In their own words:

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Established in 2009 under the auspices of the Council of Europe, the Academy of Political Studies (APS) offers an effective and flexible mechanism on empowering the political dialogue, and contribution of civic and political leaders in democratic transformation agenda in Albania. 

The APS activities comprise two main groups: the training and capacity building accomplished mainly through two main programmes:

• “The Albanian School of Political Studies” (ASPS) is operational since 2007. It focuses on knowledge transfer, training, and idea generation by engaging young politicians, elected leaders, public administrators, and civil society leaders. As implementer of this programme, APS is part of a wider CoE network of 20 schools of political studies established since 1992 with the view to train future generations of political, economic, social and cultural leaders in countries in transition.
• “Training Programme for Local Authorities” offers targeted training to senior local government officials with the view to build the capacities and exchange experience among local government units. Mayors and local public officials have the opportunity to gather beyond political and geographical boundaries, in order to share best practices on solutions to their daily challenges. 

Other programs designed and implemented by the APS aim to foster the public dialogue and participation at central and local level in view of the European integration process and democratic reforms in Albania.

• Since 2019, APS has developed its expertise in providing research, capacity building and influencing the national policy on countering the violent extremism in Albania.In line with the Albanian National Strategy Countering Violent Extremism and Inter-Sectoral Strategy against Terrorism 2021-2025, APS has supported the establishment of reporting mechanism National register of online platforms with illegal content. 

In the same vain, since 2022 APS initiated the establishment of “Trusted Flaggers Network” and continues to provide support to the network in order to foster their collaboration with state agencies and online platforms providers (Meta, X, Youtube, TikTok) for a quickly and efficiently detection and removal of online illegal content inciting to hate speech, radicalization and violent extremism (www.rsb.asp.al).

For the implementation of these activities APS is a trusted partner of the main public actors in the sector as the National Coordination Center for Countering Violent Extremism (CVE Center), Albanian State Police and the National Authority for Electronic Certification and Cyber Security” (NAECCS).

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