Multifunctional Community Center – Nishtulla

The Multifunctional Community Center – Nishtulla is a new center that opened its doors to groups in need in November 2013, in the Nishtulla-Durres area.
Built with the vision of being a model for providing essential services to the community, this center aims to improve the access of the Roma and Egyptian community to social services through civil registration, community policing, inclusion in professional courses, and the establishment and strengthening of networks of Roma mediators in the fields of health, education, and child protection.

Thanks to local government-donor cooperation, this center is an investment made with the support of the United Nations Program - Strengthening Local Communities in Need (UNFCCC), which is implemented by UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA, UNV, in partnership with the Municipality of Durrës.

What is your goal?
This center aims to improve the quality of life of groups in need, through the empowerment of the community as a whole and its integration into the life of the city, by offering various services and creating the opportunity for more interaction between residents and institutions.

The services offered by this center:

• Health services included (pediatric service and child consultation, injections and general pathology services);
• psychosocial service (children, youth, women and the elderly);
• services based on the development and integration of marginalized communities, including information, mediation and advocacy for various professional training;
• Empowering young people and their participation in political and decision-making processes;
• Strengthening cooperation with local/national institutions and various NGOs between institutions and the community;
• Providing opportunities for recreational activities;
• Undertaking various awareness and sensitization campaigns on human rights and community mobilization;
• Advocacy, lobbying and mediation for various community problems;

Beneficiaries:

•    Young people who need to integrate and who have a desire to be active and bring positive change to their community.
•    Children with various social and health problems;
•    New mothers and women in general who need health services and psychosocial support.
•    The Roma and Egyptian community of the Nishtulla area as a whole.

Contacts:

Community Center Address:
Neighborhood No.15
"Isuf Ferra" Street (before the Shen Vlash overpass, on the Durres-Tirana highway)
Contact No.:
Administrator 00355 69 24 88 208
Psychosocial Services Specialist 00355 68 52 66 530

Activities During the Period January-May 2014:

A series of activities have been organized at the community center in collaboration with other partners, mainly NGOs.

•  The start of the English course for young people from the Roma community, offered free of charge by CSD and Peace Corps volunteers (The course is weekly and takes place once a week)
• Providing medical visits and distributing free medications to the Roma community, by Mexican and American doctors, made possible by collaboration with the ADRA Albania organization.
• Awareness activities for healthy nutrition and oral health by Slovenian doctors, also made possible by Adra Albania.
• Periodic meetings with the group of young people in the community on the problems that concern them such as: unemployment, lack of a professional course, illiteracy and inclusion in the social life of the city.