SOROS ALBANIA

Project: “Supporting of the social business of recycling by advocating for the education of young Roma people”

Objective: Supporting an existing social business that has a very good potential to be a positive model for the Roma community and from which many people from this community could benefit. Promoting such a model will help battle against the stigma often associated with the Roma community and will indicate that members of this community can in fact be very innovative and able at running a stable business. This will help increase their credibility in the future generations. Through this proposal CAAP and RDA wish to advocate in an indirect an innovative way for this community.

• Capacity building in management and executive level of the Romani Baxt organization
• Increasing of this organization’s visibility, promoting the work done until now and advocating for the rights of this community
• Replicating the same model in the city of Elbasan (with the same target groups of Romas that have participated in the previous activities)
• Creating activities that will help Romani Baxt economically and financially so that this organization will have a bigger impact
• Lobbying with the local government and structures that operate in the recycling business in order to improve the actual scheme of collecting recyclable materials.
• Creating a group of 10 – 12 people with no prior experience in similar organizations that will be informed and trained to collect recyclable materials near public institutions according to a predetermined schedule.

Project Implementation: Phase one of the project has already been completed. This phase consisted of the following activities:

• Preparation of all materials, training modules, round table topics for discussion, printing of all necessary documents, preparation of CDs with the relevant files
• Visits in the sites where the capacities of the Romani Baxt organization were first established
• Informing visits in Roma organizations in Elbasan
• Site visits in recycling companies Everest IE and Zodiak, and networking with important local stakeholders such as Tirana City Hall, Municipal Unit 5, environmental organizations, and civilians.
• Practical implementation of the skills acquired in trainings, such as: work ethic, recycling, organizational management, developing the business concept, creating activities that generate revenue, etc.

Phase 2: Growth of Romani Baxt. Opening of a new branch in Elbasan.

• Connecting Romani Baxt with the Albanian Society of Recyclers by organizing different meetings
• Organizing a round table with local governors, different donors, and other organizations that operate in this sector
• Developing and printing promotional materials such as business cards, brochures, banners, etc.
• Geographically expanding the area of impact
• Increasing the contacts and enhancing networking with different businesses through cooperative agreements
• Including a group of 10 – 12 youngsters in new recycling schemes
• Replicating the same model in the city of Elbasan
• Developing a new branch of Romani Baxt in Elbasan
• Supporting the staff of Elbasan in structuring the organization
• Lobbying to increase the visibility of the organization and creating other contacts