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The Albanian Center for Human Rights (ACHR) collaborated with the Albanian Ministry of Education to bring human rights education into all public schools in the country. They took advantage of the post-communist transition period, negotiating with the new democratic government officials to launch a long-term process in which they would prepare Albanian citizens to participate fully in a democracy. Coming out of a political context in which all policies were decided and enacted on a national level, they were able to create a vision to affect the entire education system and have a nationwide impact.

After 45 years of an oppressive and isolationist communist dictatorship, in 1991 Albania faced a new world of democratic possibilities, with mountains of inherited political, economic and social problems and an institutional infrastructure ill-prepared to face them. Education was a particular challenge. To make the most of their new democracy, Albanians needed an educational system that prepared its citizens for critical thinking and encouraged political participation. The Albanian Center for Human Rights (ACHR) developed an ambitious plan to integrate human rights education into the official curricula of all public schools in the country.  The group took advantage of the unique political moment provided by the post-communist transition, negotiated with the Albanian Ministry of Education and Science (MoES) and its Institute for Pedagogical Research (IPR), and implemented the plan.  The Albanian Parliament had ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1993 and integration of HRE in public schools was the first step toward implementing the convention.  ACHR was able to secure a written commitment from the MoES to implement HRE projects in public schools.

After securing the agreement, ACHR began establishing pilot projects, carrying out large training sessions for teachers, and adapting international human rights education materials for Albanian classrooms.  With the core group of trained teachers, activity books were developed for every grade level.  They also created pilot schools, involving teachers and administration in training other teachers.  The trained teachers in turn carried out trainings for all the school’s teachers.  Eventually, all teachers in the pilot schools were trained in human rights and its history, international mechanisms, and human rights methodologies and activities in and out of the classroom.  ACHR also introduced HRE into schools that prepare primary and secondary school teachers, by securing agreements from universities to implement a curriculum developed by international experts and pedagogues.

By the end of the decade, ACHR had developed special curricula material in many subjects for all age groups, trained thousands of teachers to use the materials, set up 42 pilot schools throughout the country, and initiated a curriculum in the teachers colleges to integrate the teaching of human rights into their preparation.

Because of their efforts and this cooperation human rights education was incorporated into the public school system and several teacher training programs.