Various awareness campaigns and the Albanian Women's Empowerment Network’s (AWEN) work, including the organisations CLWG, WtW or Gender Alliance for Development, as well as civil organisations and women's groups, made GBV and domestic violence increasingly public. Nevertheless, the perpetrators are still rarely punished adequately. The women's shelter run by the partner organisation Shelter "Edlira Haxhiymeri" (SEH) in Tirana offers women and children affected by violence protection, safety, and psychosocial care. Many women are traumatised and often unable to adequately care for themselves and their children. The therapy offered is intended to lead them back into a structured everyday life. Economic offers to strengthen their independence are intended to prevent the women from falling (again) into unhealthy dependency. The children receive therapeutic and medical care as well as support in learning.
The women's shelter also actively works to improve the social service system for survivors of violence by providing training and lobbying for professionals in the justice, police, health, and education sectors.
The work of the women's shelter is ground-breaking: through counselling, empowerment, education and awareness raising, women affected by violence can lead a safe and self-determined life in the future.
