“Being open to including new community groups and adjusting the project’s direction helped make the initiative more inclusive and sustainable.”
Nensi Dragoti, an external project manager and grant writer for NGOs and public institutions in his native Albania, has long been concerned about the exodus of youth from places such as his hometown Gramsh. He is dedicated to empowering youth, advocating for youth policies and creating leadership development opportunities there.
When he joined CA, his project focused on engaging youth exclusively. But soon CA’s emphasis on broad community involvement led Nensi and his team to expand their view to include parents, teachers and the elderly. Nensi also saw examples of shared leadership during CA that led him to consider new ways of putting youth in the driver’s seat of activities. With this in mind, Nensi and local youth opened the first youth centre in Gramsh. Young people began to co-create activities, while his own role changed from project leader to facilitator of youth ideas.
Nensi has broad professional and personal experience in civil society, advocacy and community development. Concerned about the conditions and prospects of rural Albanian communities, he focuses much of his time and energy to helping the place he knows best: his hometown, Gramsh.
The municipality of Gramsh is made up of villages and settlements scattered across the countryside which together have a population of 36,500. The local economy is predominantly agricultural and provides limited job opportunities and access to resources for residents, particularly youth. Unemployment is high, there are few educational or recreational facilities in the area and access to transportation and communication infrastructure is limited. All of this means that young people have a hard time reaching opportunities and support systems, which can make them feel disconnected from society and put them at risk of social exclusion. As a result, more and more young people are leaving Gramsh and the surrounding villages to find opportunities in cities.
But Nensi sees a lot of potential in Gramsh’s strong sense of community and cultural heritage. People value traditional customs and are connected through existing social networks. Nensi has a long-term vision of supporting economic development around Gramsh and the beautiful natural area. There is potential for young people to create their own businesses as a way to stay in the region.
Nensi co-founded an informal group called the Center for Development Gramsh (CDG), which is made up of local residents working together for the good of the community. He also helped establish the first youth council in 2018 as a space where young people can advocate for their rights and address community issues, participate in decision-making processes and contribute to positive change. Nensi explained the concept: Youth council is a structure in each municipality defined by the Law on Youth and it is composed of 7 participants – 1 mayor of the municipality, 1 teacher, 1 representative from a CSO and no formal groups and 4 youths. The structure itself is responsible for all activities for youth in the municipality and advocating with stakeholders.
The CDG arranges training in community engagement and leadership for youth council members to improve their professional and personal skills, connect them and empower them to advocate for policies to help them tackle the social challenges they face. Nensi explained how it works: We opened a call at the schools and then we trained them in active citizenship, engagement and working with municipality to be peer educators among the youth. They develop a calendar of activities for the year and they are the co-organisers of the activities and I support them in finding space and contacting the municipality and other institutions. It’s important because it addresses the real needs of the community – it’s bottom-up and they bring their needs and we work together to address them.
In 2021, he and his team introduced the youth council model in one nearby village (i.e. an administrative unit falling under the municipality of Gramsh). Nensi and his team mapped stakeholders, including parents and municipal representatives, and led dialogue tables with them. Youth from the initial group were trained to provide leadership and advocacy training to the new group. In addition to somewhat more formal training and peer support, Nensi has found that spending time with the youth, showing an interest and maintaining informal regular contact with them are important in building their trust.
Nensi joined CA with the aim of strengthening leadership training for a wider circle of youth throughout the other administrative units. A key step in this process would be mapping stakeholders in the other administrative units, but he recognized that Gaining the trust and active participation of community members can be challenging, especially when working with diverse groups. Overcoming scepticism, addressing historical tensions, and ensuring meaningful engagement require time, effective communication, and relationship-building efforts.
In CA, Nensi was introduced to active listening and listening conversations, which are approaches to better understand the community and create connections with residents [for more on these approaches see the Active listening presentation – link]. Inspired, he and his team decided to broaden their perspective and carry out informal conversations with parents, teachers and youth to hear directly what these individuals see as the assets and challenges for youth in the community. Nensi describes a shift in their approach to talking with youth: These are informal conversations over coffee time. We start with ‘What do you want to be? What are your favourite subjects? Any training or mobility beyond Albania? Needs?”
Nensi and his team conducted interviews in all 11 administrative units of Gramsh. Around 100 people participated. Besides learning first-hand about young people’s interests and needs, engaging parents and teachers brought some surprises: Based on my daily work in the region, community interaction with [parents and teachers] is not typical. I had the preconceived notion that they would not really be open to our interaction. But they were. For example, we found that when there was a solidarity initiative for youth from marginalised groups, people from the community will give. This shocked me.
He also learned confirmed something about local power dynamics: But something we did fear did bear out: parents who work for institutions asked not to be put in front of institutions (in the public eye) – they don’t want to take part in direct advocacy with institutions.
During this time period, interest in creating a youth space in one of the administrative units emerged. The CDG received a grant to cover the rent for 12 months and youth and adults helped fix up the space. Inspired by a CA study visit to a support organisation that gives youth leadership roles, they developed a model where pairs of young people run the space and youth co-create the activities. Some of the participating young people have taken the lead beyond original expectations by applying for grants for additional projects, such as an art centre.
The success of the space had another unexpected side effect: people from other administrative units began calling Nensi to ask what his group could do in their neighbourhoods. One grandma called and said: ‘youth are moving out. Do something’. She had heard about it from her neighbours.
The municipality also assumed that the CDG would set up youth centres across its territory. Nensi explained: One challenge was managing expectations between the municipality and the project team. The municipality placed increasing responsibility on the project to establish youth centres across all administrative units, even though this is primarily [their] mission. While their support was valuable, the pressure to expand the project quickly across all administrative units was unexpected and required careful negotiation.
Holding listening conversations and developing a youth space expanded the circle of involved residents far beyond what Nensi originally imagined. We made a conscious effort to engage diverse groups by extending activities beyond youth to include parents, teachers, and the elderly. Parents and teachers became important actors in supporting the overall aim of creating more opportunities for youth, showing that you can bring impact to a given target group by involving different stakeholders.
During the CA study visit to the Netherlands, Nensi saw how older residents can play an active role in the community. He and his team began reaching out to them and were surprised to find that some were eager to be involved. The key, Nensi later noted, was his team’s open approach, inviting people to suggest how they wanted to be involved, rather than asking them to do something determined by someone else. In this way, one elderly man offered to give guitar lessons. Nensi said: We uncovered an unexpected asset in the elderly community; their willingness to participate and contribute as active members brought new energy to the initiative.
One challenge that emerged was bridging the gap between diverse community groups, such as the elderly and youth. We resolved this by designing joint activities that emphasized intergenerational cooperation, such as workshops where both groups could contribute equally. In one of the administrative units, a concert was held with the explicit intention of attracting people of all ages.
The initial setup did not include specific roles for young people or the detailed involvement of teachers and parents. Two young individuals from the administrative unit are now part of the daily management of the centre. Teachers and parents, while not in leading roles, are key supporters in all activities. The involvement of young people in management roles and the support of teachers and parents has strengthened the project, providing more stability and community integration.
Summing up, Nensi said: The project has significantly increased community engagement, particularly among groups that are not typically visible, such as parents and the elderly. The youth centre has become a focal point for interaction between various community members. The project has also strengthened connections between youth and local institutions.
In reflecting on his own learning, he notes: I learned the importance of flexibility and adaptability in project management. Being open to including new community groups and adjusting the project’s direction helped make the initiative more inclusive and sustainable. I also learned the value of building strong relationships with local institutions to ensure long-term success.
Nensi also noted changes in his own role: My role evolved from a direct developer to more of a facilitator. Initially, I was responsible for leading the project, but as community members began to take ownership of the initiative, my role shifted to supporting and empowering them to drive the project forward. This change was particularly noticeable in the management of the youth centre, where local youth have taken the lead.
Looking ahead, Nensi and his group plan to scale the youth centre model to other administrative units. An important aspect of this process will be working with residents in each administrative unit to set priorities for their centre so that each centre reflects the unique needs of its community. Nensi also plans on continuing with their mentoring model, where youth who are already involved can share the approach and guide new participants in advancing a broad and inclusive initiative.
