CNVP is currently strengthening its support for gender and women’s economic empowerment in the Balkans, particularly in areas where rural women and girls are often heavily involved e.g. agro/eco-tourism and development of non-timber forest product value chains.

To stress this point, CNVP visited two women’s organisations in Tirana on 18 and 19 January 2018 to exchange information and discuss possibilities for future cooperation.

At UN Women, CNVP outlined its green economy/brown agenda activities i.e. sustainable agri-rural development that takes into consideration climate change and environmental factors. CNVP was encouraged to (a) register as a local Albanian NGO, following Albanian legal requirements, and (b) pass the Capacity Assessment Process, two criteria that UN Women apply when engaging with local NGOs. Linked to this, UN Women is organising activities in Elbasan region from 28 February to 8 March to mark International Women’s Day (8 March), and suggested that CNVP should be involved.

CNVP then met with the Albanian Women’s Empowerment Network (AWEN). This organisation was established to address issues related to gender and women’s empowerment, supported by Sweden’s Kvinna till Kvinna. AWEN focuses on lobbying and advocacy, specifically protecting women’s and girls’ human rights. Opportunities for project cooperation between CNVP and AWEN were discussed, particularly in regions such as Korce or Kukes where AWEN is inactive but where CNVP has an effective outreach programme that supports rural communities, including women and girls.