Shaping Futures: Building an Ecosystem for Career Guidance in Albania

In the historic city of Berat, 17-year-old Dean Doko is currently training to be a professional working in Albania’s booming tourism industry. For years, Dean was a familiar face at the local Children’s Cultural Center, where he excelled in poetry, acting and playing the violin. But as he approached the end of lower secondary school, he faced a challenge common to many Albanian youth: A lack of structured information to navigate the bridge between education and the labor market.

This gap is where RisiAlbania intervened. By strengthening the country’s career guidance ecosystem, the project ensured that talents like Dean’s were put to good use.

"It was not easy to decide where to go after 9 years of school,” says Dean. “My heart was pulled between the world of art and the world of tourism. I picked tourism because I realized I could bring my creativity and my love for my city into my profession.”

Through a career guidance process involving individual counseling and open days at vocational schools, Dean realized his communication skills were a perfect match for the hospitality and tourism sector. Albania has emerged as a premier Mediterranean destination, and the sustainability of this growth depends on a workforce that is both passionate and professionally prepared.

Dean is now a second-year student at the Kristo Isak Vocational School. He has furthered his expertise through the “Paths and History” training cycle, collaborating with professional guides to master Berat’s UNESCO World Heritage site.

Using Swiss models to institutionalize career services

There are many other young people like Dean in Albania that harbor great potential but are in need of career guidance. Around 600,000 youth aged 15–29 face daily challenges in choosing the right educational pathway, profession or workplace. Many only see opportunity outside the country, resulting in high emigration and brain drain that is limiting Albania’s economic growth.

To address these challenges, the RisiAlbania project, a Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation project implemented by Helvetas and Partners Albania, worked from 2013 to 2025 to develop a sustainable career counselling system. This support focused on strengthening the capacities of institutions delivering career services, providing relevant information and content, and creating a pool of qualified career advisors. Promoting the importance of career services among young people and their parents was a key priority for ensuring they consciously seek and benefit from these services.

Institutions were also supported with training and equipped with modern tools to strengthen their capacity. And a major achievement has been the introduction of the Swiss BIZ model into the Albanian context — an innovative direction for the country. The initiative began with the municipality of Tirana, which led the way by offering career services through a community-based career center that provided diverse services for different age groups. This model was later adopted by three other municipalities: Berat (where Dean lives), Lushnja and Elbasan.

The national career portal managed by the Tirana Career Center also provides young people with comprehensive information, particularly vocational guidance, to support their career choices.

In addition, the four largest public universities, which together enroll more than 50% of Albania’s students, have successfully established their own career services. Private providers have also introduced their own solutions, contributing to a growing ecosystem of career guidance.

Career counsellors are now connected through a peer network, fostering a culture of sharing and peer learning. While training for existing counsellors has been provided, the pipeline for future career advisors remained a challenge. Here, the transfer of Swiss experience proved important. The University of Lausanne played an important role by supporting the Faculty of Social Sciences in Tirana to upgrade the master’s program for career counsellors, which is the only educational program for career advisors in the country. Researchers from this faculty also collaborated closely with Swiss colleagues on a joint research agenda to develop career tools.

For the first time, career centers in Albania are offering contemporary career tests for young people, standardized for the Albanian context. This collaboration continues beyond the project’s duration, following a commitment to transform the Faculty of Social Sciences into a resource center for career services in Albania. Four recent cohorts of graduates as career advisors have already joined the career landscape.

Albanian institutions take the lead

Institutions such as the Agency for VET and Qualifications now own and lead the process of developing content that supports career guidance. Today, this agency offers descriptions of 135 professions that are aligned with all the VET offerings in the country and presented in a visually friendly format to help young people and their parents better understand career options before making a choice. This is complemented by the National Agency for Employment and Skills providing reliable and up-to-date labor market information.

RisiAlbania has also supported the introduction of career guidance services in the pre-university system. These services began in 2021 through the career office of Tirana municipality and have expanded into a 5-year partnership with the Ministry of Education. In 2023, the Minister of Education approved an order to support schools in strengthening career guidance for students in lower secondary education.

Today Dean is one of the 30,000 service users who have utilized career guidance to make informed life choices and build a better future for themselves and their country. Albania’s career guidance system remains nascent but is gradually being strengthened by institutional support across all levels of government. As it evolves with new, high-quality services, Dean and his peers can continue making informed decisions on vocational education, training and career planning — achieving their potential and improving the country’s economic prospects.