VZCZCXYZ0075
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTI #0827/01 3641449
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 301449Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY TIRANA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8707

UNCLAS TIRANA 000827 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/SCE; EUR/PGI KUYKENDALL; DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KWMN PGOV PHUM XG AL
SUBJECT:  TIRANA RESPONSE FOR EUR ENGAGEMENT ON WOMEN'S ISSUES 
 
REF: STATE 124579 
 
¶1. The following is in response to reftel request and answers are 
keyed to reftel format. 
 
-- Provide details on current women's issues programs which 
highlight Post's work with civil society, NGOs, local governments, 
international or regional organizations, and other relevant 
interlocutors. 
 
Embassy efforts have been systematic in supporting women's issues in 
Albania by closely following political, social, economic, and 
legislative developments regarding women's issues.  Democracy 
Commission funded projects, AID projects, IIP Speaker programs, 
public appearances by the Ambassador, DCM, and Embassy staff, 
thematic trips and events, and IVLP programs all play a part in 
supporting women's issues in Albania. 
During the past two years, the Democracy Commission Program has 
supported the initiatives of 13 women's organizations: 
- Through six Democracy Commission grants the Embassy helped raise 
awareness on domestic violence.  During these grants, 1,012 women 
and girls from the rural areas of Diber, Shkoder and Tirana, and 244 
high school students of Berat district, were trained on how to face 
and fight domestic violence. 
- One grant helped train 500 women in three communes of Elbasan 
district with vocational skills (agriculture), resisting domestic 
violence, and anti-trafficking. 
- Four projects focused on activities related to women's 
participation in elections and decision-making.  100 members of the 
Women's Forums of the political parties participated in shaping a 
cross-party approach to gender equality issues, based on the 
exchange of the best practices from various political forces; 376 
women activists in seven cities of Albania contributed to increasing 
the number of elected women in local government units in the last 
elections. 
- Through an IIP Speaker program in March 2009, U.S. speaker Ann 
Stone met with women's NGOs, political party women forum 
representatives, and media about women's empowerment and increased 
representation in all aspects of life in Albania.  Stone spoke with 
about 30 political party women representatives in preparation for 
the upcoming June parliamentary elections in the country and gave 
workshops on campaign planning, public speaking, and message 
development. 
- The IVLP has continued its tradition of sending women leaders from 
different fields in programs such as "The Role of NGOs in Promoting 
Global Women's Issues" and "Women and Entrepreneurship." 
- The Ambassador, DCM, and Embassy staff speak on a regular basis at 
events which mark the celebration of thematic days, achievements, 
and important issues related to women's rights. For example, 
Ambassador hosted an event during Women's History month in which he 
recognized a local Albanian woman for her role in fighting human 
trafficking.  The DCM spoke recently at a forum on women in 
parliament and underscored the State Department's Office of Global 
Women's Issues as well as the work of embassy colleagues who are 
females. 
- USAID has started a new initiative which aims to address the 
sustainability of anti-trafficking efforts in Albania and protect 
victims of trafficking and persons vulnerable to exploitation. 
USAID will provide support to existing TIP victim shelters and 
continue civil society's advocacy work to help the GOA become 
compliant with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.  Activities 
will focus on:  building capacity of individual NGO shelters to 
achieve financial sustainability to assist trafficked women with 
reintegration; building capacity of shelters to advocate for policy 
changes; and enhancing cooperation between civil society and the 
GOA.  As a result of these interventions, USAID assistance will help 
to ensure sustainability of social services provided by the shelters 
and full reintegration of exploited women and create successful 
linkages among NGOs that provide services (such as shelters) and 
appropriate local government.  Assistance will also strengthen the 
shelters' ability to advocate on trafficking in persons and inform 
policy changes. 
- USAID's Women in Development Office made funds available for a 
project to improve the capability of women-run NGOs, associations, 
and businesses to advocate for enhancing women's participation in 
politics at the local and national levels.  Experts from civil 
society (local governance members, anti-trafficking council members, 
higher education rectors, political think tank experts, current 
politicians, lawyers, judges, business leaders, Chamber of Commerce 
leaders, etc.) met in multiple national forums to discuss 'where we 
stand' and how to improve gender equality through laws, regulations, 
funding, emphasis, etc.  Trainings consisted of multiple roundtables 
and meetings followed by selected trainings in-country to gain 
greater exposure to other methods. 
 
- While women in Albanian society are still subject to 
discrimination, disabled women face even greater challenges as they 
represent one of the most marginalized groups of society. 
Unfortunately, little or almost nothing is said about the reality of 
women with disabilities in Albania.  To combat this, USAID funded a 
study entitled "Women with Disabilities in Albania- Included or 
Neglected?" which was published in May 2009. The study represents an 
evaluation of the rights of women with disabilities in Albania and 
focuses on achieving gender equality and disability rights.  In 
addition, the study aims to make an assessment of the inclusion of 
women and girls with disabilities in the strategies, programs and 
activities of the organizations focused on gender equality and 
disability.  Thirty eight nonprofit organizations (NPOs) whose work 
focuses on women and gender equality expressed their willingness to 
participate in the study, along with 28 NPOs whose work focuses on 
disabled persons as well as six international organizations. 
-- Provide a list of best practices on these issues, identified 
through both current and past programs. 
 
- The USAID funded "Women with disabilities in Albania- Included or 
Neglected?" study, published in May 2009, made recommendations to 
combat discrimination against women with disabilities which have 
been drawn from by the GOA and other organizations in their efforts 
to stem discrimination against women with disabilities. 
 
- Post's numerous roundtables on women's issues have increased the 
dialogue on women's issues and brought more much needed attention to 
the role of women in society. 
 
-- Provide illustrative examples of success stories, from current 
and past initiatives that have focused on women's issues. 
 
-  Two Public Affairs projects focused on activities related to 
women's political empowerment in elections helped lead to the 30 
percent quota in the new electoral law by promoting awareness and 
dialogue. (Note:  As part of the new electoral code passed in 2008, 
female candidates are required to make up 30 per cent of the 
candidates on a party's ballot.  However in practice, many women's 
names are placed very low on ballots ensuring that they would not be 
elected under Albania's regional proportional parliamentary system 
in which votes are allocated to candidates in order of their 
appearance on the ballot.  Nevertheless, in the June 28 elections 
the number of women in the parliament increased from 9 to 23, making 
women 15 per cent of the MPs, including the Speaker.  End note.) 
- With USAID's Women in Development funds, Post sponsored six 
roundtables which were held around the country and engaged nearly 
300 female and male leaders in identifying and discussing the main 
issues that limited the role of women in the family and society. 
High priority issues included: mentality/culture/ tradition of the 
role of women; high unemployment among women and economic 
dependency, low participation of women in politics/decision making, 
women's health issues and lack of awareness, treatment and policies, 
obstacles to education, and domestic violence. 
 
- In addition to the roundtables, six 15 minute documentaries were 
produced and broadcast on national TV.  All had as a subtext the 
issue of the traditional role of women.  The central figure of each 
was a woman who had overcome obstacles to become a successful 
business woman, to find employment, to become a decision-maker (with 
a subtext regarding women's health), to excel in the field of 
education, to assist victims of domestic violence, and to assist 
people with disabilities.  The message in each of them encourages 
women/girls to play a fuller role in society and encourages 
decision-makers to give that space to women. 
 
- One woman who has worked tirelessly on anti-trafficking 
initiatives was nominated by Post as a TIP Hero for the 2009 TIP 
report.  This woman traveled to Washington to participate in the 
rollout ceremony for the 2009 TIP Report and was featured in the 
report. Local media outlets highlighted her award. 
 
-- Identify opportunities where there is potential for increasing 
cooperation between the United States and local governments and/or 
civil society groups on these issues. 
 
Domestic violence and human trafficking, lack of economic 
empowerment, and increasing the level of women's participation in 
politics and decision-making remain pressing issues.  Approaches to 
address these needs could include: 
- Promoting women's involvement in political campaigns. 
- Creating cross-cutting formal coalitions of various women's groups 
in civil society, political parties, trade unions, academia and 
business, and student networks. 
- Engaging the younger generation, and encouraging it to move 
forward with this issue. 
- Working with NGOs and government for the full implementation of 
the Domestic Violence Law, which was passed in 2008, but its 
implementation is considered lacking. 
- Continue IVLP and IIP programs that focus on women's issues. 
-- Identify areas where additional U.S. action and/or cooperation on 
women's issues could be useful. 
 
- Work with NGOs and government to battle cultural mores that can 
"track" women from an early age. For example, discrimination in the 
home towards young girls can often have a deleterious effect on 
their development. 
 
JONES