ALO 116- Albania National Child Helpline (ANCH)

ALO 116- Albanian National Child Helpline

ALO 116 is a service dedicated to the children, which offers 24/7 psychological support, referral of cases and information on children’s rights for free to every child, parent and caregiver in Albania. ALO 116 is has also a big role in advancing, promoting and protecting children’s rights in the country. In its three years of experience, ALO 116 has accomplished an indispensable place in the defense mechanism for children in Albania.

ALO 116 has various supporters and a lot of them are children, for whom in their most difficult cases, the Helpline has been there, as follows some of their stories:

A case referred by the Municipality of Shkodra-the unit for child protection.

Someone called form the municipality to ALO 116 to refer a case of a child (12 years old, girl) and her mother that were physically abused by the father/daughter. ALO 116 through its referral system made possible the accommodation of mother and daughter in Tirana, made possible that they received psychological counseling and contacted the State and local police to work on their case.

The case of a boy from Durres who had trouble studying.

The boy form Durres called many times because he had problems doing well at school, his parents were not pleased with him and his teachers did not motivate him, on the contrary thought he did not have much to give. He was also very passionate about football. With the help of the counselors of ALO 116 he managed to build up a schedule with priorities as well, school first, football later and so maintain good relations with parents and teachers as well.  

These are just but a few examples of the cases that ALO 116 deals every day. Some of them are more difficult and ALO 116 works harder to solve every case. The challenge now for ALO 116 is to keep offering its services with the same high standards and keep being there for the children and fighting for the advancement of their rights.

This new challenge is called FUNDRAISING with the aim to get the most support from the local community. If people contribute themselves for the children’s rights, they will become promoters of those rights.