Regions: Africa   Asia   Latin America


Name of Organization: National Help Programme

Country: Albania

Project Title: "Lëshojmë punën, i kthehemi shkollës" ("Out of work, into School")

Project Timeframe: 3 months

Location of Project: Tirana

Budget Amount: $ 9,000

NGO contact and website:
"Kinderhaus Tirana"
Rruga "Ali Visha," Vila nr. 5
Tirana, Albania
Phone: +355-4-376-067 or + 355-68-227-2723
E-mail: nhpa@adanet.com.al

Project's Primary Objective: Strengthen formal and transitional education systems that encourage working children and those at risk of working to attend school.

Description of Organization: Based on its experience and lessons learned, Kinderhaus has developed a multi-sectoral approach and provides psycho-social services, alternative education, Activity of Daily Life (ADLL) skills, vocational training, sport & games, and employment possibilities to youngsters and caretakers. The NGO conducts activities at its Center. (103 families), on the streets and in the communities (153 families), and in six schools (5,258 students). Kinderhaus collaborates with local government institutions, centers, other NGOs in child and women rights protection, the international donor community, and area schools.

Kinderhaus actions are divided into several sections in order to tackle the problem of child abuse and promote child protection from different perspectives. The NGO believes that the exploitation suffered by child victims of trafficking and early forced labor is contrary to 'full, productive and freely chosen way of living with accents to education and employment.' Child victims are entitled to special protection measures both as victims and as children in accordance with their special rights and needs.

Kinderhaus has a lot of experience working with at-risk children – those who are victims of domestic violence, alcohol abuse, sexual abuse, abandonment, street workers and trafficked. This CIRCLE project is based on the NGO's effective and practical response to the multi-faced of child rights violations, focusing on children at-risk and in particular on sexual/domestic abuse, trafficking, and working street children.

Description of Project funded by CIRCLE: In the firm belief that every child has the right to education, the European campaign 'Stop Child Labor: School is the Best Place to Work' calls on governments and international donor agencies to create a coherent policy on the elimination of child labor linked to the provision of formal, full-time and quality education for all children up to 16 years of age. This CIRCLE project in Albania holds that the elimination of child labor is inextricably linked with the provision of formal, full-time and quality education but also that education for all can not be achieved without effectively tackling child labor. This project will sensitize children, parents, teachers, local government officials etc. in the area of education and child labor based on the combined mandate of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, the ILO Convention 138 on the Minimum Working Age, the ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor and the Millennium Development Goals.

Kinderhaus' strategies for this short-term CIRCLE project are based on their larger experience and include the following:
  • Bridge schools and alternative teaching: children who have never been to school are prepared to enter the formal education system in classes appropriate to their age;
  • Assuring continued school attendance: special measures and support to prevent children from dropping out before school completion and to ensure the sustainability of the process, such as assisting parents in making alternative arrangements to make up for the work their child had been performing and providing additional specially trained teachers to help retain the students in school.
  • Social mobilization and awareness raising: raising an awareness and demand for education among children, parents and community groups, as well as building a consensus among all stakeholders that no child should work and that all children should be in formal, full-time schools;
Thus Kinderhaus' "Out of Work into School" Summer Action project provides a unique opportunity for addressing obstacles to the achievement of universal education and formulating measures to overcome them.

The outcomes of this important summer project will be further used to:
  1. Supplement the database of organizations in the Albania that work for eradication of child labor and universalization of formal, full-time education.
  2. Identify best practices in specific contexts to eradicate child labor and enrol all children into formal and/or alternative, full-time education.
  3. Empower people to fight against child labor; children & parents, Kinderhaus-staff, school employees, NGOs on human rights and government officials
  4. Identify strategies to expand the movement towards eradication of child labor and enrolment of all children into formal and/or alternative, full-time education

Project Targets (Common Indicators):
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