In order to improve institutional coordination in cases of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in Albania, the weak points in the agencies involved must be identified. Thus, the project aims to identify the immediate needs of survivors of violence, especially women and girls from marginalised communities in Albania, more quickly and refer them to adequate support measures.
This implementation research and development project assumes that sustainable solutions can only be found when a system is grasped as a whole. All institutions, organisations and people involved in a case of gender-based violence, from those affected to survivor counselling centres to health, justice and police services, are part of this system.
The first step is to identify the different causes of a problem: Where do the support services for survivors of violence reach their limits, and why? Where are the weaknesses in the local and national referral mechanism, i.e. the referral of survivors of violence within the institutional framework, such as police, justice, health and social services? What role do social norms play in the effectiveness of measures to combat violence? How do different discrimination mechanisms interact within this system?
Step by step, the necessary measures are elaborated so that survivors of genderbased violence (GBV) can be better detected and protected by the agencies and civil society organisations involved. In this way, institutional coordination in cases of GBV is to be improved with the aim of creating resilient systems that can also survive times of crisis.
IAMANEH Switzerland launched the project in cooperation with the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) and its two partner organisations CLWG and WtW, in Albania.
