Submitted by crinadmin on
This report strives to help understand the process of movement of children within Albania and across borders, from the perspective and personal experiences of children, for state institutions and CSO-s to be able to respond to the specific needs of children on the move. This assessment has used a qualitative methodology, through individual semi–structured interviews with 25 children who have experienced the movement aged between eight-15 years from urban and sub-urban areas of Tirana, Durres and Fier. Around half of the children interviewed belong to the Roma community. The assessment has been done in cooperation with partner organisations (Arsis, FBSH, World Vision) who work with this group offering psycho social, educational, legal and health services etc. The assessment has focused on the motivation, feelings, routes and consequences of the movement. As evidenced by the assessment, the main push factors that lead children to move are: economic situation, absence of job opportunities, easy earnings in short time (mostly through begging) and better opportunities for education and better access to health services. The interviews have shown that the movement often causes ambivalent emotions in children: from sadness from leaving friends and their environment, to enthusiasm for new opportunities that the places of destination offer. On the other hand, negative aspects such as difficulties of adaptation, involvement in child labour including begging, lack of access to health services were also pointed out by children. Children from the most disadvantaged families don’t perceive the movement for labour purposes as exploitation but as an individual obligation towards the well-being of the family. This affects also their perception and vision for the future. Most of children involved in street work report that in the future they will still do the same activities such as collecting scrap iron and begging. Further analysis of findings from the interviews evidenced the existence of two main profiles of movement within the country and across borders, mainly determined by the economic situation of the families and the needs that motivate the families to involve children in a process of movement. 1. The first profile is constituted by poor families which move mainly in search of better opportunities to improve the economic situation and their movement is continuous having consequences on the children’s adaptation potential and their access to public services. 2. In the second profile, families and children move to create better opportunities for access to quality education and healthcare. In this case the movement is not frequent and the families are more stable and remain in the places of destination for longer periods. Though the findings of this assessment cannot apply to all children on the move within or outside Albania, this assessment still offers a picture of different profiles of children on the move in Albania and constitutes a good basis to formulate concrete recommendations for policy makers and professionals working in the field of child protection. In order to increase the efficiency of interventions in response to consequences of movement it is recommended that greater attention be given to the work with families to empower them and lower the risk of child exploitation while at the same time including the issue of movement of children in the child protection agenda fostering multi-stakeholder cooperation at national, regional and international levels. This document is only available in Albanian.