Information from ODF

Information about Tirana region

Indicators (district level) Indicators (commune level)

Facts from the history of Tirana Region
Address of the Council of Tirana Region
A summary about the situation of children rights in the Tirana Region
Regional Strategy for Children's Rights
Address of the Observatory for Children's Rights, Tirana
Observatory role and responsibilities
Address of Children Rights Unit (CRU)
Role and responsibilities of CRU
Role and Responsibilities of CPU

1. Facts from the history of Tirana Region

Tirana region is one of 12 regions of Albania which includes also the Tirana district, the capital city of the country. Tirana city was founded in 1614 by Sulejman Pasha Bargjini, originally from the village of Mullet. The name was mentioned for the first time in a document of Venice in 1418. On 9 February 1920, at the Congress of Lushnja, the Tirana district was declared the temporary capital of Albania. In 1925 the Constitutional Assembly declared it as the Albanian capital.

Tirana district is surrounded in the North by the region of Durres, in the North-East by the region of Dibra, in the South-East by the region of Elbasan, in the South by the region of Fier and West by the Adriatic Sea. Tirana region has a surface of ??1652 [1] km2 and a population of 997.380[2] inhabitants (2010). The number of households in the Tirana Region is 135,882 [3] while the group aged 0-18 years old represents 27% of the population or 265,873 [4] inhabitants.

Tirana region includes 2 districts, the District of Tirana and the District of Kavaja; it is made by 29 administrative units of which 5 are municipalities (Tirana, Kamëz, Vora, Kavaja and Rrogozhina) and 24 are communes.

The city of Tirana is the largest economic, administrative, political, industrial, academic, social and cultural center of the country

[1] INSTAT (2007), Indicators according to Regions, Tirana

[2] Interior Ministry (2011)

[3] National Social Service in Tirana (2011)

[4] Interior Ministry (2011)

2. Address of the Council of Tirana Region

Sheshi "Qemal Mustafa Ataturk", Tiranë

3. A summary about the situation of children rights in the Tirana Region

In 2010, Tirana Region, counts a number of 997.380 [5]inhabitants and a total population of 107.311 families, of which 7.542 or 7.03% are poor families and have children (aged 0-15 years old). Meanwhile, children (0-18 years old) make 26.7% of the region population or 265,873 children [6].
In 2010, in Tirana Region 1 in 22 children (or 6,575 children) aged 6-15 years old live in a families assisted by the Economic Aid (EA).

Regarding the families which are supported by the economic aid and have children aged 0-15 years old in Tirana Region, the numbers show to be high in rural areas with distribution both in mountain areas and in coastal areas. Communes with the highest percentages are: Paskuqan 82%, Vaqarr 69%, Sinaballaj 22%, Krrabë 13%, Kavajë 12%, etc.

Regarding the percentage of children (aged 6-15 years old), whose family benefit from the Economic Aid is higher (as compared to other areas of the Region) almost in the same mountain rural areas of Tirana Region, similar with the number of families that benefit from the EA and have children aged 0-15 years old; specifically these municipalities are: Krrabë 29%, Rrogozhinë 28%, Paskuqan 22%, Ndroq 12%, Zallbastar 10% and Kamëz 9%.

Communes that continue to have a high proportion of children (aged 6-16 years old) living in families benefiting from NE are: Shën Gjergji 35%, Peza 18%, etc.

About the children with disabilities, the data shows that Tirana Region, even though it is one of the largest regions in the territory of Albania and with a high number of population, has a low percentage of children with disabilities. In Tirana Region, for 2010 there are 3,049 children aged 0-18 years old with disabilities (CWD), or 1.1% of the children, which rank Tirana together with Vlora and Gjirokastra Regions the lowest regions with children CWD.

The view between the number of children living in urban and rural area, it appears that 2,169 or 71% live in the city and 880 or 29% of children with disabilities (0-18 years old) live in the village.

The provision and delivery of basic services necessary for this group of children, continues to be under the responsibility of the social policy at the municipal, mini-municipalities and communal level. From 3,049 children with special needs at the regional level, a large number of them get qualified service in centers and institutions that offer these services in the district of Tirana.

In Tirana Region, communes have the highest number of children with disabilities (0-18 years old) are: Zallbastar with 2.6% or 50 children, Paskuqan with 2.3% or 38, Kamëz with 1, 8% or 484 children, Dajt with 1.5% or 54.

[5] Ibid;

[6] Ibid;

4. Regional Strategy for Children's Rights

Tirana Region is in the process of drafting and preparing for the first time the "Strategy on the Rights of the Child" (information obtained from the office of the Regional Council, August 2012).

5. Address of the Observatory for Children's Rights, Tirana

Bulevardi "Bajram Curri",
Pall "Agimi", Shkalla 5, Ap. 81,
Tiranë.

6. Observatory role and responsibilities:

Observatory for Children's Rights has been set up as a project as an office in the Tirana District in 2009 (May 2009). Since 2009 the Observatory has been developing and is operating as a monitoring civil society structure, which works in close partnership with all local stakeholders from public and non-public and day by day it is becoming an important factor in the local level for the implementation of the rights of children in Tirana District.
Observatory's main duties are:

Periodic collection of information and data from government institutions like the departments of Health, Education and Social Protection, from non-governmental institutions, from associations and communities as well as from the children themselves, both at the regional and local level.
Periodical and ongoing analysis of the collected information and preparation of evaluation on the implementation of children's rights at the regional and local levels.
Preparation and distribution of quarterly reports (based on the national model) on indicators of child welfare.
Preparation of annual reports on the progress of implementation of policies for the realization of children's rights in the regions;
Periodic collection of reports on surveys from various international, national and local agencies;

7. Address of Children Rights Unit (CRU)

Këshilli i Qarkut Tiranë,
Sheshi "Qemal Mustafa Ataturk", Tiranë

8. Role and responsibilities of CRU

Children Rights Unit was set up in Tirana Regional Council in 2011. This office operates within the administrative structure of the Regional Council, as a separate unit in charge of social issues. Its duties are:

monitor and evaluate how the laws and policies relating to the protection of child rights are implemented in the territory of the region;
identify and coordinate the referral of cases of violations or abuse and abuse of children's rights in the territory of the region;
coordinate the functioning of the multi-displinar group, for the identification, analysis and referral of cases of domestic violence in the territory of the region;
co-operate and exchange information on the treatment of child rights with any structure responsible for health, education, police, local government, municipalities and communes, or civil society;
organize informational and education meetings and training for child rights in the region;
report to the Regional Council on the progress of the rights of the child in the territory of the region;
report periodically to the State Agency for Protection of Child Rights elaborated statistical data, on the situation of child rights in the region;
submit periodically to the State Agency for the Protection of the Rights of the Child information on the situation of the implementation of child rights in the region.

9. Role and Responsibilities of CPU:

Child Protection Unit in the Municipality / Communes works within the administrative structure of the Municipality / Commune, as a separate unit or as a unit of the structures in charge of social issues. So far the office is set up in Tirana Municipality and it is responsible for:

evaluate and monitor the ongoing situation of the families of children at risk, until the child is considered "not at risk";
identify and co-ordinate in a multi-disciplinary way the protection, referral and analysis of cases in the territory of the municipality /commune;
sensibilize the community to organize informational and educational meetings and training for child protection in the territory of the municipality /commune;
co-operate with social services administrators, school psychologists, family doctor, the competent authorities of order, social workers of public and private service centers, to improve the situation of child protection in the territory of the municipality /commune;
serve as an information center, where children and families in the territory of the municipality / commune can be informed or may come for other support services that they may need;
report periodically to the State Agency for Protection of Child Rights elaborated statistical data on child protection in the territory of the municipality / commune;
Submit periodically to the State Agency for the Protection of the Rights of the Child information on the situation of child protection in the territory of the municipality / commune.

The multi-disciplinary groups within the municipality / commune are created in order to protect, refer and analyze the cases of children at risk in the territory of the municipality / commune.
In Child Protection Unit in the municipality / commune there should be al least one employee trained in the field of social work.

Prepared by: Mina Mata,
National Data Administrator,
Observatory for the Rights of Children, Tirana