Fear. Despair. Uncertainty. I could go on to describe the way Giselda felt when the earthquake shook her little village in Shijak Municipality, one of the 2019 earthquake-affected municipalities in Albania. Their little apartment was heavily destroyed together with their  hope that things were getting a little better. She and her family had to move to a different temporary  place to live  since the earthquake made their apartment inhabitable. And in no time, she also lost her father. Currently, she  lives with her mother, who is still battling the post-effects of Covid and can no longer work.

The 2019 earthquake that hit Albania left behind destruction in the public and private sectors. Affected communities were left reeling from the loss of lives and livelihoods.  The vulnerable communities were disproportionally affected by the loss of economic assets such as livestock, workshops, and equipment-making them fall into “poverty traps”, from which they would be unable to emerge. To respond to this situation, UNDP embarked on a new intervention: “The Earthquake Social Protection Response” Project funded by the Governments of the United Kingdom, Finland, Norway through the SDG Acceleration Fund. One of the project pillars is to assist the  households affected by the earthquake through a combined approach of multiple services to meet their various needs. 

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One day Giselda  was contacted by the Social Mediator engaged with the  project. A meeting was set up to discuss the circumstances of Giselda and her family and identify possible opportunities for assistance.

After the meeting, things seemed to get a little better for her: She enrolled in a programme for graphic designers and was provided with a computer equipped with the needed design programmes. For her, this was a dream come true.

“Thanks to the training and the computer, I could design leaflets, posters, banners, and other promotional materials for several clients that I found  online. I could not believe it when I made my first small profit out of my own hard work. I had long dreamed of this. I was happy because I could help provide for myself and my mother,- says Giselda.

But the support did not end there. Through the community grants financed by the  project, her mother was referred and received specialized support to address her emotional wellbeing.