Water supply for many rural Albanians meant drawing water from a river or well. While these water sources were often appropriate for domestic use, many sources had been compromised by pollution through sewage or pollutants entering the water table leading to outbreaks of preventable diseases.

Islamic Relief (IR) has sought to improve living conditions by implementing projects to improve local infrastructure. These projects are designed to have immediate and positive impacts on large numbers of beneficiaries and employ concepts of community participation while requiring a short period of time to be completed.

Emerging from 45 years of Communism, the country was left isolated and with little functioning national infrastructure, Albania has struggled to improve the quality of life for its people.

Many sources of safe drinking water have been compromised by pollution through sewage or pollutants entering the water table leading to outbreaks of preventable diseases such as cholera.

Sadly, at one time approximately 2000 villages out of the 2800 in Albania were connected to a water distribution network but now owing to the collapse of the networks, less than 1000 continue to be so. Even so, the old water networks (pipes, reservoirs, and pumps) are steadily deteriorating, leaking and becoming less and less safe to drink from.

In the past, IR worked to improve local roads and small bridges as well as water supply throughout Albania. During 2002 water supply projects in Shkdora Prefecture were prioritized, owing to IR's already-established presence in northern Albania, where the significant intervention of the government and other NGOs in water-related projects is missing.

Since the start of this initiative in 1999, ten different Quick Impact Projects have been completed by IR throughout Albania in coordination with local communities.

Communities are involved in all aspects of identifying their needs, designing the projects and implementing the projects (usually providing the volunteer labour required).

Project Objectives

• To provide increased access to safe and potable drinking water in rural areas of Albania;

• To save the precious time of women and school children who walk for hours to fetch water;

• To save the money of poor people who otherwise would need to purchase safe drinking water;

• To raise community awareness of how to prevent waterborne diseases;

• To raise levels of community participation in initiatives aimed at improving their quality of life.

Project Activities

• Contacts and visits with local government bodies, community leaders and communities to know their needs;

• Identification and evaluation of specific sites and potential projects;

• Follow-up visits by Islamic Relief technical staff to conduct pre-work surveys;

• Drafting of budgets and implementation plans;

• Scheduling, coordinating and supervising the implementation of agreed upon projects.

"Islamic Relief is striving for a fairer world. Our mission is to help the poor and needy to live sustainable, self-reliant lives within safe and caring communities. Our work is guided and shaped by the core values of accountability, humanitarianism, neutrality and impartiality, inclusiveness, integrity and co-operation, all of which are also integral to the Islamic faith."
Dr Hany El Banna - Founder of Islamic Relief

Islamic Relief was established in 1984 and our unique approach is the result of these many years of hands-on experience.

1. Where possible we adopt a community partnership-based approach; encouraging community involvement, understanding and ownership of projects.
2. We run the majority of our field projects ourselves, giving us direct insight into the problems faced and how best to solve them.
3. We aim to empower those we help in order to achieve sustainable results.
4. Though our emergency response teams are quick to respond to emergencies around the world, we continue to support communities long after the initial media interest has died down.
5. We recruit staff locally to benefit from their local knowledge. This ensures that we are culturally sensitive and allows us to reach communities and areas other organisations cannot.
6. Where necessary we coordinate our work with other reputable aid agencies, local organisations and governments.

Millennium Development Goals

Islamic Relief is committed to the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which have been agreed by the world’s leading development institutions in an effort to meet the needs of the world’s poorest by the year 2015. 

The goals:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development

For more information about the MDGs, please visit: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/