Donate for Albania

Many young and educated people in Albania currently see only one prospect for their future: emigration. In their home country, they face too many hurdles to be able to build their own lives. This is why Help provides start-up assistance: we support young and disadvantaged people through sustainable training programs to facilitate their access to the job market.

Help also creates prospects locally: We provide resources for the establishment of start-ups and small businesses and offer training in business management and marketing. We are particularly committed to strengthening innovative and environmentally friendly ideas and specifically support businesses run by women. Help also promotes the renovation of kindergartens and nurseries to make it easier for young parents to participate in working life. In our work, we rely on the extensive experience we have gained in over 25 years of empowering people in the Western Balkans.

Help has been active in Albania since 2019. Our work initially focused on emergency aid following the severe earthquake in November of 2019. Immediately after the disaster, we distributed relief supplies such as mattresses, sleeping bags and blankets to the affected families. We then helped to rebuild a severely damaged kindergarten.

The legacy of the communist past still weighs heavily on Albania. For over 40 years, the people lived under the totalitarian dictator Enver Hoxha, who led the country further and further into isolation. To this day, around 200,000 bunkers, which Hoxha had built throughout the country to protect it from external enemies, serve as silent memorials to this period.

The regime was overthrown in 1990, but corruption, nepotism and organized crime have so far prevented the country from recovering. Albania remains one of the poorest countries in Europe. In the last thirty years, more than 700,000 people have left Albania in search of work. There is great hopelessness, especially among young people.

In November 2019, Albania was also shaken by a severe earthquake. 51 people lost their lives, public facilities and roads were destroyed and tens of thousands lost their homes. Since then, many people have been struggling with trauma and even greater financial problems.