When Care Becomes a Bridge to Opportunity

A new day care service in Elbasan, Albania, is giving a helping hand to vulnerable mothers and families and providing them with a chance to work, by repurposing a former orphanage into a beacon of solidarity and change. This is part of a local effort supported by UN Women and the European Union to turn gender equality policies into everyday change.

Every morning, Elena Tallamishi, 33, walks through the gates of the Sisters of Mother Teresa Center, her four-year-old son Omar holding her hand. For months and months, she was a stay-at-home mom, juggling childcare, housework, while living with the anxiety of not being able to earn enough to support her family. Her parents live far away, and her income barely covered rent and food. Now, however, things are set to change.

"I'm going to look for a steady job," she tells Sister Laura. "Now that Omar can stay here, maybe I can finally find something better."

For Elena, the center is more than a childcare service – it is an opportunity to provide for her family. She will now be able to earn an income without the constant fear of leaving her child unattended.

The Municipality of Elbasan is investing in women’s empowerment and family support services, with UN Women’s technical assistance and European Union funding through the EU for Gender Equality Project. These partnerships have helped the municipality develop gender-responsive action plans that turn equality commitments into tangible services for women.

56-year-old Zamira Korra shares the same sense of relief and possibility; she is now raising her granddaughter after her daughter’s poor health left her unable to care for her child. "I had to take full responsibility," Zamira Korra says, “I’m her grandmother, but to all intents and purposes, I am now her mother.”

As someone who was working full-time, she faced an impossible choice: to keep her job and risk leaving the baby unattended, or to quit and lose her livelihood. State-run kindergartens have limited operating hours, which did not fit her work schedule.

Everything changed when the Sisters of Mother Teresa Center decided to transform the residential center into a daily care service.

"If the sisters weren't there, I wouldn’t have been able to manage," she says. "Now I can go to work in the knowledge that she is safe, loved, and learning. They take care of food, clothing, and care, things I was not able to always provide. Now I can work without that constant fear."

Turning Policy into Care

Behind these personal transformations lies a broader story of collaboration. Anchored in the Municipality of Elbasan’s second Local Gender Equality Action Plan (2022–2024), these achievements reflect a coordinated, multi-sectoral effort that combines economic, social, and governance priorities, which comprise from gender-responsive institutions and budgeting, to protection from gender-based violence and inclusive access to childcare and education.

The Municipality of Elbasan’s Local Gender Equality Action Plan (2022–2024) was structured around four key intervention areas. It focused on strengthening gender equality governance and accountability through gender-responsive budgeting and transparent monitoring; reducing gender stereotypes and multiple forms of discrimination through education and positive parenting initiatives; promoting women’s employment and economic empowerment with targeted measures for women entrepreneurs and those re-entering the labor market; and enhancing protection and coordinated responses to gender-based violence to ensure safety, access to justice, and integrated local services.

The establishment of the Sisters of Mother Teresa Center is one of the Plan’s most tangible results, a clear example of how gender equality policies are translated into real-life services that give women and men equal opportunities to work, be represented, and access social services.

The municipality worked closely with the Sisters of Mother Teresa, who were facing closure of their residential orphanage as fewer children required institutional care. Instead of shutting down, they chose to reinvent their mission, transforming the premises into a day care center catering to the needs of vulnerable families, with guidance from the municipality and support from UN Women, within the European Union for Gender Equality project.

Supported by UN Women and European Union under the EU for Gender Equality Project, Elbasan and other municipalities across Albania have designed Gender Equality Action Plans. These plans make local authorities more responsive to community needs, from promoting women’s economic empowerment and inclusive childcare, to advancing gender-responsive governance and ensuring protection from gender-based violence.

Taken together, these priorities make the Plan a comprehensive roadmap for advancing gender equality across all sectors of local governance.

“In Elbasan, gender equality is not just a commitment we have made on paper or in words; it’s the way we understand the development of our city,” says Mayor Gledian Llatja. “During the implementation of the two Local Gender Equality Action Plans, we have seen a clear change in how women and girls engage in economic life. Today, we have more women working thanks to the technical support of UN Women and the European Union, and in close collaboration with local NGOs. This impact wouldn’t have been possible without the support of all these partners.”

The Municipality of Elbasan signed the European Charter for Equality of Women and Men in Local Life in 2017,^[1] with technical assistance from UN Women, thus becoming one of the first six municipalities to recognize the Charter and become its signatories, with the support of the Austrian Development Agency. Soon after, with UN Women’s guidance and the same financial support, Elbasan and four other municipalities adopted their first Gender Equality Action Plans (2018-2020), mapping priorities and budgets to promote equal opportunities for all. This experience laid the foundation for subsequent plans that have further advanced gender-responsive governance and local services.

A Sister’s Calling

Sister Laura, the Center’s director, is one of the local actors who have joined in the municipality’s ongoing efforts to make Elbasan a more inclusive place for women and families. With decades of experience as a nurse and missionary across four continents, she arrived in Albania 18 months ago, ready and eager to continue the Sisters’ legacy of care and service.

“Our relationship with the municipality is not just a formal or institutional one; it is genuinely and primarily one based on friendship,” she says. “We know we can count on them whenever we need support. Our needs, and the community’s needs, are always listened to. I can always call, ask for advice, and receive thoughtful guidance and new ideas.”

At Christmas, people from across Elbasan came with donations, food, clothing, and toys, without even being asked.

“The door was never closed,” Sister Laura recalls warmly. “People brought so much from their hearts. This solidarity made me realize that we must continue; it is our mission to care for these children and support their mothers.”

Now, the Sisters of Mother Teresa Center echoes again with the children’s laughter and the footsteps of mothers heading to work, a living symbol of what gender equality can achieve when it begins close to home. For women like Elena and Zamira, the Center represents much more than a safe space for their children, it is a bridge between care and opportunity, dependence and dignity.

These experiences demonstrate how local gender action plans can turn commitments into lasting transformation, by creating inclusive cities where gender equality is lived in practice, empowering every woman and man, every girl and boy, and ensuring that no one is left behind.

^[1] 23.02.2017. See: https://charter-equality.eu/atlas-of-signatories-of-the-charter/signataires.html?send=ok&c_id=1&nh_id=0&ct_id=0