A total of 8 local inter-agency coordination forums on improving the management of violent extremist prisoners (VEPs) and supporting their reintegration back into the society took place in Albania in the period from July 2021 to March 2022. They brought together some 250 representatives coming from different governmental levels, institutions and agencies, civil society organisations, prison and probation system, social welfare and municipalities.

These meetings, organised throughout the country, allowed the participants to openly discuss pressing issues, challenges and opportunities to further enhance the multi-stakeholder approach and ensure sustainable co-operation between themselves when it comes to managing violent extremist offenders during imprisonment and after their release. Furthermore, they highlighted the specific role and tasks of each of the relevant actors and emphasized their responsibility to ensure pre-release plans and reintegration approaches are tailor-made to address individual’s specific risks and needs.

These forums were implemented under the Grant Agreement signed between the Institute for Activism and Social Change (IANS) from Tirana and the Council of Europe under the auspices of the  regional action “Enhancing penitentiary capacities in addressing radicalisation in prisons in the Western Balkans”, implemented within the joint European Union and the Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022″.