Where Does TACT Operate?
In Albania, TACT operates in 15 districts through close partnerships with local public and private service providers. TACT carries out an individual follow-up of more than 600 suspected victims of trafficking (mainly children exploited for begging) and more than 400 children at high risks. Its prevention activities have approached till now more than 50,000 children and their families.
In Greece: Since 1998, ARSIS, the Greek Association for the Social Support of Youth, based in Athens, Thessalonica, and Volos, has been working with street children and in 2002 in the framework of TACT, it started child anti-trafficking activities in Greece. Within TACT framework, ARSIS social workers conduct street work, identify and assist Albanian children trafficked or at risk of being trafficked. Assistance offered to the children includes:
- Legal and psychosocial support
- Vocational and recreational workshops
- Literacy lessons
- Cloth and food bank
While the Greek NGO becomes responsible for the assistance and protection offered in Greece, the NGOs in Albania work on the tracing of the child's family and its evaluation. Such cooperation has provided a number of positive results. 183 Albanian children have been assisted through the coordinated actions of both organizations. The Greek Government has recognized the trafficking of Albanian children to Greece and has showed increasingly will to tackle the phenomenon and assist its victims. The contribution of ARSIS to TACT has served the establishment of transnational networks with relative agencies in Albania and Greece.
Currently, in addition to the assistance offered to children victims in Greece, ARSIS is conducting activities in Tirana, aiming at the prevention of child trafficking.
TACT Extention To Kosovo Province
The experience gained from TACT transnational cooperation with Greece, facilitated TACT extension to Kosovo. This extension is a response to the new increasing trend of children moved to Kosovo and forced to beg and work in the streets of Pristine, Ferizaj, Gjakova, etc.
Overall Objective
The Albanian and Kosovo province authorities recognize child trafficking as a serious crime and establish a participatory child protection system with all concerned institutions.
Results
The extension of four out of five TACT axes, "Protection, Assisted Voluntary Return, Reintegration and Coordination", is intended to bring direct and rapid answer to the protection of victims and also prepare to ultimately curb the trend with appropriate mobilization of local authorities.
Direct Beneficiaries
Children being trafficked in destination cities, mainly for illegal activities (begging, street work) and for forced labor (work sites, workshops), at risk of sexual exploitation.
High-risk children: children or families already approached by traffickers, former trafficked children.
At-risk children: children and families of the marginalized groups, suffering socio-economic problems, living in areas where recruiters are active.
Social workers from NGOs and public services in Kosovo; who specify the roles of women and men in the Project and anticipated impact of the Project on women and men.
