Location: Municipality of Cërrik
Implementation period: February 2025 – May 2026
Funding: UNICEF
Total Budget: €83,538
Implementing partners: Municipality of Cërrik, Centre for Education and Sports “Skills”
The project “BOOST – Delivery of Social Care Services in Cërrik” is being implemented by the Municipality of Cërrik, Help – Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe and the Center for Education and Sports "Skills" in frame of the EU4SocialCare program, funded by the European Union, implemented by UNICEF in partnership with World Vision Albania and in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Social Protection. The project aims to expand and improve social care services in the municipality by establishing a fully functional Multi-Functional Community Centre (MFCC). It adapts the national MFCC model to Cërrik, strengthens municipal capacity, and ensures that vulnerable groups have access to integrated, gender-responsive social care services.
The project focuses on renovating and revitalizing the MFCC to create a safe, accessible, and welcoming environment, while developing models and best practices for municipal multi-functional services. These include updated internal regulations and standard operating procedures, protocols for referral and case management, guidance for mobile services, and gender needs assessments integrated into case management. The project also promotes community participation through a Community Advisory Group, ensuring that residents are actively involved in shaping services and linking the community to the MFCC.
Through training, coaching, and exchanges with larger municipalities, municipal staff, MFCC personnel, and volunteers will strengthen their skills in delivering multi-functional social care services. The project will also expand service delivery beyond the MFCC through mobile units, home-visiting family support, youth and child development programs, and targeted support for women, children, persons with disabilities, and marginalized communities, including the Roma and Egyptian populations.
Target Groups
The project primarily supports vulnerable individuals and families in Cërrik, particularly those at risk of social exclusion, poverty, or violence. This includes:
- Approximately 600 individuals, including children, women survivors of violence, cash assistance recipients, rural residents (50% women and girls), persons with disabilities, and members of Roma and Egyptian communities.
- Municipal social services staff (10 employees) and MFCC personnel (6 staff plus young volunteers recruited by UNICEF and World Vision) who will be trained to deliver integrated services.
Indirect beneficiaries include local and regional institutions, such as schools and inter-agency referral mechanisms, as well as the broader population of Cërrik benefiting from improved social care services.
Expected Impact
The BOOST project will ensure that vulnerable individuals and families in Cërrik have access to inclusive, integrated, and community-based social care services. It will strengthen the municipality’s capacity to deliver multi-functional services sustainably, promote social inclusion and empowerment for women, children, and other marginalized groups, and establish a model that can be replicated and sustained in the MFCC and throughout the municipality. Community participation and local ownership are central, ensuring that the services meet the needs of those they are intended to support.
