Management Response

: Albania
: 2022 - 2025 , Albania (CO)
: GREAT Project final evaluation
:
:

Albania

:

UN Women Albania welcomes the findings of the final evaluation of the GREAT Project and expresses appreciation for the rigorous and participatory approach undertaken by the evaluation team. The evaluation provides a comprehensive and evidence-based assessment of the project’s relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, potential for impact, and sustainability, and offers valuable insights for future programming in economic empowerment of rural women and strengthening of women’s roles in rural development. The evaluation confirms that the GREAT Project has made substantial contributions to advancing women’s economic empowerment in rural Albania. It successfully supported policy reform, strengthened institutional capacities, and promoted inclusive local governance. The project’s alignment with national priorities, international commitments, and donor strategies is clearly demonstrated, and its coherence with UN Women’s strategic objectives and the UNSDCF is well established. UN Women is particularly encouraged by the evaluation’s recognition of the project’s impact in Kolonja, where the Leskovik incubator has emerged as a model of sustainable women-led entrepreneurship. The municipality’s proactive support and integration of gender-responsive budgeting practices reflect a strong commitment to gender equality and provide a replicable model for other municipalities. Similarly, the intervention in Gramsh, which focused on employment within an existing business, has proven to be a practical and empowering approach for rural women, offering a promising alternative to traditional entrepreneurship models. At the same time, UN Women Albania acknowledges the challenges encountered in Elbasan, where the incubator’s delayed operationalization highlighted the importance of clear stakeholder agreements, realistic empowerment pathways, and sustained coordination. The evaluation rightly points out that the project’s emphasis on entrepreneurship did not always align with the aspirations of rural women, many of whom expressed a preference for stable employment. This insight is critical for refining future programming to ensure that economic empowerment strategies are responsive to the diverse needs and circumstances of beneficiaries. The evaluation also underscores the need for stronger market integration, intergenerational engagement, and financial sustainability. While the project laid a solid foundation for policy and institutional change, its long-term success will depend on continued support from national and local governments, and the engagement of the private sector, and civil society. UN Women Albania is committed to addressing these areas of need and to implementing the evaluation’s recommendations, which provide clear and actionable guidance for enhancing the impact and sustainability of future interventions. Overall, the evaluation has been a valuable learning exercise. It has affirmed the relevance and effectiveness of the GREAT Project while offering critical reflections that will inform the strategic direction moving forward. In line with the Strategic Note 2022–2026, UN Women Albania remains committed to promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment. We will continue to work in close partnership with government institutions, civil society, and development partners to ensure that women and girls—particularly those in rural and marginalized communities—are active agents of change and fully benefit from Albania’s progress toward sustainable and equitable development.
: Approved
Recommendation: Continue advocacy for gender sensitive policy at national and local levels and strengthen Government engagement.
Management Response: UN Women Albania endorses this recommendation and recognizes the importance of sustained advocacy to ensure that gender-sensitive policies remain a national and local priority beyond the lifecycle of individual projects. The final evaluation of the GREAT Project confirms that meaningful progress has been made in advancing gender-responsive policy reform and institutional capacity-building. However, it also underscores the need for deeper and more consistent government engagement to secure long-term sustainability and systemic change. UN Women Albania will continue to engage with civil society organizations, women’s networks, and grassroots actors to amplify advocacy efforts and ensure that policy reforms are informed by the lived experiences of rural women. UN Women’s multi-level approach—linking legal reform, policy advocacy, institutional capacity-building, and community engagement—will help bridge the gap between policy and practice and reinforce government ownership of gender equality commitments.
More detail
Description: Continue advocacy for gender sensitive policy at national and local levels and strengthen Government engagement.
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Advocacy
Organizational Priorities: Normative Support
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Impact
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
At the national level, UN Women Albania will continue its advocacy to advance key legal reforms and advocate that relevant sector reforms, strategies, programs and plans align with the EU Gender Equality acquis and consistently reflect gender perspectives in line with global norms and standards on gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. Notably, the finalization of amendments to the Gender Equality Law is critical to strengthening the legal framework for gender equality and women’s economic empowerment. In parallel, UN Women Albania will continue to advocate for the recognition and integration of local and rural development and women’s economic empowerment, including the care economy, into policy and planning frameworks, as a cornerstone of inclusive development and social protection. UN Women country office Albania 2026/12 Initiated
At the local level, UN Women Albania will continue its advocacy with and support to municipalities to apply gender mainstreaming in local policies and plans, including through the operationalization of Local Gender Action Plans (LGAPs). LGAPs follow the same overall objectives of the National Strategy for Gender Equality 2021-2030, as well as the key pillars of the EU Gender Action Plan III, which include elements on women’s economic empowerment, rural women and local economic development. UN Women Albania will also continue to advocate locally for the allocation and tracking of municipal resources to gender-responsive actions. UN Women country office Albania 2026/12 Initiated Pending dedicated GRB resources, ongoing efforts may be intensified and increased
UN Women Albania will continue to advocate for inclusive governance and social service delivery and that the needs of vulnerable and marginalized groups are addressed. This includes supporting civil society organizations to advocate for the rights of rural women, and to hold institutions accountable for inclusive and equitable service provision. UN Women Albania facilitates structured and inclusive dialogues between rural women and decision-makers to ensure their voices, needs, and priorities are reflected in policy and decision-making processes. UN Women country office Albania 2026/12 Initiated
Recommendation: Advocate for more sustainable financial support and mechanisms.
Management Response: UN Women Albania fully supports this recommendation and recognizes that the sustainability of women’s economic empowerment (WEE) initiatives depends on continued institutional and financial support. The evaluation clearly highlights that while the GREAT Project successfully influenced local governance and policy discussions, financial autonomy at the municipal level remains a challenge. The reliance on external donor funding underscores the urgency of establishing long-term financial mechanisms, including grant opportunities and private-public partnerships to maintain momentum beyond the project cycle.
More detail
Description: Advocate for more sustainable financial support and mechanisms.
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Advocacy
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Sustainability, Effectiveness
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women Albania will advocate and collaborate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD) to review and revise the eligibility criteria of the National grant scheme of agriculture to incorporate gender-responsive provisions that enhance access for rural women. UN Women country office Albania 2026/12 Initiated
UN Women Albania will continue to advocate with rural municipalities to integrate grant schemes for women entrepreneurs into their Local Gender Equality Action Plans (LGAPs), enhancing institutional commitment to women’s economic empowerment at the local level. UN Women country office Albania 2026/12 Initiated
UN Women Albania will cost up to three specific municipal services essential for enhancing gender equality and leaving no one behind, one of which could focus on women economic empowerment and/support to entrepreneurship. UN Women country office Albania 2026/12 Not Initiated
UN Women Albania will continue to advocate for the integration of gender-responsive budgeting into national and local planning frameworks. This may include introducing specific indicators to track budget allocations for women economic empowerment. UN Women country office Albania 2026/12 Initiated Pending dedicated GRB resources, ongoing efforts may be intensified and increased.
Recommendation: Foster private sector engagement and support access to market opportunities
Management Response: UN Women Albania fully supports this recommendation and recognizes the importance of private sector engagement in ensuring the sustainability and scalability of women-led economic initiatives. Strong commercialization pathways and market integration remain key enablers to long-term impact of our women economic empowerment initiatives. UN Women Albania will continue prioritize private sector engagement, implement initiatives that allow rural women to move beyond subsistence and informal activities into viable, income-generating enterprises, support women entrepreneurship and build capacity for the development of commercialization strategies for women-led products.
More detail
Description: Foster private sector engagement and support access to market opportunities
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Sustainability, Impact
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women Albania will replicate best practices captured through past women’s economic empowerment interventions, including within the GREAT project, to support the implementation of gender sensitive value chain interventions focusing on sectors such as medicinal and aromatic plants, dairy, handicrafts, vegetable seedlings, and onions in Northern Albania. These sectors were selected based on the gender sensitive value chain analysis conducted, that considered local market and opportunities, their economic potential and relevance to rural women’s skills. UN Women Albania will work with local governments, women groups, and private sector partners to strengthen women’s role in these value chains. Through strategic interventions, we can strengthen women’s roles, raise incomes, and increase economic resilience — while preserving the cultural and environmental richness of these communities. UN Women country office Albania. 2027/08 Initiated
UN Women Albania will continue to support commercialization and market access strategies for women-led products, including through technical assistance, coaching and mentoring and capacity building on topics such as access to finance and funding opportunities, small business management, sales and marketing, access to resources, process optimization, digital transformation, and AI-powered marketing. Through the Women’s Entrepreneurship EXPO 2025, UN Women will continue to offer networking opportunities to connect women entrepreneurs with local and national markets while also providing business growth opportunities. Additionally, UN Women will continue to strengthen the access of women beneficiaries in the value chains to markets by facilitating the establishment of contracts or purchase agreements with private sector actors, providing timely market information on prices and demand trends, and supporting pre-season contract negotiations to reduce market uncertainty and enhance their capacity to manage risks. UN Women country office Albania 2026/12 Initiated
UN Women Albania will continue to strengthen its collaboration with the private sector by promoting the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) as a framework for inclusive and gender-responsive business practices. As of July 2025, 76 companies in Albania have signed on to the WEPs. This growing community of WEPs signatories provides a strong foundation for building partnerships that support women’s entrepreneurship, inclusive procurement, and access to markets. UN Women country office Albania 2026/12 Initiated
Recommendation: Support improvement of digital literacy and financial inclusion of rural women
Management Response: UN Women Albania agrees with this recommendation and recognizes that digital literacy and financial inclusion are foundational to women’s economic empowerment, particularly in rural areas where access to information, services, and markets remains limited. The evaluation of the GREAT Project highlights that while women gained valuable skills and experience through project-supported initiatives, their ability to independently navigate digital platforms and financial systems remains uneven, limiting their potential for growth and sustainability. UN Women Albania will continue to integrate digital and financial literacy components into its programming, with a focus on rural women.
More detail
Description: Support improvement of digital literacy and financial inclusion of rural women
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Innovation and technology
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Sustainability, Impact
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women Albania will support rural women in improving their access to resources, finance, and funding opportunities by enhancing their financial literacy, business planning capacities, and understanding of loan and micro-credit products. These efforts will be complemented by awareness-raising initiatives on legal rights related to property and financial access, as well as the provision of primary legal aid to enable women to effectively claim and exercise these rights. In addition, UN Women Albania will provide training on digital marketing and social media promotion, business planning, market analysis and financing opportunities. UN Women country office Albania 2026/12 Initiated
Recommendation: Focus future work in this area on youth and intergenerational engagement
Management Response: UN Women Albania fully supports this recommendation and acknowledges that intergenerational engagement is essential to ensuring the long-term sustainability of women’s economic empowerment in rural areas. Youth participation in rural value chains is crucial, and requires deliberate efforts to engage younger generations, to secure the continuity of women-led initiatives and traditional knowledge.
More detail
Description: Focus future work in this area on youth and intergenerational engagement
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Youth engagement
UNEG Criteria: Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women Albania will engage men and youth in training sessions to promote shared responsibilities and the value of women’s income, while partnering with academia and vocational schools to deliver youth-targeted training, mentorship, and internship programs within the targeted value chains. These efforts will be complemented by awareness campaigns and the launch of a youth entrepreneurship scheme providing startup kits to promote employment and innovation in the seedling sector. UN Women country office Albania 2027/08 Initiated
Recommendation: Contribute further to community integration and local buy-in
Management Response: UN Women Albania acknowledges that community integration and local ownership are essential for the sustainability of rural women’s economic empowerment initiatives. While women are deeply involved in local value chains, their roles are often informal, under-recognized, and disconnected from decision-making processes. Moreover, collective organization remains weak, and youth engagement is limited, which further undermines long-term sustainability. To address these gaps, UN Women will prioritize community-based approaches that strengthen women’s agency and visibility within their local economies.
More detail
Description: Contribute further to community integration and local buy-in
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: National ownership, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Sustainability, Impact
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women Albania will implement gender-responsive value chain interventions in dairy, MAPs, agriculture, and handicrafts that are rooted in participatory, inclusive, and locally driven approaches. These interventions will ensure that women—particularly those from marginalized rural communities—are meaningfully engaged in all stages of the value chain, from planning to implementation. Through structured dialogues, focus group consultations, and collaboration with local institutions and civil society organizations, the initiative will amplify women’s voices in decision-making and promote equitable access to resources, markets, and services. By anchoring these efforts within Local Gender Equality Action Plans (LGAPs) and aligning them with municipal development priorities, the interventions will enhance social cohesion and secure the commitment of local stakeholders—ensuring that the outcomes are not only sustainable but also embraced and championed by the communities they serve. UN Women country office Albania 2026/12 Initiated
UN Women Albania will work closely with municipalities, and grassroots organizations to co-create solutions that reflect local priorities and cultural contexts. This includes supporting the development or strengthening of Local Gender Action Plans as a mechanism for institutionalizing WEE at the local level. MoUs signed with target municipalities will further formalize local commitment and institutionalize support for women’s empowerment, reinforcing sustainability and local buy-in. UN Women country office Albania 2026/12 Initiated
Recommendation: Improve coordination between stakeholders and their capacities of gender responsive rural development policies
Management Response: UN Women Albania recognizes that effective coordination and capacity-building are essential to advancing gender-responsive rural development policies. UN Women will continue to invest in strengthening institutional capacities at both central and local levels, while also continuing to lead and promote a more effective coordination and coherence for gender equality and gender equality in the frame of women economic empowerment and rural development.
More detail
Description: UN Women Albania recognizes that effective coordination and capacity-building are essential to advancing gender-responsive rural development policies. UN Women will continue to invest in strengthening institutional capacities at both central and local levels, while also continuing to lead and promote a more effective coordination and coherence for gender equality and gender equality in the frame of women economic empowerment and rural development.
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: National ownership
Organizational Priorities: UN Coordination, Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women Albania will continue to invest in strengthening institutional capacities at both central and local levels. This includes targeted training and technical assistance for municipal staff, line ministries, and local gender equality mechanisms to enhance their ability to design, implement, and monitor gender-responsive policies. This capacity building efforts also include an EU integration perspective, exemplified by the dissemination of the gender mainstreaming guidance note on agriculture with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Health and Social Protection. UN Women country office Albania 2026/12 Initiated
UN Women Albania will continue to co-chair the development partner coordination group for gender equality. UN Women will propose a dedicated session focused on Women’s Economic Empowerment, aimed at sharing the experience and lessons learned from the GSVC to be supported in Northern Albania. UN Women country office Albania 2026/12 Not Initiated
UN Women Albania will continue to leverage the UN Gender Thematic Results Group to enhance coordination of the UN system on gender equality and women’s empowerment. As chair of the GTRG, UN Women will propose a joint advocacy piece on rural women for the 2026 International Day of Rural Women and based on findings of the strategic legal review and advocacy efforts around issues that are relevant for women living in rural areas, such as women’s economic empowerment and property rights, monitoring the implementation of legal commitments that advance gender equality in rural areas, currently being conducted. UN Women country office Albania 2026/10 Not Initiated
UN Women Albania will continue to coordinate with civil society organizations engaged in the AICS-funded portfolio and will strengthen collaboration with institutional actors in the target municipalities by establishing regular joint coordination and information-sharing mechanisms. This includes close coordination with CSOs implementing the parallel AICS-funded projects (CIES and COSPE), UNFPA, and other relevant territorial actors to align interventions, promote synergies, and ensure complementarity. These efforts aim to avoid duplication, enhance the coherence of rural development initiatives, and foster local ownership and sustainability. UN Women country office Albania 2026/12 Initiated