Disability Alliances for the Development of Comprehensive Reforms in the Region (DADIRR)

In Jan­u­ary 2023, the Alban­ian Dis­abil­i­ty Rights Foun­da­tion, togeth­er with part­ner orga­ni­za­tions in the West­ern Balka­ns, HANDIKOS Koso­va, Polio Plus Mace­do­nia and the Alban­ian Nation­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Deaf Peo­ple, have start­ed the imple­men­ta­tion of the project “Dis­abil­i­ty Alliances for the Devel­op­ment of Com­pre­hen­sive Reforms in the Region” (DADIRR), which is imple­ment­ed with­in the SMART Balka­ns region­al program.

The Region­al Pro­gram, SMART Balka­ns – Civ­il soci­ety for shared soci­ety in the West­ern Balkans(SMART BALKANS: Shoqëria civile për vlera të për­bashkë­ta në Bal­lka­nin Perëndi­mor), which con­tributes to strength­en­ing par­tic­i­pa­to­ry democ­ra­cies and Euro Atlantic inte­gra­tions in the West­ern Balka­ns by empow­er­ing civ­il soci­ety orga­ni­za­tions and CSO net­works for stronger and active role in cre­at­ing peace­ful and inclu­sive soci­eties for sus­tain­able devel­op­ment in Alba­nia, Bosnia and Herze­gov­ina, Koso­vo, Mon­tene­gro, North Mace­do­nia, and Ser­bia, is financed by the Nor­we­gian Min­istry of For­eign Affairs and is run by Cen­ter for Civ­il Soci­ety Pro­mo­tion (Cen­tar za pro­mo­ci­ju civilnog društ­va — CPCD), togeth­er with part­ner orga­ni­za­tions from Alba­nia – Insti­tute for Democ­ra­cy and Medi­a­tion (IDM) and North Mace­do­nia – Cen­ter for Research and Pol­i­cy Mak­ing (CRPM).

The project “Dis­abil­i­ty Alliances for the Devel­op­ment of Inclu­sive Reforms in the Region”. (DADIRR), which is imple­ment­ed with­in the SMART Balka­ns region­al pro­gram, aims to achieve the fol­low­ing objectives:

Over­all goal (impact) To con­tribute to good gov­er­nance, par­tic­i­pa­to­ry democ­ra­cies and inclu­sive soci­eties towards Euro-Atlantic inte­gra­tion of Balka­ns coun­tries by strength­en­ing the dis­abil­i­ty orga­ni­za­tions region­al coop­er­a­tion and their par­tic­i­pa­tion in deci­sion and pol­i­cy mak­ing processes..

Spe­cif­ic goal: Strength­en a region­al net­work of CSOs and pub­lic author­i­ties in 3 WB Coun­tries, to advance issues of acces­si­bil­i­ty and par­tic­i­pa­tion of PwD in polit­i­cal and pub­lic life, to ensure the har­mo­niza­tion and imple­men­ta­tion of nation­al legal and pol­i­cy frame­work to com­ply with the CRPD, the EU Strat­e­gy for the Rights of PwD 2021–2030.

Spe­cial Objec­tives: 

1. Pro­mote the inte­gra­tion of self-reg­u­la­tion mech­a­nisms by prepa­ra­tion of the reports on com­pli­ance and har­mo­niza­tion of leg­is­la­tion in the area of acces­si­bil­i­ty and par­tic­i­pa­tion of PwD in polit­i­cal and pub­lic life;;
2. Encour­age coop­er­a­tion and part­ner­ship among nation­al and region­al APWD and gov­ern­ments to pre­pare rec­om­men­da­tions for har­mo­niza­tion of the leg­is­la­tion in the area of acces­si­bil­i­ty and par­tic­i­pa­tion in polit­i­cal and pub­lic life, in line with UNCRPD;
3. Pro­mote pol­i­cy advo­ca­cy, gov­ern­ment over­sight, account­abil­i­ty and trans­paren­cy by estab­lish­ing and/or strength­en­ing Par­lia­men­tary Dis­abil­i­ty Lob­bing Groups PDL­Gs in 3 WB project tar­get­ed countries;

ADRF and project part­ners from 3 WB coun­tries, will com­bine their oper­a­tional capac­i­ties in a com­mon effort to assist orga­ni­za­tions ded­i­cat­ed to the ful­fill­ment of rights of PwD in 3 WB coun­tries to devel­op work­ing rela­tion­ships, net­work­ing capac­i­ties and through their leg­isla­tive assess­ment and pol­i­cy advo­ca­cy in the area of acces­si­bil­i­ty and polit­i­cal and pub­lic par­tic­i­pa­tion, empow­er them to engage con­struc­tive­ly with gov­ern­ments to address key chal­lenges faced by PwD. By estab­lish­ing region­al coop­er­a­tion and exchange amongst Leg­isla­tive Work­ing Groups (WGs) and Par­lia­men­tary Lob­by­ing Groups (PLGs), the APWDs will enhance their par­tic­i­pa­tion in deci­sion mak­ing process­es, under­take effec­tive pol­i­cy and leg­isla­tive advo­ca­cy and engage with, but also hold account­able their nation­al gov­ern­ments to make polit­i­cal and eco­nom­ic reforms relat­ed to dis­abil­i­ty, prepar­ing them for the rights and oblig­a­tions that came with Euro­pean Reform Agen­da and EU membership.

Project Coor­di­na­tor 

Alban­ian Dis­abil­i­ty Rights Foundation

Web­site: www.adrf.al

Project Part­ners

Alban­ian Nation­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Deaf

Web­site: www.anad.al;

HANDIKOS Koso­vo

Web­site: www.handi-kos.org;

Polio Plus – move­ment against disability

Web­site: www.polioplus.org.mk;

Reports & publications

Per­sons with dis­abil­i­ties in Alba­nia: acces­si­bil­i­ty and par­tic­i­pa­tion in pub­lic and polit­i­cal life — An analy­sis of com­pli­ance of nation­al legal acts with un CPRD — Read more

Report of com­pli­cance with CRPD — Watch video

Report — Analy­ses on com­pli­ance of legal frame­work in Repub­lic of North Mace­do­nia with CRPD — Read more

Report — Analy­sis of the com­pat­i­bil­i­ty of Kosovo’s legal frame­work with the Unit­ed Nations Con­ven­tion on the rights of Per­sons with Dis­abil­i­ties — Read more