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Expanding Opportunities through YES Volunteers

Albania Yes Volunteer Training At American Corner Tirana

By Katerina Hatija, YES 2013-2014, Albania, hosted by CIEE in Everett, WA

Lately, volunteering has become crucial to young people in Albania. Teenagers and young adults are always on the run from one organization to another looking for new places to get involved. Whether they do it simply because they enjoy it or in the hopes that it will help them get accepted into the college of their dreams, the results benefit their communities and help them to grow.

Three years ago, eager to help increase opportunities for volunteering that would contribute to communities and individual growth in meaningful ways, YES alumni in Albania created the YES Volunteers Program. It started with the sole purpose of helping young generations in Albania by offering new volunteering opportunities. By the end of the first year, we were not only helping young people in Albania to have a voice and a place to work on their ideas, but also ourselves. We were getting motivated more each day by new people and their passion to be and bring the change in the community.

In December 2017, YES alumni in Albania opened an online call for the third generation of YES Volunteers. By January, we had 50 applications, the largest number in the program’s history. In February 2018, 20 young people ages 15 to 23 years old were invited to participate in the YES Volunteer training in Tirana and officially become part of YES Volunteers Program. During this training, Dafina Meco (YES ‘15), Dea Shehu (YES ‘17), Sabina Pipiko (YES ‘17), and I were supported by five experienced YES volunteers in teaching new volunteers about the YES, YES alumni, and YES Volunteer programs, as well as how to develop and implement project ideas. Participants also had the chance to share and discuss their own ideas, which was very inspiring! An additional 15 volunteers will go through a similar training in Fier in March.

The YES Volunteers program has now grown to a community of 80 young people in 11 cities in Albania, and we hope this program will continue to grow!


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