Support for abused women and children

Implementor

Woman Forum Elbasan

The action

Woman Forum Elbasan is a Non-Profit Organization that was established in 1991 and for over 23 years has been providing three concrete services for survivors of domestic violence, community awareness campaigns on the benefits and penalties in implementing violence legislation, capacity building of government local structures. Woman Forum Elbasan operates in 7 Municipalities of Elbasan District and Rrogozhinë and Kavajë Municipalities of Tirana District.

Thanks to this work done, the number of women/girls reporting violence in the 5 Elbasan Police Stations and in the Kavajë Police Station has increased day by day. We state that after women report violence to the police and request, in accordance with the legislation, to be provided with a Protection Order, withdraw from the approval process in the Court by not appearing at the court session. The main reason why this happens is the economic difficulty she and her children face at the time of reporting the violence.

This causes them to return to the apartment of the abuser or to the apartment of their former family members, thus affecting the obligation to withdraw the lawsuit or not to attend the court session. For this very difficult moment, the project aims to support with a financial package to cover at least a period of one month (rent, payment of energy/water/internet, food, clothing, medicines). After the Court approves the request for Immediate Protection Order / Protection Order (PO) the state has planned financial support of 9,000 ALL/month for a survivor. From daily practice, we find that if the Protection Order is after the 10th of each month, the survivor must wait for the 1st-10th of the following month, extending the time of that difficult situation.