For many Albanians, the law is only as useful as their ability to reach it. A woman fleeing domestic violence, a Roma family navigating a property dispute, a low-income tenant facing eviction — all may have rights on paper, but without a lawyer, without information, and without a system that meets them where they are, those rights can remain out of reach. Closing that gap is the aim of a new regional project called: Enhanced Quality Legal Aid Services (EQUALS) funded by the Government of Austria.

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EQUALS is a regional project implemented in Albania and North Macedonia that aims to strengthen free legal aid systems, enhance institutional capacities, foster regional exchange, and improve access to justice — all in line with both countries' EU accession agendas. Rather than treating legal aid reform as a purely national exercise, the project recognises that Albania and North Macedonia face similar structural challenges, and that progress can accelerate when institutions and practitioners learn from one another.

In Albania specifically, EQUALS contributes directly to the implementation of the Cross-sectoral Justice Strategy. It does so on two fronts at once: strengthening the legal, institutional and operational framework of the state-guaranteed free legal aid system, while simultaneously improving the availability, quality and accessibility of legal aid services on the ground — through partnerships with civil society organisations that deliver legal aid, legal awareness and public legal education across the country.

Since its launch in February 2026, EQUALS has worked closely with the Ministry of Justice and the Free Legal Aid Directorate to develop amendments to the Law on Free Legal Aid. The goal is to address implementation challenges that have surfaced since the law's adoption and to improve access to quality legal aid, with particular attention to vulnerable groups.

Reforming legislation is only half the task — reforms also need to be affordable and sustainable to implement. To ensure decisions are grounded in evidence rather than assumption, EQUALS provided a costing analysis of the draft amendments, giving decision-makers a clear picture of what the proposed changes would require in practice. This kind of groundwork is often invisible to the public, but it is what allows legal reforms to move from good intentions to lasting institutional change.

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Alongside legislative reform, EQUALS supported the Ministry of Justice and the Free Legal Aid Directorate in developing a Functional and Business Process Analysis of the free legal aid system. This analysis offers evidence-based recommendations for improving institutional efficiency, service quality, and user-centred delivery — essentially asking not just "what does the law say?" but "how does the system actually function for the person walking through the door?"

Laws and institutional processes matter, but access to justice is ultimately delivered person to person. Since May 2026, EQUALS has awarded grants to 11 civil society organisations, which are now delivering and expanding both primary and secondary legal aid services, while running legal awareness activities across every region where Free Legal Aid Centres operate.

These grants are designed to:

• strengthen outreach to vulnerable groups who may not otherwise know their rights or how to claim them;
• improve referrals within the legal aid system, so people are guided to the right service rather than left to navigate it alone; and
• increase the availability of legal aid at the local level, closing the distance — literal and practical — between people and the help they need.

Investing in the Next Generation of Legal Aid Professionals: Sustainable reform also depends on people. Since March 2026, a paid internship programme has placed 12 law students in five Free Legal Aid Centres — in Tirana, Durrës, Elbasan, Vlorë and Shkodër. The internships give students hands-on experience in legal aid delivery while giving the Centres additional capacity, creating a pipeline of young professionals with direct, practical exposure to the realities of access to justice work.