Towards increased Awareness, responsibility and shared quality in Social Work Erasmus Project

Project Title

Towards increased Awareness, responsibility and shared quality in Social Work

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Capacity Building in higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics:

Project Summary

The T@sk Project aims to reinforce the delivery of Social Services in Albania by empowering Albanian Higher Education Institutions in the field of Social Work. T@sk pursues its main aim through extensive investment in the professionalization, internationalization and digitization of teaching and learning activities of Albanian HEIs for Social Work, and by promoting a stable, proactive and innovative relationship with key actors in Social Services delivery: professional Social Workers, public agencies for Social Services planning and supply, national and international NGOs. Albania suffers from deep unequal distribution of Social Services, predominantly concentrated in urban areas and poorly diversified in terms of citizens’ needs. The intensification of the process of European integration coincided with EU institutions’ requests to invest in the centrality of human rights and the implementation of policies aiming to integrate minorities, and granting social rights to unprivileged citizens. In this scenario, professional Social Workers play an essential role. Social Work is currently a regulated profession in Albania. It has changed profoundly over the last decade, as a consequence of new laws and regulations that have transformed the previous system of cash benefits management into a system that should be based on case management at different levels of society: individuals and families, groups and communities, centralized and decentralized institutions. The qualification requirements expected of Albanian Social Workers hinge upon recent and insufficient investment in HEIs in Social Work. The delivery of Social Services suffers from a widespread lack of professionalism. Social Work graduates continue to account for only a minority of employees in the Social Services. This is as a result of the fragile positioning of the Social Work profession in the Albanian labour market.Within this complex framework, the T@sk project operates according to a strategy developed at three main levels, coinciding with the project’s specific aims: 1)Improve the competences and skills of Academic staff (direct targets) and of students (indirect targets) at the Universities of Tirana, Shkoder and Elbasan that offer a BA and/or MA in Social Work;2)Develop the triangulation of knowledge, professional practice and political investment between HEIs and stakeholders that – at different levels – are responsible for the delivery of Social Services in Albania;3)Promote and circulate international Best Practices that can be tailored to specific social needs in Albania, paying particular attention to vulnerable groups of underprivileged women and children at risk of social marginality. By pursuing these specific aims, the T@sk Project’s ambition is to achieve assessable outcomes at the level of HEIs and Albanian society in terms of: a)Internationalization, increased level of technological innovation, planning the curricular capacity and management competence of key actors in HEIs: teachers, students, administrative staff and senior officials through participation in training sessions and peer-to peer exchanges; b)Professionalization of the relationships between HEIs, professional Social Workers and policymakers in the social policy arena through joint participation in the training and dissemination activities of the project;c)Promotion of social cohesion, equality of access to Social Services, capacity to design tailored services for citizens with different levels of need. By achieving the specific aims and expected outcomes listed above, the T@sk project will contribute to modernizing the functioning of HEIs in the field of Social Work and create a solid background for strengthening the Albanian Welfare State.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 718584 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI FIRENZE & Country: IT

Project Partners

• UNIVERSETI SHKODRES LUIGJ GURAKUQI
• UNIVERSIDAD COMPLUTENSE DE MADRID
• UNIVERSITETI I TIRANES
• ORDINE PROFESSIONALE DEGLI ASSISTENTI SOCIALI DELLA REGIONE TOSCANA
• ISCTE – INSTITUTO UNIVERSITÁRIO DE LISBOA
• UNIVERSITET ALEKSANDER XHUVANI ELBASAN