OSCE Presence helps young people with disabilities in Albania

The OSCE Presence in Albania concluded on 30 January 2013 a project aimed at helping young people with disabilities more efficiently advocate their rights and get more involved in public life.

The project focused on strengthening the capacities of the Albanian Disability Youth Forum – a group of young disability activists established in late 2011 with the support from the OSCE Presence and other organizations.

The Forum participants were trained in advocacy and lobbying, working with media, state institutions and other stakeholders, raising funds and preparing and implementing projects. The Presence also supported the Forum in organizing two national conferences that aimed at raising public awareness of the rights of the young disabled people, and facilitated a study on the challenges they face – the first of this kind of Albania.

As part of the project, the OSCE Presence in Albania, assisted by the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, organized in January a study trip for the Forum participants and representatives of Albanian authorities and the Parliament to Podgorica, that included visits to the Parliament, the Ombudsman Office, relevant ministries and civil society organizations, in order to learn from the Montenegrin experience and improve the Forum’s regional outreach.

The project was part of the OSCE Presence in Albania’s support to promoting democratic governance and civil society organizations, in particular of those working on disability rights.