Περιγραφή της οργάνωσης

GUS Albania is an NGO born in September 2015, with its Headquarter in Tirana (https://gusalbania.al/).
Our activity is focused on strengthening Albanian Civil Society Organizations by providing specific trainings and organizing conferences and activities targeted also to Young people.
We are engaged in the field of human rights, youth empowerment, issues connected to migrations and gender equality (women's empowerment, preventing and tackling the sexualisation of women in mass media and subtle aspects of gender-based violence).
The task of GUS Albania is also to promote mutual understanding of national groups and make Albania a friendly country, open to solidarity and diversity.
Gus Albania works in Tirana center but also in the suburbs, as Kombinat, Breglumas or Bathore where the cultural level resulting from the marginality conditions makes even more important the educational intervention. Inf act, our NGO is also active in social inclusion of vulnerable categories, promoting a culture of solidarity and respect of the differences. We intend to implement projects to foster contact and understanding between the different cultural realities that make up the Albanian social fabric (Roma, Ejipty, other minorities), with a specific focus on young people and their active inclusion in Albanian civil society.
To do this, GUS Albania carries out awareness-raising activities, exhibitions, seminars, educational programs and specific educational workshops for secondary schools and community on different topics: human rights, education for world and European citizenship, Interculture using an active pedagogical approach and the typical techniques of non-formal education.
Activities such as exhibitions and workshops are held in specific occasions/events (The World Refugee Day, Women's Day, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women), regularly every year. The main target of such activities is the Albanian civic society, but more specifically, we distinguish the target according to the objective. For example, workshops on women's sexualisation on media involve mainly young people, in order to raise awareness and support critical thinking, while exhibitions, movie screenings in occasion of The Refugee Day aim to involve Albanian associations, institutions, public and private bodies which address human rights and migration issues.
During the year, with the support of local volunteers as well, GUS Albania organises seminars in secondary schools and with youth aged 18-30 years old, on the topic of volunteering and EU programs of mobility. The organization can provide also some volunteers of the Italian Civil Service and the Civil Corps with a strong territorial network that works in collaboration with local governments, associations, and other local volunteers to ensure better reception. For istance, 4 local volunteers helped GUS Albania in a pilot-monitoring of the mass media concerning the sexualized representation of women in Albanian media, ended with the organization of the event "(Not) As you want us", targeted to youth and associations adressing gender equality and gender-based violence. As well, a Dutch student, Sander Oomen, had been involved in an internship for 5 months from February to July 2018.
Most of the activities concern project management and fund-raising on the aforementioned topics; GUS Albania is interested in promoting intercultural dialogue and fostering youth volunteering; for this reason, participating in an European Solidarity Corps project would bring more support to reach these aims. Our organisation particularly supports the contribution that volunteering makes to civil society, especially by young people. Having ESC volunteers who follow and help in running the activities of the organization makes it possible to increase the European and intercultural footprint.
The staff of GUS Albania has experience and expertise in youth policies, non-formal education with young people, volunteering.