Refraction Association

Refraction Association is a registered Albanian Non-Profit Organization in the court and tax offices since 2000. It has 5 permanent staff and there are involved well-known experts and consultants in the activities.
The decision – making within the organization is initiated by the Assemble of association members and the Board of Refraction. The board is composed by five members that can be re-elected.
The Executive Director of the organization is appointed by the Refraction Board, and the number of staff is based on the projects that the organization is implementing.
The staff capacity is improved through the participation in different trainings, organized within the organization structures, and other trainings organized by other organizations in Albania and abroad.
During the last years Refraction established and managed in cooperation with organizations in Macedonia, Kosovo and Sweden the network 'Art network of social sculpture'.
Mission and Objectives: 
Refraction Association is a non-profit Albanian organization. It is established in November 2000. From the beginning it has been an active voice defending Human Rights of marginalized persons deprived by freedom, especially women and children.
The vision of the organization is a safe society, building programs that improve skills and compose an infrastructure of services for rehabilitation and re-integration of persons in conflict with law.
Mission of Refraction Association is to guarantee Human Rights for offenders, to promote the use of alternative measures and to contribute in reducing criminality, through rehabilitation and re-integration of persons in conflict with law in the community.
Main objectives of Refraction Association are:
• Reducing criminality through Crime Prevention programs on local and national level and through involving community in these programs.
• To promote using of alternative measures of imprisonments and pre-trail especially for young persons.
• To support persons deprived from freedom with rehabilitation and education programs for the reintegration of them into society.
• To help the projects beneficiaries with counseling, trainings, employments programs and other activities for returning them in a normal life.
• To assist specialists and staff that work in the penitentiary and crime prevention field with trainings, seminars, workshops, publications for their professional capacity building.
Main Projects / Activities: 
• Promotion of Alternative measures to imprisonment and effective implementation of these measures. Effective implementation of these measures and by specialized professionals were issues addressed by the trainings organized during the implementation of a project.
• Crime prevention activities – Refraction have organized activities for the groups that have a great probability to be involved in criminality and also it has organized awareness campaigns within community for security issues as: antisocial behaviors, crime, drugs use, human trafficking, etc. The organization aims to prevent the criminality through increasing and promoting community participation on crime prevention and problem solving. Refraction aims to promote community based policing and rehabilitation integration and treatment of sentenced persons with imprisonment of other security measures.
• Realizing trainings, giving expertise and capacity building – Near Refraction is established a pool of trainers and experts who are specialized on organizing trainings and workshops with different groups, especially students.
• Researches and studies – These activities were about community development and security issues; penal sentences and their effectiveness on juveniles; situation of imprisoned persons; situation of Human Rights in prisons;
How can you contribute to the Network in your country?: 
Refraction will brings its experience, projects organized, active participation in the network activities, regional focus of the network and an active voice to promote ALF mission and objectives.
Why do you want to join the ALF Network?: 
Refraction Association aim to join ALF network is to organize other activities in regional level, finding partners and implementing projects.

Mission of organization is to guarantee the respect of Human Rights, to promote the use of alternative sanctions and to contribute in reducing criminality, through rehabilitation and re-integration of persons in conflict with law within the community. Refraction Association is an Albanian NGO, its members are professionals whose main interests are crime prevention and rehabilitation of offenders.
The organization was created in 1999 by students and members of different professions being together to contribute into Albanian society. Refraction is legally registered by Tirana Court in 2000.

Since 2000 Refraction Association has been very active in implementing projects aiming to fulfill the mission and the objectives of the organization.