SUCCESSFUL PROGRAM IMPLEMENTED WITH ILO-IPEC TIRANA

Following previous successful collaboration, an important Program was implemented, during June this year, by the Trade Union Federation of Education and Science, TUFESA, in collaboration with the Independent Trade Union of Albanian Education, ITUAE, supported financially by ILO-IPEC Office in Tirana and having its technical assistance.

The Project objective was: “Development of a national programme on the elimination of child labour in Albania.”, meanwhile the immediate objective was: “Development of a national policy and a plan of action to combat child labour, improving child labour legislation and developing institutional capacity to deal with the problem”.

The main Activities of the Program were:
1. Publication of SCREAM Modules and the Non – Formal Education Manual to raise awareness of teachers and trade union leaders.
2. Oganising four two-day workshops in Korce, Vlore, Sarande and Durres, to raise the awareness of 100 teachers and trade union leaders.
3. Documentation and exchange of emerging good practices at national and sub-regional level.

The “Supporting Children’s Rights through Education, the Arts and the Media”, SCREAM package, is a series of educational modules designed to involve young people in the global campaign to eliminate child labour. The modules, already translated into Albanian, are based on the use of a/ the arts (painting, literature, and theatre) and b/the media (campaigning and networking methods). They enable young people to express themselves through drama, creative writing and the visual arts, in a manner specific to their culture and traditions. With these modules, young people will gain the skills and confidence to address their message to different generations in their societies, including their parents, friends, teachers, local communities and authorities.

The manual on Non-Formal Education is prepared for teachers of non-formal education classes who are working to make education inclusive for working children.  The manual is a tool for teachers focusing on interactive learner-centered approaches.  It uses a participatory approach to increase awareness and understanding of children who work, and the relationships between child labour and education. The sessions focus on a/accommodating diversity, b/improving gender equity and c/promoting quality and inclusive education.

The distribution list of both publications was prepared in line with the AP strategy and was made as follows:

1. 100 copies of each for individual teachers of primary education (TUFES and ITUAE trade unions sections) of Tirana, Korca, Berat, Elbasan, Fieri, Vlora, Durres, Saranda, Gjirokastra;
2. 100 copies of each to Educational Directorates and school libraries of the above-mentioned cities.
3. 450 copies of SCREAM and 250 copies of the NFE Manual to ILO- IPEC Albania for further use with other partners, such as HFC, Institute of Pedagogical Research, Faculty of Social Work at the University of Tirana and other potential partners.
4. 50 copies of each to Kosovo Teacher’s Trade Union -SBASHK (Independent Trade Union of Education in Kosovo);
5. 100 copies of SCREAM to TUFES, ITUAE and other interested stakeholders (e.g. Ministry of Education and Science, etc).

The second pillar of the Program was to increase the capacity of educational authorities from the Regional Education Directorates responsible for supervising the quality education in the respective regions, school directors and teachers’ trade unionists to deliver quality, relevant education more responsive to the needs of working children. Experience shows that there are four different categories of working children with regards to their educational status:
- children who are combining primary school attendance and work;
- children who are at school and not working, but are at high risk of dropping out to work;
- children who have had some years of schooling, but have dropped out to work and;
- children who have never had any schooling and are working. 

Once the SCREAM package and the Non-Formal Education Manual were published, TUFES, in collaboration with ITUAE, conducted four two-day regional training workshops during the period 13 to 23 of June 2007: in Korça (13-14 June 2007), Vlora (15-16 June 2007), Saranda (20-21 June 2007) and Durresi (22-23 June 2007), for 107 local trade union leaders, from 15 districts who were trained on SCREAM and provision of Non-Formal Education.
The training curriculum included:
- Presentation of the SCREAM package - “Supporting Children’s Rights through Education, the Arts and the Media”: how can teachers / trade union members raise awareness of children against the WFCL and support child participation in the elimination of the WFCL and how teachers can use SCREAM in their daily job.

- Presentation of the Non-Formal Education Manual: a/The effective teacher as someone who respects all children, accepts their differences, listens to them, and supports them to become better learners and problem-solvers; b/Teaching methodology and learner-centered approach; c/ Learning styles, learner attributes and the related teaching approaches; d/social and physical aspects of classroom management to promote positive learning experiences for children; e/Motivating children to learn.

The National Programme Manager of ILO-IPEC Albania, Mrs. Snezhi Bedalli, introduced to the participants the SCREAM Modules and explained almost all of them, pointing out the main characteristics, as follows:
- Collage Module, stimulating visual and artistic expression and revealing how little print media coverage is given to such a big problem as child labour.
- Image Module, building profiles of child labourers on the basis of several images. A range of photos from the Photo-CD and from the Albanian and world reality were shared and commented. Participants expanded on the theme and introduced the question of how change is brought about in society.
- Role-play Module, involving all the participants who acted out the roles of child labourers and the people who interact with them (parents, employers, officials) through the activities on:  freeze-frame images and role-play.
- Drama Module, stimulating dramatic expression and providing an outlet through which young people can express themselves in an articulate and meaningful way. It builds a strong platform for community education and awareness raising.
- Art Competition Module, stimulating artistic expression and enhancing community education and awareness raising. This module was linked to the
- Community Integration Module as part of the community integration process (sponsors, businesses, etc.).
- Creative writing Module, introducing the techniques on how to create a story on a simple theme based on the activity of the 4 squares method.
- The world of work, emphasizing and promoting the impact of tripartism in social development, the different roles of communities and how these organizations interact for the benefit of society.
The massive participation in the exercises “Globingo” and “The balloon of children’ rights”, were followed by the teachers with a special interest and they  were very active in the discussions that were also based on their experiences.

The expert of the National Center for Teachers Training, Mrs. Albana Markja, introduced the Manual on Non - Formal Education.
- Dividing the Manual in two parts, the trainer was focused especially to Non-Formal Education, inclusive for all children and their integration, not only in the school, but also in the community.
- Important parts of her explanations were also cross-cutting and extra-curricular objectives in non-formal education, effective teaching, children-centered methods and techniques, class management and so on.

In order to increase the capacity of the teachers, aiming at children’s involvement in the promotion of their rights, including the right to be free from child labour and sexual exploitation, an interactive and participatory approach was applied in all the four workshops.

Teachers were equipped with the skills to identify and meet the educational and counseling needs of these groups, in order to reduce the drop out of children at risk; attracting working children to school;helping them to stay at school and succeed in their studies.

The active participation of teachers in the discussions, the interventions of from the two leaders of education trade unions, Xhafer Dobrushi and Bajram Kruja, were very important especially for the elaboration of concrete work plans in all the four workshops.

Some of the main points included in the work plans for the four cities elaborated during the workshops were:

1. Every participant in the workshop has to organise at least one similar activity with participation of teachers from his/her district, introducing the SCREAM package and NFE Manual,
2. Participants have to inform the respective local education directorates about the workshops and the teachers who participated, in order to coordinate actions and organise joint similar activities in the future,
3. FSASH and SPASH central leading bodies have to inform the Ministry of Education and Science about the workshops, insisting in their demands to make possible the remuneration of teachers involved in this work, based to the proposals of collective agreement in power, 
4. The coordinator of the AP has to upload on using this opportunity to promote all the activities organised in this framework.

The collection of good practices (identifying and documenting) is already under process and will be completed according to the Workplan and then shared with partners at national level. The two pages report/city on the implementation of the workplans drafted during the workshops will also be prepared as planned.