From Protection to Empowerment: How LEAP Is Opening Pathways to Jobs, Care and Opportunity Across Albania

Through the UN Joint Programme “Lifelong Empowerment and Protection in Albania” — LEAP, these individual changes are becoming part of a broader systems shift: connecting social protection, care services, skills development and employment pathways so that people facing vulnerability can access support, build resilience and contribute to Albania’s development.

Launched in 2024 and funded by the UN Joint SDG Fund, LEAP supports Albania’s national priorities to strengthen social protection, expand decent work, promote lifelong learning and advance progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals and European integration.

The results are already visible.

Across the country, 864 households receiving economic aid have accessed integrated care and support services. Some 1,600 children have benefited from universal home visiting and related services that help reduce vulnerabilities and strengthen family wellbeing. A further 643 at-risk adolescents have received training in digital, financial, green and soft skills, while 357 women and young people have transitioned into employment through training, counselling and job-placement initiatives in tourism, hospitality, care services and other sectors.

Behind these numbers are people, families and communities.

From Graduate to Entrepreneur

When 25-year-old Marko Guri graduated with a degree in economics, he expected the labour market to welcome him. Instead, he spent months looking for opportunities and trying to understand how to turn his interest in tourism into a career.

Today, Marko is no longer only looking for work. He is building a business.

Through LEAP, supported by UNDP together with national and local partners, Marko enrolled in a certified Tourist Guide training course at the Professional School “Shën Jozefi Punëtor” in Lezha.

The training, followed by a traineeship with a local business, gave him more than technical knowledge. It connected him to practical experience, local employers and a growing tourism network. Shortly after completing the course, Marko secured employment with a local tourism agency through Albania’s Youth Guarantee Programme.

But employment was only the beginning.

“The course helped me understand that I could do more than find a job,” Marko says. “It helped me see that I could create one.”

Together with his brother, he launched Hidden Routes Albania, a tourism agency offering small-group experiences across some of Albania’s most beautiful destinations — from Theth and Qafë Thore to the Shala River, Spaç Prison and cultural heritage sites in Mirdita.

Guiding visitors in English, Marko now welcomes tourists from across Europe and Asia. What began as a training opportunity has become a pathway to entrepreneurship.

His story reflects the wider potential of Albania’s tourism and hospitality sector: when young people gain market-relevant skills and are connected to employers, they are better able to build livelihoods, support local economies and contribute to sustainable tourism.

Connecting Care with Opportunity

In Elbasan, Anxhela’s journey began from a very different place.

As the primary caregiver for her mother, who lives with disabilities, and as a source of support for her younger sister, Anxhela carried responsibilities that left little space for her own plans.

“At one point, I felt like my future had disappeared,” she says.

Through LEAP, UNICEF, in partnership with IRCA NGO and the Municipality of Elbasan, supported Anxhela’s access to integrated social services for vulnerable children and families.

What began with psychosocial counselling became a turning point. The counselling sessions helped her rebuild confidence. Employment counselling and soft-skills training equipped her with practical tools for entering the labour market. Communication skills, interview preparation and professional coaching helped transform self-doubt into readiness.

When a vacancy opened at ELBA-Fiore 2022 sh.p.k., Anxhela applied, interviewed successfully and secured employment.

“This job gave me back my future,” she says. “For years I only saw problems. Now I see possibilities.”

The support extended beyond employment. Through the same integrated service model, her mother received home-based physiotherapy that improved her mobility and quality of life, while her younger sister continued receiving support through the programme’s network of services.

For Anxhela, the change was not only economic.

“It showed me that asking for support is not weakness,” she says. “Sometimes it is the first step towards building a different future.”

Her experience shows why integrated services matter. When care, counselling, skills development and employment support work together, families are better able to move from vulnerability towards resilience.

Supporting Formalization and Decent Work

In Korça, Gëzim Shehu’s experience highlights another important dimension of inclusion: formalization.

For years, he rented out his family apartment to tourists during holidays and peak travel seasons. Although tourism had become an important source of income, he did not see himself as part of the tourism industry.

“I thought formalization was only for hotels and large guesthouses,” he says.

Like many individual hosts, Gëzim was uncertain about registration requirements, regulations and administrative procedures. This uncertainty kept him from formalizing his activity.

Through ILO-supported work under LEAP to promote formalization and decent work in tourism, local operators received information, guidance and practical support to navigate the process.

Gëzim’s hesitation reflects a wider pattern among short-term rental operators in Korça. Recent findings show that while awareness of regulatory obligations is relatively high, compliance remains lower because of financial concerns, uncertainty around tax obligations and the perceived administrative burden. In fact, 41 per cent of apartment and villa operators surveyed had never engaged with formal registration processes, even though many found them easier once attempted.

Once Gëzim understood that individual hosts could register accommodation through a simplified process, he completed the necessary steps through e-Albania.

“The process turned out to be much easier than I imagined,” he says. “I just needed the right information.”

Today, Gëzim operates with greater confidence and a stronger understanding of his role in Korça’s growing tourism economy.

“Before, I thought I was simply renting an apartment,” he explains. “Now I realize that I am also representing my city and contributing to its development.”

His experience shows how practical information, municipal engagement and support to small operators can help bridge the gap between awareness and action — contributing to more formal, inclusive and sustainable local economies.

Turning Unpaid Care into a Pathway to Entrepreneurship

For Adelina Kurti, 32, and Marinela Tora, 31, unpaid care work had long left little room to imagine a different future. While Adelina cared for her daughter and her husband’s elderly parents, Marinela devoted her days to raising her two children.

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Today, the two women are taking their first steps as entrepreneurs through AdelMar Handmade, a start-up they created together after participating in a series of training sessions delivered by UN Women under the LEAP Joint Programme.

Through sessions on tourism products, entrepreneurship and financial literacy, they gained practical skills to develop new products, calculate costs and transform an idea into a viable business.

Adelina and Marinela are among 147 women who have strengthened their skills through these training programmes, gaining not only the confidence to pursue entrepreneurship, but also the opportunity to connect with other women, build professional networks and learn how to turn business ideas into reality.

Among the women who have benefited so far, 112 are unpaid caregivers, demonstrating how targeted support can help women facing some of the greatest barriers to economic participation.

For Adelina and Marinela, the training created space to begin imagining a future beyond unpaid care responsibilities and to recognize the economic value of their creativity, skills and experience.

Their journey reflects UN Women’s commitment to advancing women’s economic empowerment by equipping rural women with the knowledge, confidence, networks and opportunities they need to move from unpaid care work towards employment and entrepreneurship.

Building Systems That Leave No One Behind

Marko, Anxhela, Gëzim, Adelina and Marinela began from different circumstances, but their experiences point to the same lesson: people are more likely to move forward when services, institutions and opportunities work together.

LEAP supports Albania’s efforts to expand social protection, strengthen care services and create decent jobs, particularly for women, young people, children, older persons, persons with disabilities, unpaid caregivers and vulnerable families.

The programme is helping advance reforms such as a Universal Child Benefit, piloting Long-Term Care models, strengthening integrated family-centred services and improving pathways from social assistance and unpaid care towards employment and entrepreneurship.

This is the added value of a joint UN approach. UNDP, UNICEF, ILO and UN Women bring complementary expertise across employment, entrepreneurship, social protection, child and family services, gender equality, decent work and local development. Together with national institutions, municipalities, civil society, training providers and the private sector, LEAP is helping connect protection with empowerment.

From Marko’s tourism enterprise in Lezha, to Anxhela’s employment and renewed confidence in Elbasan, Gëzim’s transition into the formal economy in Korça, and Adelina and Marinela’s journey from unpaid care work towards entrepreneurship, these stories demonstrate what becomes possible when social protection, care, skills development, gender-responsive support and employment opportunities are linked.

They are more than individual success stories.

Together, they show how Albania is building more inclusive systems that help people not only overcome vulnerability, but also realize their potential — advancing national priorities, accelerating progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals and ensuring that no one is left behind.

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The “Lifelong Empowerment and Protection in Albania” (LEAP) Joint Programme is implemented by UNDP, UNICEF, ILO and UN Women, in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the Ministry of Economy and Innovation.

Funded by the UN Joint SDG Fund, LEAP serves as Albania’s flagship contribution to the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions, helping to connect social protection, care services, skills development and employment pathways into a coherent system that expands opportunities for the most vulnerable.

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the following contributing governments, whose commitment is helping Albania build more inclusive social protection systems, expand decent employment opportunities and ensure that no one is left behind: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.