow the international trend of reduction, are still high, in fact
they are one of the highest in the region. According to the latest DHS, in 2008 the rate of child mortality
was 22 for every 1,000 children born. Most children die during their first year of life (infant mortality
rate 18/1000) and most of these deaths happen during the first month. This is one of the most
43
Committee of the Rights of the Child- Geneva October 2012
Save the Children- Child Rights Situation Analysis- Albania 2012
45 Urban Research Institute, National Center for Social Studies, Reforming Economic Aid: from Survival to Investment in Poverty
Reduction, 2011.
44
18
The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
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Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
important social indicators because it shows the level of development of a country and the quality of
life of its citizens.
The basic needs of children are clearly not covered: health, nutrition, education, protection from
neglect, physical, emotional and sexual abuse, trafficking, child labor, and exclusion amongst others46.
For the specific purpose of this study, in its 2012 report, the CRC made some statements that are
directly related to the availability and quality of ECD services in Albania and their much-needed
intersectoral character. Some of them are:
1) The fragmented organization of maternal and child health services and the lack of proper
relations between those services and early childhood care institutions;
2) Only 10 percent of all children between 1 and 3 years have access to nurseries or day care
centers and children from the Roma communities have even lower access, although enrollment
in pre-school education would provide them with opportunities for early language skills,
socialization with other children and preparation for primary school;
3) Contrary to the law, minority children and in particular Roma children, have limited possibilities
to be taught in their own language and to learn their history and culture within the framework
of the national teaching curricula47.
VI. Early Childhood and Development services in Albania
There is enough evidence to assure that the GoA has done significant efforts to include childhood and
in particular younger children into its national political project, which has endured throughout different
governments. Despite these important achievements, services directed to children under 6 years old
and their families continue to be fragmented and the responsible sectors do not work in a coordinated
way. The services this study focuses on are those that provide care services for children less than 6
years old. These are: nurseries and public kindergartens or pre-preparatory classes.
Nurseries are public institutions that provide care services for children from 6 months to 3 years old.
Children receive food and general care services like rest and changing of diapers, but there is not any
pedagogic process being implemented. Nurses and teachers compose the staff working at these
institutions, excluding other key professionals such as social workers and psychologists. Parents can
leave their children for an eight-hour period or half a day48. All of these families have to pay a fee for
this service that ranges from 2,500 – 3,500 ALL (approximately 18- 25 euros).
The Local Government Units (LGU) that include municipalities and communes, administer these
nurseries. There are no further responsibilities of any governmental agency, only the Ministry of Health
who provides the nutritional guidelines implemented by the nurseries. According to UNICEF’s report on
Nurseries (2011), LGU’s do not have the sufficient budget, technical or administrative capacity to
manage these, and have poorly trained staff49. Nurseries only exist in the main cities and towns, leaving
46
Report of the Committee of the Rights of the Child on Albanian situation 2012
Ibid
48 Visit to Nursery in Durres Municipality- November 2012.
49 Save the Children- Child Rights Situation Analysis- Albania 2012
47
19
The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
Presented to: UNICEF’s Albanian Country Office
Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
the rural population with no access to this service. There are no nurseries with special services for
children with disabilities or for Roma children. There is no official information on the number of children
that attend nurseries in Albania. Save the Children has stated that there are 29 nurseries (including
public and private) in Tirana with services for 2,000 children. In smaller cities such as Durres there are
no more than 2 or 4 nurseries that provide services for approximately 100 children50.
Regarding public kindergartens or the preparatory classes, the GoA affirms that there has been an
increase in coverage to the point that today 68% of Albanian children are attending these preparatory
classes51. This coincides with the goal of the Government of reaching a universal coverage of preschool
for all 5 year-old children in Albania by 2015. However, other sources of information state that the
national coverage of preschool is 59% (urban areas 68% and rural areas 46%). There are different types
of kindergartens. Most function within schools (400 schools have them currently52) but there are others
that provide services, specifically in rural places with difficult access, in a more informal structure53.
Quality of preschool is clearly a priority for the GoA and the Ministry of education has set in place
different strategies to achieve this. Since 1994, it has been required that all preschool teachers are
professional. The Ministry of Education has in its annual budget a line for local trainings that all
preschool teachers have to do once a year. There are incentives set in place such as extra training credits
that can lead to a salary increase. A standardized set of guidelines for curricula has been implemented
and teachers may adapt it depending on their particular contextual needs. There are some teachers
trained to work with children with disabilities, and in some parts of the country there are some
culturally adjusted programmes for Roma children 54.
50
Visit to nursery in Durres Municipality- November 2012
Interview with Ministry of Education – November 2012
52 Interview with Ministry of Education – November 2012
53 Visit in Kukes to rural kindergarten – November 2012
54 This data on quality was provided by the Ministry of Education during interview – November 2012
51
20
The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
Presented to: UNICEF’s Albanian Country Office
Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
VII. Results
This section presents the results obtained with the interviews, focus groups and surveys applied
according to the sample designed for the study. This study intended to look into the relationship
between the availability and quality of ECD services and women’s empowerment in Albania. Therefore
the designed instruments were based on a set of indicators that determine this relationship and
evidence the existence of additional variables that are affecting women’s empowerment in the country.
The table below lays out the basic aspects of the study from which the analysis was built on in all three
sections.
In order to keep the same structure that was planned with the methodology designed to carry out this
study, the results section is divided into the three components: ECD services, women’s empowerment,
and institutions. To understand the links between ECD services and women’s empowerment it is
fundamental to look into the specific characteristics of each of the components.
Table No. 4 PICOT+R Question- Objective of the study
POPULATION
INTERVENTION
COMPARATOR
OUTOME
Vulnerable women in Albania with children under 6 years old
ECD services (private or public kindergartens, community ECD services, etc)
Mothers of children under 6 years who attend ECD services compared to those
mothers of children under 6 who do not attend ECD services
Vulnerable women in Albania empowered
TIME
RESOURCES
Five months
Human and economic resources invested in Albania on the INTERVENTION
The table below presents the indicators that were analyzed utilizing both quantitative and qualitative
data collected in Albania. These indicators are divided into the components described before, except
for the Fixed Conditions that are described at the end of the section given their natural condition of
being unable to change.
Table No. 5 Primary and secondary indicators
OUTCOME
PRIMARY DRIVERS
Social capital
Empowerment of vulnerable
women in Albania with
children under 6 years
Human capital
Physical capital
Fixed Conditions
SECONDARY DRIVERS
Family network
Men’s role in child care and household work
Community network
Levels of participation
Education level
Employment
Income
Leisure
Services
Infrastructure
Gender
Ethnicity
Region of inhabitance
Rural/urban context
Early Childhood Care and Development Services
21
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Table No. 6- Indicators to measure women’s empowerment in Albania –Physical Capital
OUTCOME
Empowerment of vulnerable
women in Albania with
children under 6 years
PRIMARY DRIVERS
SECONDARY DRIVERS
Services
Physical capital
Infrastructure
Physical capital
Services and infrastructure
Consistent with the literature review, the data collected in the field shows that ECD services in Albania
are insufficient and not of the highest quality. Despite efforts by the Albanian government, these
services are still inexistent in some rural areas of the country and groups such as the Roma community
are the most excluded.
Services for children under the age of 3 years, crèches, are very limited. These can mainly be found in
urban places and are not free of charge. Also, according to the data, most families prefer that their
children stay at home with their mothers or closest family members until they are old enough to go to
kindergarten.
“When children are young, women should definitely stay home and care for them” (FGD with rural
fathers in Kukes).
This social tendency of leaving the younger children in their households for the first two years actually
benefits the development process of the child. However, it is a fact that the Albanian context evidences
the need for good quality ECD services for children younger than 3 years. This is consistent with the
expressed desire of women to work, the need to increase the household income, and desire for more
free time, even if they have young children.
As mentioned before, the availability of services remains a challenge for Albania. Data collected shows
that only the rural areas of Elbasan and Tirana report all their children attend a service, but the rest
report that less than 10% of children under 6 years go to any ECD services. Additionally only two of the
services visited are free of charge for parents. Coincidently these two places are not the same that
report full coverage (rural services in Kukes and Fier), this is an indicator that parents pay for these
services meaning they are important for them. According to the service providers, costs for ECD services
range from 15 to 29 euros a month, depending on food provision and hours of time in the service.
Services are almost three times more expensive in urban than in rural areas. All services in the study
are open five days a week and their services are provided from 2 to 8 hours daily, most offer services
from 4 to 6 hours daily. Services offered for a full day were only found in the urban areas.
Graph No. 1 Working hours of ECD services in Albania
22
The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
Presented to: UNICEF’s Albanian Country Office
Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
90
80%
80
66%
70
60
53.4%
2-4 hours/daily
50
39%
40
4-6 hours/daily
34%
30
8 hours/daily
20%
20
10
7.6%
0
Urban
Rural
Suburban
Source: Survey with service providers Albania, February 2013 applied by ASSA
82.2% of mothers in the sample stated that the service is near their home, the closest in the urban
areas, followed by suburban and rural. Qualitative data however does bring up the fact that families, in
particular those who live in the more rural areas, do have important access problems to ECD services
either because there aren’t any or because when weather conditions are harsh, roads collapse and they
cannot travel the distance required to leave their children in the service55. This information collected is
consistent with the regional distribution of population in the study units.
When asked, families in the sample are in general satisfied with the quality of the services their children
receive. Most of the mothers including Roma and mothers with CDW agreed that they have witnessed
positive changes in their children since they began attending the service. However they are critical of
the services and have suggestions on which aspects need to be addressed in order to improve their
quality.
Graph No. 2 Aspects parents would change from existing ECD services in Albania
35.0%
30.0%
25.0%
20.0%
15.0%
10.0%
5.0%
0.0%
31.3%
25.0%
20.3%
12.5%
4.7%
4.4%
6.9%
0.9%
4.7%
Source: Household survey Albania 2013- Albania Social Services Association
In particular, crèches seem to be the services that parents trust the least because they do not believe
that staff is knowledgeable enough to work with children under 3 years of age. Mothers of CDW and
55
Interview with service provider Irene from Kukes, november 2012.
23
The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
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Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
Roma mothers are in general not satisfied with the services provided by the public sector in Albania.
Both affirm that services are discriminatory against them, and in the case of CDW, teachers and other
staff members are not trained to work with these children.
Graph No. 3 Aspects women like the most of ECD services
40.0%
35.0%
30.0%
25.0%
20.0%
15.0%
10.0%
5.0%
0.0%
37.8%
21.9%
21.6%
13.8%
5.6%
5.6%
5.0%
Source: Household survey Albania 2013- Albania Social Services Association
Although national legislation and the Ministry of Education have established quality standards for
preschool education or preparatory classes, evidence shows that most of the time these do not reach
the field level and if they do, they are not implemented. A clear example is the issue of teacher training.
The Ministry of Education states that preschool teachers receive training once a year. However data
collected in the field shows that training is very diverse. Partners such as UNICEF, Save the Children and
other international organizations in the country in collaboration with the local Departments of
Education, are usually the ones who provide training. According to service providers, the frequency of
trainings range from a time frame of “very rarely” to “every month”. For specific needs such as children
with disabilities and ethnic differences, teachers do not receive training in general. The only positive
answers were obtained in rural Kukes, urban Elbasan and suburban Tirana. This also is inconsistent with
the information provided by the Ministry of Education that states that there are specific trainings for
teachers of CWD. Qualitative and quantitative data collected stress the fact that parents in general
would be more inclined towards enrolling their children in these services if they would improve the
following: provide warm meals, extend hours of attention and extend days of services over the
weekends and summer time.
Women seem to be better within their households when the kids are enrolled in a service. The graph
below shows that the most frequent answer and change perceived from children attending ECD
services is harmony in the family.
Graph No. 4. Reported positive changes in the family
24
The impact of ECD services in women’s
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Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
50
44%
45
42%
40
35
Facility to work
30
25
Quietness &order
22.2%
Family harmony
20%20%
19.8%
20
Child safety
13.6%
15
Activities on free time
10
5
4.2%
4%
5%
3.7%
2% 2%
0
Urban
Rural
Suburban
Source: Household survey Albania 2013- Albania Social Services Association
Quality and coverage are both critical aspects of ECD services in Albania as supported by evidence in
the literature. Findings evidence that parents care the most about the conditions of the service in
particular infrastructure, pedagogic methods and staff’s composition. Although mothers are mostly
satisfied with the quality of the teachers and staff in the kindergartens, there is sufficient evidence that
there are structural issues that determine the quality of the services for children under 6 years in
Albania. Not only does the quantitative data show that aspects like care and safety are amongst the
biggest concerns of Albanian mothers, but service providers and qualitative information collected from
parents in general, show that teacher training, quality standards, and the number of children per
teacher in the classroom, amongst others, are additional issues that need to be addressed in a timely
and holistic manner by the competent institutions. The issue of concern for quality is even more critical
for families with CWD, who tend to not send their children to the services because they do not trust
staff to be knowledgeable enough to take care of their children. These results coincide with the
international evidence available that stress out that bad quality services can do more harm to a child
during this period than the fact that the child does not attend a service at all.
The study also explored whether payment is an obstacle to access ECD services. About 19% of all
interviewed mothers answered that they would not be able to pay for the services, if they were not
free. Those parents who where not in the sample but did participate in the FDG’s, did complain more
about the cost of these services, however there is a tendency for them to state that if services were of
better quality, they would definitely try to get the money to pay for them. However, this does not imply
that because of this, Albanian government should not consider reducing or eliminating the fee for these
services. The lower the fees, the most probability of attending the services for children less than 6 years
of age. Results evidence that fees are not the only condition for attendance, however it should always
be considered when thinking about designing social policies and services.
Women’s empowerment
25
The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
Presented to: UNICEF’s Albanian Country Office
Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
The general definition of women’s empowerment used by Albania’s UNICEF CO for this study implies
employability as its primary and foremost indicator. Employability coming as a result of women having
more time to work because they have the possibility to leave their children somewhere during working
hours. Fieldwork results show that this is evidently true, but also that women not only consider they
are empowered if they have a job, but that there are additional factors that impact their empowerment.
The instruments designed for data collection included more indicators than employability and were
divided into primary and secondary drivers as shown in the table below.
Table No. 7- Indicators to measure women’s empowerment in Albania –Social and Human Capital
OUTCOME
PRIMARY DRIVERS
Social capital
Empowerment of vulnerable
women in Albania with
children under 6 years
Human capital
SECONDARY DRIVERS
Family network
Men’s role in child care and household work
Community network
Levels of participation
Education level
Employment
Income
Leisure
Social Capital
Family network:
Family networks are more frequently mentioned by women and men who have children under 6 years
as the option to leave their children for some hours a day when services for ECD are non-existent or
unaffordable. Therefore family networks constitute a very important factor for women’s independence
as well as for childcare, in particular in the rural areas. Grandparents, who are the more traditional
second primary care givers in Albania, and sisters in law, mainly constitute family networks for childcare
of children less than 3 years old both in the rural and urban areas. Given Albanian patriarchal society,
many couples live in extended family households owned by the parents of the husband. Therefore the
family networks do not usually include the mother’s family.
For families with CWD it is harder to “trust” other members of the family besides the mother to take
care of these children. Mothers of CWD state that they understand what their child needs, have the
patience and knowledge to take care of them. These women seem to be less interested in these types
of networks.
In the case of Roma women, the general tendency is that workingwomen take their children with them
wherever they go. This seems to be a cultural aspect that is different for non-roma women. Therefore
family networks for childcare don’t seem to be as important as for other Albanian women.
Men’s role in childcare and household work
26
The impact of ECD services in women’s
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Mobile: +57 312 5319373
Results obtained in the various FGD held with men who had children under 6 reinforce the fact that
Albanian society is very patriarchal and traditional. Women are viewed mostly as the ones responsible
for taking care of the household and the children and men are the breadwinners. This trend is more
intense in the rural areas and by older men throughout the entire country. Urban younger men seem
to be spending more time with their children, taking on responsibilities such as taking them to
kindergarten, school and for play activities in the park.
Rural men tend to be more resistant to children attending ECD services than those in the urban and
sub-urban areas. This mainly was manifested due to economical reasons and the inability to afford
these services but had a heavy load of the traditional idea that women need to stay home so this is a
service that should not even exist:
“Why should I spend my money? It is better to keep my wife at home and she can raise the kids” (FGD,
rural area Elbasan).
Community network
Rural women are less inserted in community networks than urban women. However, there seems to
be a low prevalence of these types of networks in the whole country. In rural areas, women are more
secluded in their homes and are less keen to socially be engaged in activities. On one hand, because
there are not many services or programmes that motivate this and on the other, because of the
patriarchal customs that prevail in Albania that see these networks as socially unaccepted:
“They say they would like to go out, even take a short walk around, so that they can walk away from the
stress and the everyday routine. But this is quite difficult for the rural areas. A mother from Elbasan stated,
“Women do not attend even the activities of the catholic church. When they can come to the church, they
hang around in the courtyard, meet other women and socialize, but this happens very rarely”. Despite the
desire that the women have “to go out” with a friend, or a peer, they self restrain to avoid any problems in
the family. One mother from a village in Fier says;“the women are so discriminated, if a woman is seen to be
drinking coffee with a friend, she would be damned forever” (FGD – Fier and Elbasan).
This lack of strong community networks also implies that women do not rely on others outside their
family to leave their children at their care when needed. Although some women did mention that when
they had to, they talked to neighbors about looking after their children for a couple of hours, this was
not common and not very accepted by society in general.
Levels of participation
Another natural consequence of the behavior towards women in Albania is the fact that because they
do not bring income to the household, they don’t have an education and they are responsible for the
children’s upbringing, they do not have any saying on any decision made. This came up in the results,
both of men and women, and it is a clear sign of lack of empowerment. The FDGs done with teenagers
clearly show that women are perceived as very submissive with complete lack of power and legitimacy
in the household.
“Women do not feel free to express their opinion and execute those decisions made by their husbands.
Women are subject to patriarchal mentality, following their traditional upbringing. Most decisions are
taken by the man whom is not taking to consideration the women” (FGD with teenagers in Elbasan).
27
The impact of ECD services in women’s
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Email: [email protected]
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“Women have started to become a participant in various activities but still women’s initiatives are not
welcomed. Even if a woman takes part in an outdoor activity mentality won’t let that go on further. The
mentality does not approve these kinds of initiatives they just go out from the common frame of
thinking” (FDG with teenagers in Kukes).
When asked the question of how they envisioned empowered women, women replied that they could
make decisions on their lives, their children’s lives and the family in general. Teenagers also brought up
the issue of decision-making in relation to empowerment, which implies that the following generation
already strongly perceives this trend.
Human capital
Education level
Women’s education levels in Albania are not very high. In particular in the rural areas, education is a
scarce good, which primarily is taken by men. Even young girls after they finish high school are not
allowed to study because they need to be married at age 20, in the rural areas some even at 14-15, as
the custom dictates. Therefore there is no continuity towards professionalization in particular of girls.
Women in general tend to reply that they would indeed like to have more years of education and or
complete their high school. Particularly in urban areas education is perceived as “something that can
change their lives” by giving them a different perspective on their life, amongst all other advantages.
“It a woman that stays home has completed some education, at one time she would say to her self: why
am I staying home? I spent all those years studying, I should use them and get a job.” (FDG with mothersFier, February 2013)
The conversations held with teenagers also brought up the importance of women’s education levels in
their children’s development process. Mothers with low levels of education are perceived as incapable
of taking appropriate care of their children due to the fact that they are not able to help the children
with their school tasks. This relationship between mothers and children founded on this reality will also
alter women’s empowerment and self-esteem.
Employment
Results show that 60.7% of the women in the sample who take their children to an ECD service are
unemployed. Of the 39.3% remaining, the majority of women have jobs in family businesses that in
most cases imply informal jobs. Respectively, numbers for women who attend other services
(community centers etc.) are 72% and 28%. Of the total unemployed women of the sample, 40.1% are
urban, 69.9% are rural and 86% are suburban56. Results from the FGDs show that most of the women
who have one CWD are unemployed and state that they prefer to stay at home taking care of their
child. According to these results Roma women also in general are unemployed.
56
The results have a high prevalence of unemployment on the suburban area because of the number of surveys conducted in the
suburbs of Tirana. This is an area where its population is mainly constituted of poor families of migrant population from all over the
country.
28
The impact of ECD services in women’s
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Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
Graph No.5. Women’s unemployment: urban vs. rural distribution
100
86%
69.9%
80
60
40.1%
40
20
0
urban
rural
suburban
Source: Household survey Albania 2013- Albania Social Services Association
Below is a graph that shows what the most common jobs of Albanian women are according to the
employed women in the sample. Jobs in the informal market are the most common for vulnerable
women in the sample. These results are consistent with the data from the official sources. This graph is
the result of a qualitative analysis of an open question in the household survey applied for the study.
Graph No. 6. Most common jobs of employed women
Other (specialists, secretaries,…
Tailoring
Cleaning service
Self-employed
Services (sellers, waitress ,…
Students
Farming/agriculture
Medical field (nurse, midwife,…
Managers/ leading positions
Economy (accounting,…
Engineering field
Education (teachers, educators,…
Law field
Social services (psychologist, social…
25.0%
12.0%
11.0%
11.0%
8.0%
7.0%
6.0%
5.0%
3.0%
3.0%
2.0%
1.0%
0.7%
0.7%
Source: Household survey Albania 2013- Albania Social Services Association
Of the women who take their child to an ECD service, 87.8% agree that this makes it easier for them to
work mainly because of the free time they have given the hours they leave their children in these
institutions. Some women in fact do affirm that because of this additional free time, they have been
able to get a job. Employment however is also strongly related to availability of jobs, education level of
candidates and in particular, all groups involved in this study reported the high weight “mentality” and
culture of Albanian society represents regarding social division between women and men in their
traditionally accepted roles.
Income
29
The impact of ECD services in women’s
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Email: [email protected]
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26% of women in the sample stated that since they started to take their children to an ECD service,
their income increased. These women are mainly the ones who started working as a result of the free
time they gained by leaving their children for a couple of hours a week in an ECD service. This increase
is used by 50.4% of the women in household expenses, which represents an increase in the household’s
income meaning increasing quality of life of these families. The rest is distributed into education
expenses, 18.7% (of the children) and in leisure activities, 19.6%.
Qualitative data indicates that income is perceived as the key for women to become more independent
from their husbands and socialize more, have an opinion on family issues and have more decision
making power within the household.
“When you bring money home, you keep your head high” (FGD with mothers in Kukës town).
Leisure
Leisure is an indicator that is usually associated with quality of life. Vulnerable women in Albania in
general have very little leisure time because of the workload of household duties and children
upbringing takes up, but also because of the social norms that do not accept women’s socialization and
other activities related with leisure. Women in all of the study units and FDGs brought up that they
would like more free time and would use it for leisure activities such as gardening and going for coffee
with friends. Quantitative results show that women that have recently gained an increase in their
income use a significant amount of it in leisure activities (19.6%), which exceeds the amount they
actually spend in children’s education (18.7%). Both qualitative and quantitative data are consistent in
the level of importance leisure has in making women feel empowered. It is interesting however, that
mothers of those children with disabilities seem to be the least interested in leisure activities and this
could be related to the fact that because of the lack of appropriate services for these children and lack
of knowledge of the parents, they are overwhelmed with the day to day activities and have little or no
time to think about leisure.
In general 77% of women in the sample affirm that their life experienced positive changes since they
enrolled their children in any ECD service. The following graph shows what the most frequent answers
were, divided into urban, rural and suburban areas. Free time is without question the most valued
output followed by emotional changes, both of which impact significantly women’s empowerment,
independence and self-esteem.
Graph No. 7. Specifications of Mother’s personal changes
30
The impact of ECD services in women’s
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50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
46%
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Email: [email protected]
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47%
40%
Free time
35%
30%
20%
11%
8.5%
11%
20%
Family/maternal
obligations
Facility to work
8%
4.2%
Emotional outputs
Urban
Rural
Suburban
Source: Household survey Albania 2013- Albania Social Services Association
Fixed conditions
Gender, ethnicity, region of inhabitance, rural/urban context are conditions that are mostly
unchangeable. Factors such as migration or social mobility can affect the last two conditions in time
and through generations, however at the time of the study they are considered fixed. Results show that
there is a consistency between the country’s demographic and situation analysis as well as with the
hypothesis that Roma women, and in particularly those who live in rural and disperse areas of Albania
are the less empowered, the poorer, and the ones who have less access to social services provided by
the State. This corroborates the fact that the Albanian Government should focus their efforts
prioritizing these population groups in order to reduce inequality and change quality of life of its more
vulnerable families.
Institutions
Albania’s institutional framework is vast and complete. As evidenced and corroborated in the field,
there are laws and guidelines for ECD services and for every governmental level. Despite this, the
general complaint of the various actors (public, private and international) interviewed for this study in
Albania is that these laws and guidelines are not implemented to their full capacity.
Institutions at the national level, who are in charge of drafting policies and laws, do not seem to see
these voids in their implementation at the field level. There are important efforts being made at this
level to work in a coordinated and intersectoral way in order to respond to the social issues affecting
Albanian women and children. However, they have still a long way to go in order to successfully
integrate all the responsible agencies in the implementation of these policies and programmes. Having
an intersectoral committee it’s a good first step towards intersectoral work but not enough.
Communication between the local, regional and national level is key in order to achieve good
implementation. Results evidence that local public officers do not feel they get enough training and
technical assistance from the national level. This suggests that Albanian local institutional capacity is
very low in the matter of ECD services and protecting the rights of children and women. Given that
programmes and policies happen at the local level, the Government of Albania needs to increase efforts
in strengthening their local level institutions and staff in order to fully implement guidelines, legislation
and programming.
31
The impact of ECD services in women’s
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Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
VIII. Final discussion
The analysis derived from this study regarding the issue of women’s empowerment was done framed
between the two main primary driver indicators established: social capital and human capital. The
importance of this structure is that it allows going in depth in each indicator separately but also shows
the interdependence between them to “achieve” empowerment. In this section the discussion will
show how the evidence that was gathered with the methodology is conclusive in the fact that there is
a direct relationship between ECD services and women’s empowerment in Albania. This means that the
more investment and efforts directed towards improving ECD services and coverage that the
Government of Albania makes, the more empowered Albanian women will be.
Regarding social capital where drivers such as family and community networks, men’s role in childcare
and levels of participation, the evidence shows that these are in fact related with the levels of
empowerment of Albanian vulnerable women.
Childcare services, either the ones that already exist in the country plus others, that have been proven
to be successful in other countries, such as community based or traveling ECD initiatives, are key to
strengthen family and community networks of different social groups, by allowing women to have more
spaces to engage in these relationships. This becomes even more relevant for families who have CWD
who according to the results, are the ones who rely the less on family and community networks.
The existence of ECD services gives families the option of leaving their children somewhere or with
someone for some hours a day or some days a week. This allows women to look for a job, work, study,
socialize or do some other leisure activity. All of these factors are directly related with their level of
empowerment.
It is a fact that Albania is still a very patriarchal society where men have the auto-imposed role of
breadwinners and responsible for the economic wellbeing of the family. This maintains customs such
as: women are the only ones involved in child care and upbringing, women as only needed for
household duties; women (teenage girls) need to marry and have family at a very young age to preserve
the family reputation; women do not need to be out in the streets with other women or socializing.
However, when mothers bring their children to ECD services and positive changes begin to be evident
on the children and on the mothers there can be a change on the perception of fathers on their role in
the family. This can lead to more harmonic relationships within the households.
This is related to the fact that if women are working and gaining some income, they are now more
empowered to talk and state positions on issues regarding the family. Their participation increases, not
only in the household but also in the communitarian activities they engage.
The study also gives evidence in the fact that the existence of ECD of quality reduces significantly the
levels of stress in the household. Mothers affirm that when children are not in the house all day there
is “silence” and tranquility that allows them to be more productive in their household activities. When
family is reunited at the end of the day there is more harmony and less confrontations. This is related
with the fact that mothers have less stress levels that can be attributed to childcare routines. There is
a chain reaction that starts with the emotional balance that mothers project on their other children and
husbands. The reduction of confrontations is also related with decreasing other risk factors for children
32
The impact of ECD services in women’s
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Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
and women such as domestic violence, child labor and sexual abuse, which violent, tired and stressed
families are more vulnerable to suffer from.
The other set of drivers are under the indicator of Human Capital. They refer to those indicators whose
relationship to women’s empowerment is not a result of this study but the data gathered for this study
does reinforce this fact. Those drivers are: education level, employment, income and leisure. Societies
that manage to provide these to their female population tend to have higher levels of empowerment.
The study reveals that women in Albania, in particular mothers of young children feel the same way
and have experienced these changes thanks to the existence of ECD services.
A total 77% of the women in the sample stated that the fact that ECD services exist, is directly correlated
with positive changes in their lives. These changes are all associated with the potential of women to
feel and act more empowered. The first positive change is that women who bring their children to an
ECD service have more free time, and in second place, mothers argue that the most positive changes in
their lives are on the emotional side. The first one implies women have more time to study, look for a
job or go to work and have more leisure time (run errands, socialize with friends, read, etc). The second
one relates to the fact that women openly state that because of the fact that they can leave their
children in an ECD service that they trust, they are happier, feel more confident and secure.
As stated before, one of the principal indicators of women’s empowerment is employability and the
data gathered for this study reinforces this. The mothers who participated in the study did have a
tendency to value free time to look for a job or go to work. Findings show that women in urban and
rural areas are more inclined to look for a job if they could, as one of their priorities.
Results show that the only group who did not mention this were those women in the suburban area of
Tirana, which could mean two things: i) the fact that there are no jobs available makes woman not even
think about the opportunity of working (although they do mention going back to school or continuing
education or vocational training) or ii) women who live in this area are not allowed by their husbands
to formally be employed or they just socially and culturally do not see it as an important or possible
activity. This consists with the fact that the largest percentage of unemployed women in the sample
are those living in the suburban area of Tirana.
Albanian mothers do value this free time allowed by the existence of ECD services, also as a possibility
either to go back to school (which they had to drop out to become a wife and mother, as society
dictates), begin school or continue with higher levels of education. This tendency is more frequent in
the cities maybe due to the fact that in urban areas there are more educational services and that the
labor market is more competitive so education becomes an obligation in order to get employed.
Regarding the most excluded groups of Albanian society, the study provides information that evidences
that as the rest of Albanian women, roma mothers and mothers of CWD do see a direct relationship
between the existence of ECD services and their possibilities of having more time for themselves to
work or do other activities. This is a fundamental point because what data shows, is that these families
are in fact the most excluded from services and it should be a focus area for development of more ECD
initiatives adapted to cultural and contextual differences.
As stated before, the other positive change reported by mothers that influences significantly the level
of empowerment is leisure time. Women value this a lot and would definitely like more free time to
33
The impact of ECD services in women’s
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Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
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socialize with other women and run errands besides everything else they need to do. Leisure is one of
the most important assets people have during their life course. In particular for women it builds selfconfidence, makes them feel happier, helps learn from similar women useful skills (ex. Breastfeeding
good practices) and keeps them emotionally and mentally healthy. Again, ECD services play an
important role when they represent an alternative for mothers to leave their children for some hours
a day so that they can use their free time for leisure activities in their routines.
Availability and access to ECD services is fundamental yet not enough. Data collected for the study
evidences that mothers need to trust the service in order for them to leave their children under their
supervision, specially the younger children. If these services do not fulfill the mother’s expectations in
quality aspects they prefer to keep their children at home. Therefore in order to keep children enrolled
in these services, allowing mothers to have more free time and reduce stress levels in these families,
efforts need to be done in guaranteeing high quality for the services in the country.
Due to the analysis of primary and secondary drivers it is possible to affirm that there is a direct
relationship between services for children under 6 years old and their mother’s empowerment.
Additionally one of the advantages of this analysis is that it allows inferring on other relations between
indicators that can also promote empowerment of Albanian women that should be taken into account.
Therefore, the existence of ECD services is not the only variable that impacts directly on women’s
empowerment. Men’s role, family and social networks, level of education and availability of jobs and
other social services also influence in women’s ability and willingness to go into the labor market. In
particular, men have a big influence in the lack of women’s empowerment, not only because of the
cultural resistance of workingwomen, and their young girls to pursue an academic path, but also
because they conceive them as the main ones responsible for child and household care. Access to jobs,
education and other services directed to women are fundamental to continue on the track of making
Albanian women more empowered.
As stated before, the existence of ECD services in Albania is also related with other benefits such as
reducing domestic violence due to a decrease in levels of stress within the household and increase in
family harmony. Therefore when investing in services for the younger children, the country is gaining
in additional variables other than child care and child development.
IX. Recommendations
The following are a set of recommendations to the Albanian government in order to continue its route
towards women’s empowerment. The first set of recommendations focus on ECD services and are a
result of the analysis of the findings of this study on what is directly needed by the community. The
second set of recommendations are more focused on policy and what would be useful for Albania to
start thinking about alternatives to improve quality of life of vulnerable women, children and their
families.
Recommendations on ECD services

Although there is a good coverage of ECD services in urban Albania, rural areas continue to be
excluded, in particular those areas with high concentration of Roma and Egyptian communities.
34
The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
Presented to: UNICEF’s Albanian Country Office
Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
These rural and disperse areas are isolated and excluded from services in particular when weather
conditions are harsh. A good alternative, that has proven successful in other countries, could be
designing alternative ECD services for these families like community based or child minders.

Quality of ECD services is equally important as coverage. Families are willing to send their children
to these services and even pay for them if the quality is good. The GoA should invest more time and
resources in the professionalization of nurses, crèches personnel, preschool teachers,
psychologists, and social workers amongst others. Salaries of these professionals should be fair in
order to attract and keep these people in the system. Investment in new infrastructure or repairing
old infrastructure is basic in order to improve quality of these services.

The existence of communitarian centers for women that include services such as vocational
training, socializing and childcare are fundamental in Albania. There are not many in the country
and the existing ones are mainly a result of international donations. These services are proven to
be successful for increasing women’s empowerment and family harmony. Municipalities and the
different sectors could join efforts to increase the number of these services that serve various
purposes in one place and may result more economically profitable.

Inclusion is an issue that Albanian Government needs to address more aggressively. Despite the
existence of good legislation and strategic documents, there are still issues of inclusion regarding
people with disabilities and people from different ethnic origins. Quality services adapted for CWD,
professionals trained to work with CWD and Roma children and their families need to be set in
place.
Special attention should be paid to families and mothers with CWD. The fact that there is one or
more child in the household with any disability is an obstacle for these mothers to become and feel
more empowered. Until services do not guarantee inclusion, safety and tranquility for this
population, these women will not progress as the others towards empowerment.
Policy recommendations

Albania needs to improve its information and data, in particular regarding ECD services, specifically
all the agencies responsible for the issue of child development. This study relied on official data
from the census in order to understand the generalities of the country. However, when
specifications was needed as number of crèches and preschools, and children enrolled it was not
possible to access this information easily. Officials d not seem to be confident about accessing and
using data on Roma and CWD. Although the latest Census does present the number of Roma people
in the country there are still many debates on this issue. Some kindergartens have information on
every child and they keep it organized in books, this should be a national practice in order to
understand the needs of children and families and implement programming accordingly.

The GoA is urged to start working in a coordinated and intersectoral way. Alternatives such as a
common fund, local and regional intersectoral committees for ECD services and women’s
empowerment, who design action plans based on their regional needs, can be set up without
investing economic resources but rather with direct instruction from the national level, followed
with technical assistance and regular follow ups.
35
The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
Presented to: UNICEF’s Albanian Country Office
Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373

In this same logic, technical assistance to improve local capacity of institutions should include a
strategy to improve communications between government levels. This can be done by
implementing regular visits, phone calls or email conversations from the national level in order to
follow up with regional needs.

Despite the existence of strategies and policy documents on social issues of women and children,
Albania does not have a specific policy on family. Given that the approach of child development is
nested within the family and from a human rights perspective, it can be useful for the country to
have a clear approach on this matter. It is important that Albanians understand the holistic
relationship between children and their families and how they affect each other. Aspects such as
the best interest of the child, attending crèches, role of men in children’s upbringing and gender
equality in the household, maternity leave, breastfeeding times amongst others, should be
addressed.

Programming on parenting education and child development are a good alternative for Albanian
institutions to implement locally through the MoLSALEO. In particular with regards to addressing
fathers and their role in child upbringing and in women’s empowerment. These initiatives usually
are very good for stress reduction, derived from childcare, which impact significantly in levels of
harmony within the households. From how to deal with a child not wanting to eat, to father’s key
role in child’s development and including how women can better use their time so they can look
for a job or socialize more, are issues that should be included in these programmes. The fact that
groups of mothers or couples or fathers, sit down and talk to others in their same situation,
necessarily leads to social and community networks, that as evidenced by this study, do influence
in women’s empowerment.

Albania’s investment in social services should be increased. It is important for Albanian institutions
(National level: MoLSAEO, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health; Local Level; Education, Social
Seri vices, local government etc) to increasingly provide ECD and women’s services in a sustainable
way. It is known that this budget allocation will be progressive and given the social tendency in
legislation and policy making of the latest years, this will most likely be the case. However the
efforts in this matter need to be greater and accelerated given that Albania is now considered a
middle-high income country and will probably be accepted in the EU in the following years. Once
this happens, less donor resources will be approved for social programming in Albania, and if the
situation does not change, many children and women will be left with no services at all.

Children are part of the family and the household therefore it is not possible to design policy,
programmes, interventions and perform studies on them without analyzing and taking into account
their mothers, fathers, siblings other family members and their community.
36
The impact of ECD services in women’s
empowerment in vulnerable communities
Presented to: UNICEF’s Albanian Country Office
Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
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Presented by: Ana María Rodríguez R
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +57 312 5319373
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Appendixes
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