In 2009, Eglantina Gjermeni was elected for the first time, as Member of Parliament the Republic of Albania, representing the Socialist Party. During her first mandate as a Member of Parliament she was member of the Health and Social Affairs Committee. 

 She was re-elected as Member of Parliament, in the general elections held in 2013.  Mrs. Gjermeni was appointed as Minister of Urban Development on September 2013, position that she held till September 2017. 

Eglantina Gjermeni is a Member of Albanian Parliament, reelected in 2017. She is the head of Sub commission on Gender Equality & Prevention of Violence against Women. 

Prior to enter politics Mrs. Gjermeni was a strong voice and advocate of women rights and gender equality in Albania. For a period of ten years, she was executive director of Gender Alliance for Development Center, a nongovernmental organization mainly focused on gender equality and women rights.  Her work was very much distinguished by leading to tangible results, not only on women rights mainstreaming in legislation and public and private institutions, but more importantly on raising awareness and bringing the gender issue in the center of Albanian political and social agenda.

Mrs. Gjermeni has been teaching as a full time Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Tirana University, from 1995 until 2008, and as a part time Lecturer in the same Faculty from 2009 until September of 2013. In 2015, she received the Title “Associated Professor” from the Department of Social Work, Faculty of Social Science, University of Tirana.  In 2005 Mrs. Gjermeni earned her doctoral degree in Social Work, at the same university. She graduated on History from the Faculty of History and Philology in 1990,and  she pursued her further academic career in Grand Valley State University, Michigan, USA in 1998 where she received her Master’s in Social Work.

In April 2007, she was awarded from Alumni Association at Grand Valley State University, in Grand Rapids, Michigan with “Distinguished Alumni Award”, which is presented to an alumnus who excels in his/her chosen profession and positively impacts the community and the university.

 Dedicated in social issues research Eglantina Gjermeni is author and co – author of numerous articles, studies and publications addressing social issues, mainstreaming gender issues in policy making, and women empowerment as concepts strongly related to the social, economic and political development of the country.  

Mrs. Gjermeni has a long experience as a professional trainer on gender mainstreaming in public policy, sustainable development, gender and governance, gender and security, and gender and media. 

Through her career path, Eglantina Gjermeni aims to influence long term and sustainable interventions, through development programs as well as innovative work in an environment that promotes diversity, creativity and teamwork.

Mesila Doda is General Secretary of the Party for Justice, Integration and Unity (PDIU); former Member of Parliament serving several terms and, former Chairwoman of the Alliance of Women Deputies in the Albanian parliament. 

She is prominent politician and leader acting as a reformer for about 30 years.

She is one of main leaders of democratic changes and empowerment of women in Albania. She has worked profoundly for the enforcement of women’s roles in politics and for the democratization of the political system in the country. She participated in the student movement from 1990-1991, being one of the organizers of the overthrow of the communist dictatorial regime in Albania and a member of the Students Hunger Strike Commission in February 1991.

Prior to entering politics, she was a journalist and Chairwoman of the Audiovisual Media Council (AMA) in Albania. 

She holds a master’s degree in Philosophy from the University Pontificia Urbaniana in Rome, Italy, and the Economics Degree from the University of Tirana, Albania

Eni Çobani is a lawyer, mediator, professor, television personality, businesswoman and women and human rights, activist. She is one of most famous lawyers and successful females in Albania and, a leading mediator in justice issues and a firm defender of women and human rights. She pursues her mission “We Want Justice” through her media activity with “Shihemi ne Gjyq” and civic contribution with her everyday job as a lawyer and consultant. 

She graduated law from Tirana University – Faculty of Law and holds a “Gold Medal of Honor”. She has furthered her academic studies and several specializations and training in human rights and international human rights protection programs at University of Ancona, Birmingham University, University of Athens, Bordeaux, and Brussels. She is focused on several domains of law, such as property rights, civil law, and penal law. She is successful in using her expertise and skills in changing the juridical environment in Albania.

She has been active since 1995 as a lawyer and professor of Human Rights and Comparative Human Rights. Publicly active since 2000 she is as a strong voice of showing the problems and flaws that surround the law enforcement and execution systems in Albania via her public appearances andTv-Broadcasts such as “Lex&Lex” (2000-2002) and “Shihemi ne Gjyq” (2012-On Going). She has cooperated with several international institutions as an advisor/expert including OSCE, UNDP, Albanian Helsinki Committee, UN Women, UNICEF, OXFAM, etc. Her academic and publishing work is mainly focused on Human Rights Law, with focus on Human Rights Comparative Public Law. She speaks fluently Albanian, English and Italian.

Marieta Zaçe graduated at the Academy of Physical Education and Sports. She has worked as a university teacher for 21 years at the University of Tirana. She holds the title Associate Professor in the pedagogical sciences.

She has a long career in politics being among founders of the Democratic Party of Albania and contributing to the transition from communism to democracy.

She has been Deputy Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities from 2005 to 2009. She has more than 15 years’ experience working with gender equality issues and has been a defender of women’s rights in Albania and has participated actively in the movement of women in Albania. During the term of the Deputy Minister she has directed and participated in drafting the strategy of gender equality and to eliminate domestic violence in Albania. During her professional career she has received several acknowledgments (orders) and medals for contribution in the field of education and protection of women’s rights. She is former Head of the Albanian Adoption Committee.

During the years 1992-1996, she was secretary general of the Albanian Olympic Committee and during years 1996-97, the Secretary of State for Sport. She was twice members of the Albanian parliament, 1996-1997, 2001 – 2005 and as vice chairman of the Committee on Social Affairs Committee.

Mirela Arqimandriti has more than 20 years’ experience in the field of women’s rights, gender-based violence and advancement of gender equality in Albanian society. As gender expert and director of Gender Alliance for Development Centre she implemented dozens of projects and organized many activities dedicated to gender-based violence, women’s labour rights, gender responsive budgeting, gender mainstreaming and analysis. Mirela is a researcher and gender analyst. She is trainer of feminist and gender equality theories and coach of many women’s rights organizations. During the last years she developed different sectoral based gender analysis, promote and protect women rights in the labour market through research, awareness rising, capacity building activities, networking, lobbying and advocacy. Mirela applies a statistical based approach in different research studies to support findings and recommendations during the monitoring of the implementation of gender equality legal framework in Albania and the functioning of gender machinery.

She is also co-founder of 3 CSOs civil society organizations which are acting as networks for women’s empowerment (AWEN), for monitoring the local life of men and women and municipality accountability (POP) and for free and fair elections and gender quota (KZLN). All three with a successful track of projects implementation. 

She is a feminist, women’s rights activist and the founder of the first feminist library in Albania in 2015, with 2000 titles of international feminist books. She is continuing the PhD degree on Family and Community Studies and has a master degree in Gender, Poverty and Employment and a master degree in Business Administration.

Eni Vasili is one of the most famous journalist and successful females of the Albanian broadcast media.

Eni Vasili has graduated in communication at IULM University in Italy. She started her career in 1997 at a very young age as journalist in news department of RTSH.  From 2005 to 2011 she hosted political TV-show ‘Studio e Hapur’ in ‘Alsat’, later ‘Albanian Screen’. In 2013 she joined ‘News 24’ with ‘Studio e Hapur’.  In September 2018, Eni Vasili moved to Top Channel, rebranding her show as Open and has quickly gained audience’s attention becoming one of the most watched political talk shows.

She also served as Director of news department. Vasili is also author of two books, ‘Unë kam vrarë’ and ‘Zëra nga errësira’. 

Majlinda Bregu was born on 19 May 1974. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in social sciences at the University of Tirana in 1996. She holds a Master’s Degree in social policy at the University of Tirana in 2003. She then received a PhD at Urbino University in ITALY with the thesis, entitled “Sociology of cultural phenomena’s and normative process”. 

She was Minister of European Integration, Member of Parliament and the Head of Albanian Parliamentary Delegation to European Parliament, Member of Health and Social Issues Parliamentary Commission and Head of sub commission on Minors and Gender Equality. She was also the coordinator of the Social Policies at the Political Orientation Committee of the Democratic Party in January 2004 and Member of the National Council of the Party in April 2004. From 2005 to 2007.

Currently she is the General Secretary of the Regional Cooperation Council. Due to this role her position is on hold within RWLSEE