Tirana is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is the administrative, cultural, economic, and industrial centre of Albania. The municipality of Tirana, created in 2015, has a total population of more than 800 000. The city is host to many public institutions and public and private universities, and is the centre of the political, economic, and cultural life of the country.
The Forum 2011 was held in November in Tirana, Albania and gathered in total 245 participants from eight countries. A network of civil society organisations was involved in organizing the forum coordinated by the organisations AWEN – Albanien Women Empowerment network and Association for the Integration of Informal Areas.
The subject of the Forum this year was Development through cooperation within civil society and it was reflected in many of the seminars and workshops.
Freja is a regional project concerning eight countries, of them four as cooperation partners, Bosnia‐Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia. During Forum 2008 and 2010 a delegation from Albania participated. During Forum 2010 and 2011 a delegation from Turkey participated
Among several other activities five different seminar were held, focusing on empowerment through Regional Cooperation, Cooperation in Networks, Cooperation leadership and empowerment, Cooperation and NGOs capacity building and Empowerment through capacity building – lessons learned from Poland and Bulgaria.
The Forum Debate on Sunday morning was moderated by Mrs. Klotilda Ferhati and Mr. Bertil Mattsson.
The panelists were Mr. Detlev Boeing (EU Commission), Ms. Mirela Arqimandriti, (Executive Director of Gender Alliance for Development Center in Albania), Ms. Savska Todorovska (National council for gender equality in Macedonia), Ms. Aslihan Tekin (Representative of KAGIDER/Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey, Brussels, and President of TR PLUS Centre for Turkey in Europe), Ms. Ediba Pozderovic MA, Senior Advisor, (Pedagogue Institute of Tuzla Canton, Tuzla/BiH) and Ms Olivera Popovic (Vice President for Association of Business Women, Serbia).
An increasing number of young people are participants at the Forum (26% this year, compared to 16% last year). This year a group of students participated within the exchange project I Love Europe. Albania had the youngest population at the Forum; almost 50% are under 30 years, compared to 5% for Serbia.
The number of participants from the public sector, but particularly from the private sector is increasing on behalf of persons from the civil sector. In particular this concerns Serbia, who had 84% of their participants representing the private sector, compared to 5% for Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia. Sweden and Macedonia had most participants from the public sector compared to the other countries.
Also this year most participants value the networking possibilities. Of 100 responders 69 say they have concrete actions in their own organization inspired by Freja Forum.
Freja Forum was celebrating 5 years in Tirana 2011 with a great birthday cake.
Program from 2011
Friday
Registration in Hotel Tirana International.
16.30 Meeting in the lobby of Tirana International Hotel – buses to the Parliament of Republic of Albania, Building of Plenary Sessions.
17.00 Opening Ceremony of the Forum for Regional and European Joint Activities.
Moderator: Ms. Klotilda Ferhati, AIIA representative. Opening Remarks, Ms. Mirela Arqimandriti – AWEN representative * Mrs. Jozefina Topalli, Speaker of the Parliament of Republic of Albania * Mr. Ettore Sequi, Ambassador of European Union to Albania * Mrs. Kseniya Lvovsky, Manager of the World Bank’s country office in Albania * Mr. Detlef Palm, UN Resident Coordinator A.I in Albania, UNICEF Representative in Albania * Mrs. Filloreta Kodra, Deputy Minister of Labour in Albania * Mrs. Britta Olofsson, Head of Development Cooperation, Embassy of Sweden * Mrs. Jorida Tabaku, Vice Mayor, Tirana Municipality.
Key speakers from the Freja Forum partners’ countries:
Albania: Mrs. Mirela Arqimandriti, Executive Director, Gender Alliance for Development Centre, member of AWEN
Bosnia Herzegovina: Mrs. Ediba Pozderović, MA, Senior Advisor, Pedagogue Institute of Tuzla Canton, Tuzla/BiH
Macedonia: Mrs. Irena Pockova, Member of the Executive Board of The Regional Women’s Lobby and Coordinator of the Macedonian Delegation in the RWL – Macedonia
Serbia: Ms. Radmila Milojević, Special Advisor to the President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce.
Dinner Buffet/Cultural Program