AS@N

How it started...

The Albanian Students Abroad Network Alumni (AS@N) is a youth network organization that has been working for more than 14 years with and for youth. Their mission is to facilitate the engagement and assure the youth participation in policy making while also enhancing their capacities and skills.

Until now, AS@N has trained a total of 7.250 students, facilitated internships for more than 1.400 students and helped to employ 575 young professionals. The unique position of AS@N does not only facilitate the engagement of young people but also the involvement of companies, with whom AS@N has a continuous and long-lasting cooperation.

The focus of the work of the AS@N network is also the engagement and encouragement of young people in their commitment to voluntary initiatives, active engagement in the community to be a catalyst for the change they want to see in society.

Solidarity Action Day

The Solidarity Action Day in Albania takes place in October and is spread in 7 cities of Albania, and it started being implemented in 2020. With the contributions collected on the Solidarity Action Day, youth initiatives from all over Albania are supported, with the aim to empower and support activism of young people, education, equal rights and citizenship, which are chosen by vote by the young people participating in the Solidarity Action Day during the General Assembly. During these years Solidarity Action Day in Albania has engaged over 1500 youngsters from all over Albania and more than 350 institutions that have supported this initiative.

In 2023, the initiative engaged 300 youngsters (14-26 years old) from 7 regions in Albania between (Tirana, Durrës, Elbasan, Shkodër, Lezhë, Fier and Korçë) and offered them the opportunities to carry out volunteering activities, gain job experiences, and run their own solidarity projects.

Projects

Initiatives have also been undertaken for the development of capacities and the evaluation of human resources personnel of public institutions for a better implementation of the initiative for Practices in Public Administration. For seven years in a row, AS@N has organized the “Return and Employment” Internship program and is now implementing, in cooperation with the United Nations Youth Employment and Migration Program, national schemes for graduates abroad with the aim of their employment in the private sector.

AS@N Network has created the Career Center for Youth Employment. Seminars, round Tables and trainings have been organized for the youth, for the human resources staff in the Public Administration as well as for the private sector, influencing the growth and promotion of the youth employment process in all its aspects. With the support of the United Nations, AS@N has created the initiative “Punesimi rinor” that started by returning and employing in Albania 100 young people who have just graduated abroad and continues to help integrate into the labor market (in the private sector) hundreds of other young people through the internship initiative.

Best practice

AS@N’s structure is made up of a total of 28 young people of age 16-26 years old. These young people are included in the initiative to implement the Solidarity Action Day (respectively 4 young people for each region). They are in charge and are the main leaders of implementing the initiative in Albania and they receive ongoing support and mentoring for their work from AS@N staff.