Ferdiola Rushiti - the activist advocating the empowerment of Roma and Egyptian community

Early activism

Ferdiola was born in Korçë and grew up in a family where education was a priority. "There were no other students from my community at my school. I was an excellent student, and I never felt discriminated against by others. But, when I was amongst my Egyptian community, I could hear the negative stereotypes and prejudice leveled against us", she recalls from her childhood.

Later, as her mother became an activist, she couldn't escape her community's daily problems. " In 2006, my mother created her organization to enhance the social inclusion of minorities in our area. When I was 16, I voluntarily started to help my mother with her projects, organizing summer camps and teaching English to kids".

Ferdiola moved to Tirana to attend her studies at the University of Medicine, where she pursued more volunteer work in several CSOs. She recalls participating in the Political Academy for Roma and Egyptian communities launched by the Open Society Foundation for Albania as the most significant step in her life.

"There, I met other young, educated people from my minority community. We had a series of training courses on how to fight for our rights, lobby policymakers, address different problems, and find solutions". That was like a new school that shaped her future.

Real battles

After delving into theory, the first real-life situation they witnessed was the eviction of Roma families from their houses on Kavaja Street in Tirana in 2013, when their houses were demolished to build a massive private apartment complex instead. "We went there hoping to understand the housing problems but were introduced to this community's dramatic living conditions and social problems instead."

In 2014-2015, another similar situation emerged close to Selita, where hundreds of Roma people were displaced to make way for the Greater Tirana Ring Road construction. Ferdiola worked for two years to address their daily problems, to support them with lawyers and engineers, and to raise these issues with the government. She took a leadership role in this informal group.

"But you need an organization or legal representation to get the opportunity to sit at round tables and talk to institutions. So, together with my colleagues, we have set up the T'reja Organization in 2017."

The organization

Since then, T'reja Organization has implemented several projects significantly impacting the Roma and Egyptian communities. The most important achievement was the exclusion of Roma and Egyptian children from paying fees to attend public kindergarten. "We lobbied for two years until we got approval from the Tirana Municipality. From 2020-2022, about 200 children from these communities benefited from this measure. Now other municipalities in Elbasan and Korca are following suit."

Other projects include lobbying for scholarships for Roma students and campaigning for social housing for hundreds of displaced people from this community.

IdeAl

Another significant achievement was her policy-influencing initiative on social pensions under IdeAl (Dialogue for comprehensive policy development in Albania), implemented by Co-PLAN, Institute for Habitat Development, funded by the EU. The project aimed to lobby policymakers to reduce the age of social pension for her community from 70 to 65 for men and 61 for women.

They got 2000 signatures for a petition from people aged 62-69 in different cities and presented it to Parliament. She met numerous politicians to make her voice heard. Despite campaigning for one year, they have yet to achieve the desired changes in the legislation, as such initiatives take time. "When it comes to budgets, politicians are reluctant. But we will press on. The main achievement was that this issue reached Parliament and was discussed in the parliamentary commission for the first time."

The most challenging part of her job is seeing young girls getting married at an early age, and she cannot stop that. "That is why we now focus more on children and their education. Only children motivate us to carry on. They deserve a better future and decent living conditions."

"Sometimes I feel tired and want to stop and focus on my son and family. But how can I expect others to continue if I stop doing this? she says.