The project continues an activity started in the year 2018/2019 with the Florà project, financed by the program Otto per Mille of the Waldensian Church, in order to provide training and professional support to Albanian women, who produce handmade items to sustain their families.

 

The main objective is to provide sales development models through international relations and the creation of temporary shops.

 

 

Many Albanian women are committed to carpet weaving and the creation of other handcrafted products. Crafts and hobby at home represent the beginning of small business activities that could contribute to the development of the community in different dimensions.

 

The difficulties, that many artisan women face in the transition of their projects from a leisure activity to a small business, lie in the lack of specific skills in the sectors of ICT, e-commerce, marketing, and management. Despite high poverty rate, the Albanian government has implemented mobile networks in recent years, and many people can have internet access even in the most remote regions, this could be an opportunity for the community.

 

The project is a continuation of the FLORA 'training program started in 2018, with an Erasmus+ project. Creating temporary shops in tourist places the project will propose a possible solution, allowing to increase the sale of artisan products. Temporary shops will include open spaces proposing educational opportunities.  

 

The project aims to implement the model described above in the Albanian context, thanks to the collaboration with the Gruaja ne Zhuillin Korce association. Engaged in local development it has the mission to contribute to the improvement of the social, economic, cultural, and political status of women in the Korça- Albania region, to promote gender equality through the promotion of initiatives for women and young people, to support social and educational services.

 

The project includes the visit of Albanian women to the Temporary Hub in Bologna scheduled for December 2020 and the transferability of the model, skills, and materials produced by Creativi108 to apply in Albania during summer 2021.

 

Monthly and on-site meetings are scheduled with Gruaja ne Zhuillin Korce (Albanian partner of the project). The project includes a contact visit with partners and stakeholders involved during the first phase, as well as the women who participated in the training of the ongoing project. Two meetings are scheduled to take place in Bologna in order to present the Temporary Shop model for handamade sector to the stakeholders. 

 

Aims of the project:

• to provide a feasibility study on how to open a temporary shop in Albania.

• to do a preliminary estimation of potential interactions and synergies with stakeholders, both directly and indirectly

• to define the strengths and weaknesses that characterize the partnership with respect to the project to be implemented

• to define the constraints and opportunities offered by the reference environment.

•to identify useful processes for e-commerce of local products

 

Output

 

The project will develop a feasibility study and a practical toolkit detailing the characteristics and methods of intervention of the project in order to guarantee greater chances of success.

Participants in the Florà training of the previous project will be able to visit and exhibit in the spaces of the Temporary Hub in Bologna as well as to follow the training in the dedicated classrooms.

 

 

Implementation of a management training for a temporary hub in Albania to support Albanian women who wish to become members and open a temporary shop with their products in tourist places or with high population density. Business plan, feasibility analysis, and indications for increased sales of handmade Albanian women's products will be drawn up.

 

The guide in English and in Albanian will be created following the analysis of the context by both partners. The training includes open training for Albanian women who wish to become a member and create a temporary shop in tourist locations or those with the greatest influx in Albania as well as online training on the Kajabi platform in English and Albanian.

 

The project intends to continue the work carried out by the European Florà Project started in 2017 by Creativi108. Implement the one in progress with the Waldensian Church for the training of 10 Albanian handmakers in the manufactured goods sector and their potential sale through the new ICT tools. To further enhance the possibility of creating a sales space for their products thanks to a model scheduled for the period of December 2020: a temporary physical store with spaces dedicated to training, where women can professionally meet, train, sell their products and generate an international network with the support provided by some Italian fabric designers.