• To establish dialogue among governmental institutions and NGOs having a stake in LSBE
• To find out the status of LSBE in Albania
• To monitor the implementation of the project in 20 districts already involved in the project ensuring that all teachers are using the manual; and facilitate the organization of cascade trainings in this 20 districts aiming to train 1000 other teachers
• To train 255 secondary school teachers in 16 new districts
• To prepare a critical mass comprising committed and skilled teachers who will play a multiplying role in their respective districts
• To prepare the ground for a comprehensive strategy in LSBE
• Facilitate the organization of cascade trainings in 20 districts aiming to train 1000 other teachers

The Project is comIPSsed of two main components:

1- Monitoring the schools in the 20 districts involved in the project in the first phase.

A meeting will be conducted with the MoES and IPS to make sure that LSBE is incorporated in the training guidelines. Ongoing contacts will be maintained with LEDs on the activities planned in the implementation plan. Each LED will report on a monthly basis about what has happened, the problems that have arisen, ways they have been solved, kind of additional support required. A ready-made reporting format will be produced for considering all chapters, all topics and also the way it is shared by different teachers.

2- Training of teachers from 16 districts

16 new districts will be participating in the second phase of the project. Teachers from three schools per district, will be participating in the training workshops. The training workshops will be organized on a cluster-district basis (two districts in a cluster) and will be a total of nine training workshops. The training workshops will be organized in the districts most convenient to conduct such a training (taking into account the geography i.e. regions in its vicinity, training facilities, support from the LEDs). The districts of Tirane and Durres will be addressed separately given the size of the districts and the high degree of exposure to problems such as drugs, alcohol, HIV-AIDS, crimes and conflicts, etc.

A training programme will be developed which will may be adjusted according to the training needs of participants, following the experience of the previous training workshops. There will be about two teacher trainers/specialists who will cover different aspects of LSBE. Each workshop will be evaluated by participants at the end of the training and a questionnaire will be produced for the purpose. Their feedback will also help to adjust the programme of the upcoming workshop.

Trainers will come from a variety of backgrounds to better meet the needs of the target groups. They are schoolteachers, IPS specialists, physicians, and psychologist. Two trainers, on average, will be assigned for each training. The array of trainers that appear in the training programme is meant to specify their areas of specialty.

Two inspectors (from the areas of humanities and sciences) from each LED will attend the training workshop so that they can be equally informed on the new knowledge and trends but also to attend to the project implementation in the region.

At the end of the workshop participants from each region will be invited to develop an implementation plan taking account of the local context. These plans will be agreed upon with the respective LEDs. Implementation will be monitored by the LEDs and by UNICEF staff responsible for the project. During the training participants will show interest, demonstrate commitment and possess the skills will be identified as potential multipliers. This strategy is hoped to address the issue of sustainability.

An important element of the implementation plan will be the work and involvement of young people/students in schools, the main target group the LSBE project targets. Parents will also be involved in school activities such as meetings, group discussions and so on.

Multiplying effect: Identification of key people who can play a training role. During the training several people have been identified from the 20 regions (in the first stage of the project) and others will be identified in the upcoming training workshops from 17 regions. They will function as a critical mass a) to get the work started in the region, to provide training for other teachers in the region and to serve as a resource person.

These people will undergo through a short-term training (3-4 days) as to how to conduct training seminars for others and how they can play a leading role in their district. IPS specialists can assist in this regard.

• Memorandum of understanding for the implementation of LSBE between the MoES and UNICEF
• Survey of the current situation of LSBE in the existing curriculum with IPS specialists, MoES and Life Skills coordinator participating
• Meetings with MoES, IPS director and specialists to agree on a common understanding on which to base future work
• Visits to the regions to meet the directors of LEDs

  a) visit schools to see how LSBE is being applied by teachers in 20 regions already involved and facilitate the organization of cascade trainings
  b) introduce the project in the 16 new districts
  

• discussion of the training programme with the trainers
• training workshops for two districts on a cluster district basis; a detailed plan of trainings will be under organization of the job chapter
• development of the implementation plans from each district
• common agreement on the implementation plans with the LEDs and school teachers
• monitoring of the implementation plans (school activities on certain LSBE issues, school visitations, classroom observations, parent meetings)
• improvement and reprinting of the Life Skills Manual will be done by UNICEF

• Information and data base on various efforts addressing Life Skills issues;
• About 255 secondary school teachers and inspectors will be trained;
• The school culture will be changed through the changes in students’ attitudes;
• The community will be informed on the importance of LSBE and will be involved in concrete activities.

TARGET BENEFICIARY GROUPS

Direct beneficiaries:

• 255 Secondary schools teachers
• 1000 teachers and inspectors
• Secondary school students

Indirect beneficiaries:

• Educational directories
• Parent community

aims at helping young people to acquire knowledge and skills necessary to be responsible citizens in a civilized society. As such it implies not only provision of information but also acquisition of skills and changes in attitudes. These skills include critical and creative skills, ability to know yourself, to communicate with others, to take the right decisions, to come to mutual understanding, to cope with emotions, stress and conflicts.

Life Skills education may also be applied to promote healthy life styles free of Tobacco, Alcohol, Drugs, HIV/AIDS and STI. To put it in one phrase: LSBE helps young people to make the right choices and to lead a healthy life.

The November 2002 workshop in Belgrade, strongly emphasized that LSBE contributes immensely to the academic student achievement. This may be defined as its main objective of this LSBE project.

However, LSBE is not completely new for the Albanian context because projects in specific areas such as health (drugs, HIV-AIDS, alcohol, smoking) and democratic citizenship (human rights, conflict management etc.) were started following the demise of the autocratic regime with the support of various. Without underrating their importance and results, it is obvious that at present the young people are confronted with challenges completely different from those of the previous generations. Some of these challenges have existed before, but new ones have put the youth at risk. For instance: HIV-AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, sexual exploitation and other forms of exploitation, alcohol, smoking and drugs have now become the cause of taking the lives of many young people, at a time when these could have very well been prevented. Also, democratic behaviors and attitudes seem to be far from what our democratic society expects of the younger generation. Therefore, the complexity of these problems requires a multi-faceted and comprehensive strategy.

FIRST EFFORT OF LSBE STARTED IN 2001.

A Life Skills Manual published under the logo of Ministry of Education and Science was produced in 3000 copies and distributed to teachers.

A training plan and training curricula was developed with the consultation and approval of MoES and IPS. As a result 302 secondary school teachers in 20 districts of Albania (Kruje, Kurbin, Lezhe, Tropoje, Mat, Bulqize, Peshkopi, Elbasan, Peqin, Kavaje, Lushnje, Fier, Shkoder, Vlore, Kukes, Puke, Permet, Delvine, Sarande and Mirdite) were trained in the use of the LS Manual. Also, each district group was invited to develop an implementation plan of activities related to Life Skills issues. Several visits were conducted to follow up the implementation plans.

STRATEGY OF IMPLEMENTATION

• Meeting with the IPS specialists to discuss ways to look at the existing curricula to identify LSBE elements to answer the question: What to what extent are our pupils acquiring LS skills? How are these reflected in the existing curricula? A detailed information and analysis will be provided in this regard by the IPS specialists.
• A map of NGO active in this area will be developed and identification of ways how they can be brought together and complement each other’s efforts. This, together with the evaluation of the project, will serve as a good basis for working out a future strategy for LSBE in Albania.
• Meeting with MoES, the directors of 20 LEDs/inspectors (Regional Education Directorates) already involved in the project during 2002 to discuss how far have they gone with their implementation plans and what sort of extra support do they need.
• Training of 1000 teachers in the 20 districts already involved in the project in the first phase by the potential multipliers identified in the first phase with specialist support.
• Meetings will directors of 16 LEDs to inform them of LSBE project and to discuss about their involvement with regard to:

  - number of schools to be involved in the project
  - number of teachers and criteria
  - the timing/date and venue of the training workshop
  - other/special issues related to the project overall
  

• Development of the training programme jointly with the trainers;
• Organization of the regional training workshops; 255 teachers in 16 new districts
• Development of the Regional Implementation plans from each district; with a strong training component i.e. cascade follow-up training in the region in order to share new knowledge with their colleagues in the school/region (community);
• Monitoring of the implementation plans. There will be a tripartite model monitoring which will involve LEDs, the MoES and UNICEF, with LEDs reporting according to a set scheme.