Safe Together Albania: Women Alliances Leading the Way in Survivor Protection.

forthcoming

The project “Safe Together Albania: Women Alliances Leading the Way in Survivor Protection” addresses urgent gaps in Albania’s local response to gender-based and domestic violence, where survivors—particularly Roma women, LGBTIQ+ individuals, women with disabilities, and rural women—face fragmented, underfunded, and inaccessible services. Despite national legal frameworks, local systems remain inconsistent and lack institutional commitment. To bridge this gap, the project will establish two Barnahus-inspired Safe Together hubs in Shkodra and Durrës, offering integrated, trauma-informed, survivor-centered services. It will empower Women Alliances to lead local legislative reforms and advocate for gender-responsive budgeting, ensuring sustainability through institutional ownership. This locally anchored, intersectional approach is urgently needed and strategically sound because it shifts away from temporary, donor-led services to durable, public-supported structures embedded in municipal governance. By coupling grassroots advocacy with systemic reform, the project ensures long-term impact, better access to justice, and inclusive protection for structurally excluded survivors.