Group Member(s):

Benjamin (Min) , Chinorod (Chino) , Natanicha (Bible) , Phatsakorn

(Field), Wanwarisa (Pretty)
Country assigned: Albania
Development goal selected: The goal of this self-directed project is to
apply the ideas and how imperialisms cause and effect and the industrial
revolution lead to the Albanias socio-economic issues.
Type of Product: Comic book and model

Product Description
(Make sure it is clear what the product will look like, what it will include,
and how it will be organized.)
The product of our project will be a comic book containing 3 main
topics ( basic information about the country, The issue and how the
government deal with it. ) The comic style will be both narrative and
dialogue between characters. The size of the comic book will be
around A5 for each page. The number of page are still unpredictable
right now because we didn't know how much our information are we
going to have. Min and Pretty are going to sketch the comic book,
Bible will be the one who bold the line and Chino and Field will color
the work.

In addition, there will be a model of Albania about its environment

which contains the mountain and the sea that represent the country.
Also, the building which will indicate the gap between rich and poor
people in Albania. One side will be the urban area which represent the
rich people. In this area, we will set a government house and build a
model character of congress and president which all of them are male.
On the other side will be the rural area which represent the poor
people. In this area, we will build a model character of female who has
to do a lot of work at home. Also, a lot of children in this area. This will
make the reader can imagine more about the situation in our assigned
country today. The comic book will set on the middle of the model.
Summaries: (one paragraph minimum for each section with main ideas
only)

Brief background of your country in written in your own words: (post

1900 creation of country + some major events that made the country
what it is today)
1939-1941 Before the start of World War II, Albania was invaded by
Italy which made Enver Hoxha becomes head of new Albanian
Communist Party while the King Zog flees to Greece.

1943-1946 Then, Germany invaded and occupied which made Italy

surrender. However, Germany withdraw after that but Enver Hoxha
who is a communist politician installed as new leader which made the
non-communist were forced to leave from government position.

1948-1955 After that, Albania breaks ties with Yugoslavia and Soviet
Union begins economic aid to Albania which leads to the founding of
Warsaw Pact.

1985 Enver Hoxha, the Stalinist dictator died lead to the fall of
Communist rule in Eastern Europe.

The Independent political parties formed. At first, the Communist

Party wins the multiparty elections. But, in the next year elections,
Democratic Party wins and Sali Berisha becomes the first elected
president.

2009 Albania joins Nato officially and applies for membership of the
European Union

2014 The European Commission recommends Albania as a

candidate for EU membership.
Brief summary of the history of the social issue (based on MDG
selected) in your country: (causes of the social issue in your country)
The social issue in Albania is their inequality of the gender. This is
due to the tradition of Albania which is female is inferior than male.
They believe that women need to stay at home and only men should
be the one who do work. In addition, the more gap between rich and
poor and the rate of unemployment increases the gender
discrimination too. This loop continue even though their country
reshapes the right of women after the collapse of Communism in
Albania. The poor women give birth to many children which influence
Albanias social to be more inequality since poor people will be
overpopulate rich people. This comes from the problem that they
were not as educated as male.
Albanias education are quite outdated because they had been
communist country before and they also had civil war in the year
1997 which cause a lot of damage to the country (Spend more money
on other area that is not education).

Brief summary of how the social issue (based on the MDG selected)
has affected your country (post 1945): (effects of the social issue in
your country current situation)
First, in education, that boys get more chance than girl to attend
school. Next, health services, the country did not have a water and
sanitation so the burden falls to the girls in the country which they
have to find and carry safe water to the country. This is one of the
reasons that girls cannot attend the school. Furthermore, the girls
who are not allowed to attend school are forced into early marriage.
When those girls have kids they may not know how to take care their
children and if their children got diseases or health problems, they
wont know how to deal with those. Therefore, this can lead to other
issue such as infant mortality. There is also a gap between the
payment of men and women. The average payment of women is
about 18% lesser than males (in urban area), and it is doubly lesser
in rural.
Brief summary of what your countrys government has done to deal
with the social issue (based on the MDG selected): (policies in place
and progress in dealing with the problem)
The country will take steps to prevent and reduce violence against
women and eliminate gender discrimination by legal law. The
stronger legal and institutional will help to protect womens right. Also,
the improved monitoring and evaluation mechanisms will keep
progress towards gender equality on track. They also eliminate
gender disparity in primary and secondary school. This means more
girls are encouraged to attend school.

Albania, the Constitution, from 1998; Article 18, Say that women and
men are equal in the law

The Gender Equality Programme (GEP) is the programme to help

Albanias lawmaker to work out the solution for gender inequality
problem by conduct awareness raising activity on gender equality and
against gender based and domestic violence.

Albanian government is now working on a plan, creating strategic

goals to remove gender-based violence and domestic violence:
1. Economic empowerment of women and men.

2. Guaranteeing factual and equal participation of women in the

politic and public decision-making.

3. Reduction of gender-based violence and domestic violence

4. Empowerment of the coordination and monitoring role of the

National Gender Equality Mechanism, as well as awareness-
raising of the society on gender equality advancing

Reference list for the starter sources used: (APA format)

Why is Albania Poor? (2017, August 15). Retrieved October 17,
2017, from https://borgenproject.org/why-is-albania-poor/
 Woman and Children in Albania Double Dividend of Gender
Equality (2007). Retrieved November 08, 2017 from https://
www.unicef.org/eca/Women_and_Children_in_Albania_english.pdf

Goal: Promote gender equality and empower women. (n.d.).

Retrieved November 08, 2017, from https://www.unicef.org/mdg/
gender.html

Albania vows to include more women in decision-making and the

labour market (updated). (n.d.). Retrieved November 08, 2017, from
http://www.unwomen.org/en/get-involved/step-it-up/commitments/
albania

Sheshi, E. (n.d.). National Gender Equality Policies in Albania.

Retrieved November 10, 2017, from: http://
eurogender.eige.europa.eu/sites/default/files/events-files/
al_1-2june17.pdf

Dragoti E., Tahsini I., Dhembo E., & Ajdini J. (2011). Monitoring
Albanias steps towards gender equality: The case of Gender Quotas
in Politics. Retrieved November 10, 2017, from: http://www.rrpp-
westernbalkans.net/en/library/Research-Results/Albania/Monitoring-
Albania-s-Steps-Towards-Gender-Equality/mainColumnParagraphs/
0/text_files/file/faqosje%20ang.pdf