25 penitentiary staff from all prisons in Albania, including trainers in the field and experienced prison police and psycho- social staff gathered in Tirana in a 3-days capacity building activity. This is an important step forward in the process of building a network of trainers in all prisons of Albania. The initiative, supported by EU and Council of Europe, comes in response to the needs for restructuring the Training Center (TC) for prison staff, and aims to strengthen in-house training capacities by empowering selected staff to serve as future trainers.

In this context the Training Centre has started creating training units within every prison facility in Albania, which will increase the training efficiency, collect and respond to training needs in prisons, as well as draw from the knowledge and tailored experience available on the ground. All the selected local trainers were coached on different topics including the assessment of training needs, development of specific training modules,  and key methods such as case studies, role plays, guided discussions etc.

At the end of the training, participants identified additional support and resources needed to strengthen their role as local trainers in the future. The creation of these training units in each prison increases staff competency and directly impacts the improvement of services delivered to prisoners.

The training was conducted in the framework of the action “Enhancing the protection of Human Rights of prisoners in Albania” part of the joint European Union and Council of Europe programme ”Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye”.