Mariana Meshi, Different & Equal
Conference stream: Youth
Biography
Mariana is the director of Different & Equal, an organisation based in Albania. She has 20 years’ experience in addressing issues of trafficking and exploitation. Mariana has worked directly with victims of abuse, trafficking or exploitation for their protection and assistance, through enabling sheltering, exercising rights for legal aid, medical help, psychological support, return and reintegration and in increasing their participation.
Session
‘She wouldn’t talk to me because she had seen me around’: exploring issues around safety, stigma and rapport in youth peer research on sexual violence
Day 1, 23 March, 1.15pm
This session is co-delivered by representatives from Safer Young Lives Research Centre, University of Bedfordshire and Different & Equal (Albania)
Organisation
Different & Equal (D&E) is a non-profit organisation dedicated to providing high-quality services for the protection and reintegration of victims of trafficking, exploitation and abuse, and to changing the legal, institutional and social context to counter these abuses.
D&E’s main activities include: victim identification and referral; provision of comprehensive, long-term, reintegration services (residential and community based); awareness-raising in communities about trafficking in persons and the rights of trafficking victims; prevention of trafficking through support to vulnerable groups; training and capacity building of state and civil society partners; research and evaluations; technical assistance in drafting laws and legislation to protect victims of trafficking; and advocacy around the rights and protection for trafficking victims.
D&E has dedicated more than 10 years working to increase the participation of survivors of sexual violence in prevention, advocacy, peer mentoring, and participatory research.