This programme takes an integrated approach to improving the wellbeing of people living in vulnerable conditions in Tropojë and Pukë.
The programme rests on two of Dorcas's core concepts: Social Empowerment and Protection, and Inclusive Entrepreneurship. The social and economic strands of SMILES therefore complement and strengthen each other.
Tropojë and Pukë share similar social and economic conditions: a poor, rural, mountainous area where small-scale farming, livestock and small businesses are among the main ways people make a living. Isolation, a lack of state support and limited individual and institutional capacity, among other factors, have kept a semi-subsistence way of life in place, based on traditional production methods and low incomes.
SMILES brings together a range of local players who do not just benefit from the programme but will also promote and contribute to the growth of the local economy and the region's tourism sector — making sure the process is led and owned by the local community itself.
The programme deliberately connects with local people and their livelihoods, so that the whole region benefits, not just a privileged few. It will also build social safety nets for the most marginalised people, who struggle to meet their basic needs.
Through Social Empowerment and Protection, the programme aims to lay the foundations for closer cooperation and strong community structures that can play a lasting part in local development. Here the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) approach is essential: it equips individuals and groups to identify and use the resources that already exist in their own communities.
The programme's main beneficiaries are:
- Small and medium-sized farmers
- Owners of small guesthouses
- People with the potential to earn an income
- Young people and children
- Marginalised families
- Older people