Albania in the Shade of the EU Lisbon Agenda: Policies for Social Inclusion of Rural Areas

By using the capability approach to measure social exclusion, the focus of this paper is on how poverty and social exclusion have been developed in rural areas in Albania while presenting evidence from two regions. The paper’s aim is to provide insight on social exclusion processes in rural area and to analyze social inclusion policies which affect poverty and social exclusion of rural people. The research methodology instruments applied are focus group discussions, and semi-structure interviews with representative from the local and the national government. Among the main findings of the paper are (1) poverty in Albania is a rural phenomenon and social exclusion is a prominent feature of rural life, (2) economic growth was not accompanied by a reduction of poverty and exclusion for the rural population, (3) it is necessary to apply a multidimensional approach to determine the excluded people instead of using only income level, (4) women represent the group which is at highest risk of exclusion and they lack mostly social capital, and (5) the progress made in formulation of social policies is not associated with same results in policy implementation process.