Outcome ALB_O_2

Advancing partnerships and resources resourcing; Effectively influencing for impact & scale

Achieved. In 2024, the Albania Country Office made significant strides in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment by engaging diverse partners. The office continued to build alliances and leveraged UN Women’s communications and advocacy platforms. Strategic collaboration with various media outlets and journalists, through our regular media forums , resulted in the production of 70 journalistic pieces on gender equality, an increase from 55in 2023, despite the challenging media landscape in Albania. The EXPO in Tirana successfully engaged 40 women entrepreneurs and 20 Women Economic Principles (WEPs) signatories, featuring capacity-building sessions on topics such as access to finance, process optimization, digital transformation, and AI-powered marketing. Over 100 visitors attended the event, purchasing products from women entrepreneurs, and the number of WEPs signatories grew to 74 companies, with 7 new signatories joining during the EXPO. UN Women Albania engaged with the sports sector through initiatives like the publication of the first-ever on gender and sports in Albania, highlighting stereotypes and persisting social norms that hinder the full participation of women in sports such as scarcity of funds for gender sensitive facilities, lack of women coaches and role models in the sports world, persisting gender stereotypes about sports through the media, and gender based violence in sports. UN Women actively engaged in the breast cancer awareness month to raise awareness about this issue with a football match organized by the Albanian Football Association, and collaboration with cycling non-profit organization WeBike Albania during the 16 days campaign which reached 16 municipalities and over 400 people directly though in-person activities, and approximately 1.7 million people through social media. The Country Office excelled in resource mobilization, signing five contribution agreements totalling approximately USD 7.25 million for the 2024-2027 period. These contributions included SN Direct funding and were granted by established partners like the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, new collaborators such as the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and maintained positive relationships with donors like the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and the European Union Delegation in Albania. The donor community in Albania was regularly involved in discussion and analysis of progress on various aspects of the gender equality agenda. The Partners Coordination Group Gender, cochaired by SIDA and UN Women, held two meetings during 2024, one in May and one in November. This last meeting focused on recent normative commitments and progress made by the Government of Albania on addressing violence against women and on implementing the CEDAW Concluding Observations (2023). The meeting was attended by 23 people (4 men, 19 women) representing 14 international organizations and partners.

Advancing partnerships and resources resourcing; Effectively influencing for impact & scale

The CO has made significant progress towards the achievement of this output during the reporting year, with the vast majority of indicators fully achieved or on track to be achieved. In particular, the CO has advanced negotiations for receiving direct funding to the Strategic Note 2022-2026 from Sida, and has submitted a full proposal to the donor in October 2023. The CO has a fully developed strategy in place to advance partnership and resource mobilization, including an RM Strategy and a dedicated youth engagement portfolio, and sustained strong engagement of the private sector for advancing gender equality through the WEPs. In 2023, the CO dedicated USD 26,762.00 to engagement of the WEPs, who contributed through pro bono and in-kind support for a value of an estimated amount of USD 64,000.00, representing a return of investment of almost 140%. However, as only a minority of the WEPS signatories are actively engaging with the CO, there is great potential for scalability in the future through a targeted and strategic selection of new WEPS and a focus on increasing the engagement of current WEPs. The COs coordination mandate and convening role continues to be successfully delivered through its co-chairing of the Donor Coordination Group Gender, and its engagement in interagency mechanisms within the UNCT, including the CO’s representative chairing the Gender Thematic and Results Group (GTRG), co-chairing the gender outcome in the UNSDCF jointly with UNFPA, and actively participating in the youth taskforce, the operations management team and the PSEA Taskforce. A significant portion of the CO’s delivery is done through joint programmes, with funds coming from pooled and thematic funding mechanisms such as the PBF and the Multi-Partner Trust Fund. Overall, the theory of change for this OEEF output remains relevant for the CO.

Advancing partnerships and resources resourcing; Effectively influencing for impact & scale

UN Women continued to grow the network of partners in order to amplify UN Women’s message of women’s empowerment and gender equality. In 2022, UN Women Albania continued to strengthen its collaboration with the private sector through the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs). The number of companies that signed up for WEPs in Albania surged from 11 to 38, resulting in a stronger and more concrete contribution of private sector companies towards gender equality and women’s empowerment thanks to donations and in-kind contributions. Such support included: Vodafone Foundation Albania launched the app “Bright Sky” to help victims of domestic violence record evidence of their abusive relationships and seek professional help Vodafone Albania and One Telecommunications each donated 50 phones plus phone plans to women survivors of violence Intermedica offered free screening to women survivors of violence during October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month Banka Kombetare Tregtare (BKT) made a financial donation to a shelter supporting survivors of domestic violence. BKT and Intesa Sanpaolo Bank displayed the campaign’s key messages in all their ATMs across Albania. Matrix Konstruksion, a major construction company, contributed by providing free advertising space for campaign messages within a shopping center. The Metropolitan University of Tirana and UN Women Albania co-hosted an event with university students to discuss and raise awareness on ending violence against women and girls. The Balfin Group also put up the campaign’s main messages in two major commercial centers. Throughout the days of the campaign, all WEPs signatories oranged their logos and social media spaces, dedicating them to messages and statements against gender-based violence. During this year’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign, many WEP’s signatories contributed to raising awareness on gender-based violence. Companies such as , and at UN Women Albania’s call, 8 WEPs Signatories publicly took a stand against violence against women by participating in a joint video produced by a WEPs signatory, Oval Studios. The video was shared on UN Women Albania social media profiles (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube) as well as on the social media accounts of the participating WEPs companies. The video reached around 13 thousand views. BKT and Intesa Sanpaolo Bank displayed the campaign’s key messages in all their ATMs across Albania. Matrix Konstruksion, a major construction company, contributed by providing free advertising space for campaign messages within a shopping center. The Metropolitan University of Tirana and UN Women Albania co-hosted an event with university students to discuss and raise awareness on ending violence against women and girls. The Balfin Group also put up the campaign’s main messages in two major commercial centers. Throughout the days of the campaign, all WEPs signatories oranged their logos and social media spaces, dedicating them to messages and statements against gender-based violence. If monetized, such contributions amount to approximately USD 40,000.00. The 27 new WEPs Signatories not only comprised of companies from a variety of sectors (including banking, publishing, education, business consulting, telecommunication, construction, law, etc.), but also represent chambers of commerce that are keen in promoting gender equality. To achieve this growth in private sector’s engagement, UN Women Albania has increased capacities of companies in understanding gender equality and women’s empowerment through two dedicated sessions: in February 2022, a workshop was organized to increase companies’ capacities to develop their own gender action plan, and in October 2022, Eighteen WEPs Signatories in Albania participated in a meeting to discuss the private sector's role during this year’s 16 days of activism on ending violence against women campaign. Developing close partnership with private sector companies continues to remain critical for UN Women Albania, as building a relationship of mutual trust helps ensure that WEPs signatories are ready to take concrete actions to promote gender equality even beyond the moment of signing the WEPs. This work will continue in 2023, when the office will aim to continue growing the cohort of companies and deepen relationships with existing ones, with the aim to further increase their contribution to gender equality in Albania. UN Women office brought on board, prominent Albanian artist and women’s rights activist, Ema Andrea during the 16 days of activism campaign and at the opening of the Regional Forum on Ending Violence against Women in the Western Balkans and Türkiye. Her video and artistic interpretation was received with great appreciation. She promoted both events through her networks and is a powerful advocate for women’s and girls’ rights. The country office collaborated with the Union of Albanian artists "Bash-Art" for 'Violence OFF – Power ON' initiative during the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. Young Albanian artists were engaged by conceptualizing artworks and developing 14 murals around Albania to cultivate awareness about the importance of ending violence against women and girls. UN Women Albania supported the development of two of these murals, Drenusha Zajmi’s painting in Durrës and Ilektra Jole’s in Lezha thanks to the funding from the Government of Sweden and the European Union. This was the second collaboration between UN Women and “Bash-Art". The first one was during International Women’s Day. UN Women Albania also increased its efforts to engage youth in promoting gender equality. Earlier this year, approx. 40 young women and men increased their understanding and knowledge about gender equality and climate change, and took the lead in developing a “ Call to youth-driven and gender responsive climate and environmental action in Albania ” 200 young women and men increased their awareness around the issue of violence against women, and improved their understanding on how they can take a stand against violence and how to report it. UN Women organized an interagency tour across five universities in Tirana, and dedicated events jointly with the Tirana European Youth Capital in Kamza and Lezha. Engagement of young people will continue in 2023 mainly through interagency collaboration and thanks to the regional project funded by the Peacebuilding Fund “Youth 4 Inclusion, Equality & Trust”, which is implemented by UN Women Albania jointly with UNFPA, UNDP and UNESCO.