A new concept for social issues

The Director of the Centre said that it was possible to successfully implement this new concept thanks to the support of “Yunus Social Business”, and the support of the Government.

Professor Yunus said that the aim of this initiative is to provide social care to the elderly. “It’s something that was in the head, in the imagination and now it is reality. This is something that can happen. It is something we can translate from our imagination into reality. This is a proof of that, and it’s a special kind of effort, whether you want to run it in a sustainable way. So, you don’t have to go and raise money around this kind of establishment. It runs by its own income. But nobody is trying to make money out of this. The whole idea is to reduce the cost as far as you can, make it convenient for people to have services like medical attention, like the company of each other, family attention, and enjoy life because they feel isolated, because they don’t meet another person like them. Today they have the company of other people.”

Minister Veliaj noted that the Government will support the development of social business, in cooperation with enterprise, in order to develop a new concept of social issues.

“This is an innovative concept that we have undertaken together with “Yunus Social Business” to escape from the classical idea that we had with the so called state hospices, and to move towards public-private collaboration, where this is no longer an hospice, but a home for the elderly, as the name “House of Lords” shows” – Mr. Veliaj said.

During his visit, the Prime Minister talked with professor Yunus and joked with the elderly who thanked the Prime Minister for the interest shown on their conditions. “Thank you Mr. Prime Minister! It is a pleasure to have you here for it never occurred to our minds that a prime minister would come and visit us” – one resident of the “House of Lords” said. The Prime Minister answered jokingly: “I’ll be back here and we’ll meet again, because you’re old but tough”.