The TACT Project
Transnational Action against Child Trafficking (TACT) is a comprehensive, coordinated project to fight trafficking of Albanian children. By articulating direct intervention with capacity building TACT provides assistance to hundreds of trafficked children and former victims, thousand of vulnerable children and their families.
Funded by USAID, Austrian Development, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hellenic Aid, UNICEF and OAK foundation, in June 2006, TACT entered its third phase, which will last until May 2009, putting a strong emphasis on the development of a child protection mechanism in Albania.
TACT III is implemented by Terre des hommes, a Swiss NGO whose vocation is the promotion and protection of children worldwide and Arsis, a Greek NGO which supports children and youth facing social exclusion and marginalization as well as promoting the child and youth rights.
Being a transnational project TACT III is supported by both governments in Greece (Hellenic Aid) and Albania (Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Ministry of Education). Locally, the project has developed a solid partnership with various Local government bodies; municipalities and their child protection units, regional directories of education, regional directories of social services, anti-trafficking police units, and anti-trafficking local committees.
TACT III goal is to durably curb child trafficking thanks to the involvement of duty bearers from the state, local governance, schools and communities themselves. It builds upon a 3 year experience in fighting child trafficking to contribute in a permanent response against the exploitation of Albanian children by:
- Direct interventions on the street and in the communities both in Albania and Greece, detecting suspected victims and children at risk of trafficking.
- Capacity building of State and municipal duty bearers aiming at transferring skills, practices and resources.
- Empowerment of Roma and Egyptian communities to durably curb the phenomenon of child trafficking at their level, in partnership with community based organizations.
- Advocate and monitor decision making and the changes in policies regarding child protection.
TACT III works for a progressive transfer of responsibilities and capacities of three key stakeholders:
- Families and communities
- Municipal social services
- School
For this purpose it is engaged in the:
- Provision of social, psychological, legal and economic assistance in coordination with the responsible authorities.
- Promotion and support of 50 micro-initiatives from the communities themselves
- Establishment and capacity building of Child Protection Units within the municipalities in the areas where TACT operates.
- Strengthening of the school role in the prevention, identification, referral and integration of the children at risk, by increasing the role of the school psychologist in 30 schools of TACT intervention areas.
