About us

Our background

The British Albanian Kosovar Council has developed from the charity formerly called Albanian Youth Action, originated in 1998. With time, the issues have changed for the community and the original objectives have gained a new emphasis. These were to provide support to unaccompanied teenage refugees and refugee families with children coming to the UK as a result of the Balkan wars and the collapse of former Yugoslavia. Since 2000, the numbers of new asylum seekers has reduced and many refugees have settled in the UK. In the light of these events, the Trustees have decided that a more appropriate objective would be to support the cultural heritage of Albanians and Kosovars living in the UK, as well as assisting them with advice, youth activities and educational support.

An expanded Board of Trustees has been appointed which includes a number of young, successful entrepreneurs of Albanian and Kosovan origin.

Our track record

“Without Albanian Youth Action, I would not be where I am today”

The British Albanian Kosovar Council (formerly Albanian Youth Action) was the only organisation specifically set up to assist the waves of Albanian speaking refugees, largely unaccompanied minors, entering the UK as a result of the Balkan Wars and the collapse of civil society in Albania. Several thousand young people have benefited from a wide range of projects, including education, arts, sports, lifeskills, health, a supported housing project, outdoor activity residential weekends, while working in partnership with agencies including the National Theatre, Serpentine Gallery, the Red Cross, Save the Children, and International Social Services.

Albanian Youth Action worked to offer opportunities to these vulnerable young people enabling them to access education and achieve substantial success. For example, outcomes include three young people with PhDs, and many more at University. Others have achieved success in the workplace, reaching managerial positions, or have set up their own businesses.
Education support has included advocacy for those in education, as well as the delivery of a school preparation project (funded by the DFES for six years) to enable school access for those with no English or no previous education. AYA also ran a homework support club in partnership with a number of central London schools – attenders regularly gained a number of GCSEs despite being new to the UK and the language. We have run language and culture projects for several hundred children of Primary School age, offering basics of Albanian language, history and the arts to children growing up in the UK.

Working with the most vulnerable has included activities to raise awareness of health issues through health education, specifically sexual health and contraception to reduce instances of unwanted pregnancies and STDs as well as enabling understanding of the consequences of negative lifestyles involving drug and alcohol misuse. Groupwork has been undertaken to promote mental health by reducing isolation, and assisting the development of peer support networks – friendships made at AYA groups have persisted over many years to the present. We have contributed to health related research and been used as a model of good practice in working with young refugees. AYA has supported social services, schools and the police with advice and consultancy to enable them to work effectively with the group.