In the European Year of Cultural Heritage, 50 master craftspeople and apprentices were added to the growing list of certified people from the “Traditional Techniques in Building” training. The ceremony was held in the UNESCO Hall of the National Historic Museum and was attended by the Minister of Culture, Ms Mirela Kumbaro Furxhi and the Director of Institute for Monuments Protection, Ms. Arta Dollani. The audience was also addressed by the Ambassador of Sweden, Mr. Johan Ndisi, the Deputy Head of Mission and Commercial Counselor at the Embassy of Germany, Dr. Johannes Dietrich and Mr. Gilbert Blumenstiel, from the Ministry of Economy, Energetics, Transportation and Regional Development in Hessen, Germany.
The project “Skills for Employability of Tomorrow” is a vocational training for historical repair techniques. The training is certified and enables young craftspeople to get employed, and work directly with restoration/conservation of historical buildings. At the same time the training is a platform of continuous transfer of skills from senior craftspeople to young apprentices. During the training participants get to know about historical usage of materials and different repair techniques, while practically working on actual monuments of culture in Berat, Gjirokastra and Korca. Three training modules have been implemented so far: Module 1 started in December 2016 and ended in June 2017, Module 2 started in May 2017 and was concluded in November 2017 and Module 3 started in May 2018 and ended in October 2018.
The three training modules have been implemented in partnership with: Institute for Monuments Protection; Regional Directorates for National Culture in Korça, Berat and Gjirokastra; Regional Directorates for Professional Education in Korçë and Gjirokastra; Professional School “Stiliano Bandilli” in Berat; Donors are the Ministry of Economics, Energy, Transport and Regional Development of Hessen, Germany via GIZ and Swedish Government.
Together with our partners, Ministry of Culture and Institute for Protection of Monuments of Culture, we are still working to create more employment opportunities for the young apprentices, acknowledge the skill and experience of former master craftspeople in the labor market and improve the quality of the restoration works in Albania.
