Ira Topalli 

Ira Topalli is a youth work manager from the organisation Beyond Barriers Albania. In this story she describes how she started out as a volunteer knowing nothing of youth work, went on to be trained and became a youth worker, experienced international youth work as a volunteer, trainer, project manager, and event facilitator, and is now a youth work project manager.

Ira takes all these years of experience and uses these learning outcomes for the betterment of youth work in Albania. This is a story of Ira’s own self- recognition and the part it has played and is playing in political recognition of youth work in Albania.

 

 

  I am very lucky to be doing work that is an expression of my soul!
Dr. Nadine Burke Harris

 

My name is Ira Topalli, but everyone calls me Ira. I am a youth worker and a freelance expert in non-formal education. I have fifteen plus years of experience in international youth work. Anyhow, the most important part of my professional identity is my role as a Programme Manager in Beyond Barriers Association (BBA) in Tirana, Albania. This is the place where I have always found all the motivation, space, means and opportunities to do the work that is an expression of my soul. 

 

 Volunteer to Youth Work Manager

It is in BBA that I found the home to grow and start my career in youth work. I was just a local volunteer at first, with lots of motivation, dedication and dreams! Soon I discovered the EU Youth Programme as it was called back then (now Erasmus+ Youth) and I proceeded with being and European Voluntary Service volunteer in Belgium from 2007-2008. I came back from this experience as a new person and established my foundation, love and dedication for youth work. BBA opened the door again and allowed me to continue my journey of growth and impact for myself and the community I worked with. I was given a chance to develop skills and competencies by participating in several projects and programmes that shaped me as a youth worker, and helped me grow professionally and personally. 

From 2011 to 2012 I attended the Council of Europe “Training of Trainers in Human Rights Education”, which provided me with a very great set of skills and knowledge base. These complimented my academic background in Law studies and added to the practical work I was already doing in the field of Human Rights and youth work. I participated in several more training courses and expanded my roles which now included being a part of the SALTO South East Europe Pool of Trainers and Pool of Accreditors/Assessors for Quality Learning. I had the privilege to lead the South East European Youth Network as a President and later as a Steering Board Member for two mandates.

At this time, I am happy to say that I have been working in BBA for 13 years and have had the pleasure and opportunity to work with thousands of young people at national and international levels. I have coordinated and trained about 250 EVS/European Solidarity Corps volunteers in BBA, I have also trained a few hundred European volunteers in the Western Balkan region through SALTO South East Europe Pool of Trainers; I have led about 15 bigger scale international projects with multiple partners and stakeholders, trained a thousands of young people and adults as freelancer; led and moderated events all across Albania, the Western Balkans and the EU. 

All the gained experience of youth work in international level, has shaped my professional side and allowed me to meaningfully impact on youth work in my own home country.

There are two main recognition achievements for which I am very proud of having been an integral part. Advocating for the youth work in Albania and Tirana gaining the title of European Youth Capital 2022. Both of these areas have contributed to the recognition of youth work in Albania. 

 

 The advocacy campaign for the Youth Law in Albania

Until 2013 youth work in Albania was still a very much unexplored field. Youth issues were regulated through different aspects of various policies and strategies but were not youth policies or youth strategies. Organisations did work with young people but the terminology of “youth work” was not even articulated and development was very slow. Very few organisations recorded good examples of youth work and few experts and individuals could be considered knowledgeable in the field.

In 2018 a former BBA volunteer became a young Deputy Minister of Education, Sports and Youth in Albania. This person took the initiative to propose and start drafting a Youth Law in the country. The Ministry started the process with the support of several interested actors and the involvement of the youth organisations. 

I was one of the key actors during the consultation phase for the draft law. In BBA we took our stand and lobbied for the law to be regulated properly and we stood up for the youth work and youth worker role. I was in charge of following the whole process of the laws development and I designed a campaign with a cross-stakeholder approach where we secured to follow each step until the finalisation. 

BBA and National Youth Congress, an umbrella association in Albania, started the campaign together. Several steps were taken to contest specific articles of the law and provide specific recommendations accordingly. Several of our recommendations were taken into consideration and reflected in the law that was later approved. I was in charge of coordinating and bring forward the work of drafting an opinion letter that was delivered to four Parliamentary Working Groups that were in charge to review the Law; defending our stand and recommendations in front of a Parliamentary Working Group hearing with the respective Ministry and all pro and opposed parties.

The process was long and difficult but fruitful as it finally resulted with the approval of the Youth Law in 2019. So, for the very first time, Albania has a Law on Youth. It is also the very first time that youth work is defined in this law in Article 14, Point 1 and 2. The Article on “youth worker” recognition, that was part of the draft law, was not approved, therefore our work in these regards is continuing. The effect of finally having youth work articulated in a national law is very specific and is having a positive impact on the sector. 

 

 European Youth Capital 2022

The second achievement I would like to highlight was happening at the same time in 2018-2019. This was the campaign to gain the title, “Tirana European Youth Capital 2022 “Activ8””. I was part of the team who prepared the application for the title and followed the whole process from its beginning. 

Tirana was selected to be in the top five and finally won the title. The great team work and effort by the team of the National Youth Congress and Municipality of Tirana paid off. The award ceremony took place in Amiens in France. I remember the ceremony, being on stage with my colleagues when Tirana was announced as the winner. I cannot describe the feeling of pleasure, the emotion, tears and satisfaction of that moment. This was because of great team work and the effort paid off. Personally I felt so proud that youth work and better youth policy developments will be focused on for one whole year by local and national policymakers of Albania and the dynamic young people of Albania will be heard and promoted at the European level.

The reason I love being involved in these processes is because it feels like all the experience I gained through the years in local and international youth work, all my dedication, passion and commitment, and all the networking, it is this that allows me to be a key contributor to these processes. The recognition of myself as a youth worker and all that I have achieved has led me to support the recognition of youth work in Albania at the national level in two major processes.