Call for Proposal (CFP): “Strengthening the coordinated response of service providers to manage cases related to all forms of VAW in the municipalities of Durrës and Kavaja"

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the: elimination of discrimination against women and girls; empowerment of women; and achievement of equality between women and men. Placing women's rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

One of the priority areas of UN Women in Albania is to support the government and other stakeholders to address all forms of violence against women. The country has made important steps in this area and is party to key human rights treaties, including the Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention). Albania has also adopted a national legal framework to address domestic and other forms of violence against women, starting in 2006 with the first Law on Domestic Violence, which was later amended in 2010, 2018 and 2020 to bring it in conformity with the Istanbul Convention. In 2008, the Law on Gender Equality came into effect and included the establishment of the national gender machinery. In addition, women survivors of domestic and sexual violence and human trafficking are one of the main groups to benefit from both a free legal aid system and expanded protection measures for victims of crime — the result of a revised Law on Free Legal Aid[1] and amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedures.[2] In April 2020, the Criminal Code also was amended to recognise dating violence as a form of domestic violence offence, following similar amendments that took place in 2018 amendments in the Law on Domestic Violence.

This legislation has created the basis for the country’s coordinated community response to domestic violence, structured around the establishment of the referral mechanisms at the level of each municipality. Local referral mechanisms (LRM), which function based on the Council of Ministers Decision MD No. 334/17.2.2011 consist of representatives of different sectors (municipalities, the police, the courts, including prosecutors and bailiffs, health offices, employment offices, educational offices) and NGOs specialized in violence against women. With the support of international donors, UN agencies and NGOs, LRM have been already established in 55 out of the 61 municipalities in the country. Despite many challenges they face and varying degrees of effectiveness, the LRM remain “the centerpiece of the country’s coordinated multi-agency response to violence against women”.[3]

Despite these improvements, women and girls still face violence and many of them have difficulties in accessing adequate services for survivors of violence. According to the latest National Population Survey “Violence Against Women and Girls in Albania” (2018), 52.9% of women surveyed (aged 18-74 years old) experienced one or more of the five different types of violence during their lifetime.

Women and girls living in the areas hit by the deadly earthquake in Albania of November 26th, 2019 are particularly more vulnerable because of this disaster that has affected many aspects of their life, followed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Past experiences show that women and girls are differently and often disproportionally affected by disasters and crisis and have different and uneven levels of resilience and capacity to recover. Learning from past outbreaks have shown that crisis magnify all existing inequalities, including economic status, ability, age and gender. This was also confirmed by the Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA), conducted in Albania following the earthquake, which points out the disproportionate impact of the earthquake on women and girls in the affected areas. 

The earthquake specifically shed light on Albania’s lack of preparation to respond to natural disasters in a manner that ensures the protection and support to the most vulnerable groups such as women victims of domestic and/or intimate partner violence among other forms of violence, rural women, who face increased risks of losing their subsistence agriculture production; single mothers or women heads of households who are at risk of losing their homes and falling into homelessness and poverty; and other groups with an increased vulnerability such as disabled women and men, LGBTI persons, elderly persons, and Roma and Egyptian women and men.

To address some of these needs, UN Women is implementing a project focused on “Gender Sensitive Post-Earthquake Recovery and Reconstruction”, funded by the Government of Sweden through the UN Albania SDG Acceleration Fund. The project aims to strengthen resilience by reducing inequality and the vulnerability of women in the affected areas. Part of this intervention includes support to service providers and communities to increase their skills and information to prevent GBV and support GBV survivors in the context of disasters and pandemics.

Please find attached all the details of Call for Proposal (CFP): “Strengthening the coordinated response of service providers to manage cases related to all forms of VAW in the municipalities of Durrës and Kavaja"

[1] Law 117/2017 “On State guaranteed legal aid”

[2] Law No.35/2017 “On amendments the law No.7905/21/03.1995 on the Code on Criminal Procedures”.

[3] GREVIO first basline evaluation report on Albania, 2017