Albanian Women Empowerment Network is a non-profit organization, informally established in 2009. Our network works in the field of protection of human rights, in particular of the rights of women and girls. The main aim of this network is the social, economic, cultural and politic empowerment of Albanian women. The network consists of 9 organizations which are located in all districts of Albania from north to south, and specifically:

1. Gender Alliance Center for Development (GADC)
2. Counseling Line for Girls and Women – Tirana.
3. Assosiation of Women with Social Problems, Durres
4. Me, the woman, Pogradec
5. Agritra Vision, Dibra
6. Woman to Woman, Shkodra
7. Woman Forum, Elbasan
8. Psyco-social center “The Hearth”, Vlora
9. “Jona” Association, Saranda
10. Qendra për Nisma Ligjore Qytetare, Tiranë, Vlorë

(GADC) is a non-profit and experienced organization, established in 1995, working for almost 15 years. During this time GADC has successfully implemented more than 70 projects. GADC works mainly in the fields of gender mainstreaming, EU integration, economic empowerment, governance, gender budgeting, violence against women, education, and media.

GADC works towards equality between women and men in Albania and realize this goal through advocacy, lobbying and training. With advocacy and lobbying GADC aims to improve the gender balance in decision making and prevent the discrimination against women.

Through training GADC aims to spread its knowledge on gender and empower women. GADC maintains a library focused on gender. The library currently holds more than 2000 volumes on gender issues in psychology, sociology, political sciences and social work; to name a few. The library is open to the public and is the only one of its kind in Albania.

The GADC mission is fulfilled through: collecting and processing opinions and views of groups that benefit from the planning, implementation and evaluation of different projects; raising the awareness of different groups on gender issues, while providing them with a new perspective; addressing problems that Albanian women face in different areas, such as: poverty, low participation in decision-making, domestic violence, trafficking, low access for information, gathering, processing and distributing information on social issues; consolidating the network of collaborators all over Albania; studying social problems from a gender perspective; promoting and supporting women participation in decision-making; increasing the beneficiaries’ number (organizations and individuals) through expanding and improving services provided.

Website: http://www.gadc.org.al/v2/

Counseling Line for Women and Girls is a non for profit organization/association and was founded in 1996.The mission of this NPO is to provide assistance to women and girls who are victims of physical, emotional and sexual violence and victims of trafficking.

The main services provided by the association are: psycho-emotional support to victims of domestic violence and of trafficking; counseling on the phone, face to face and group counseling to help victims of domestic violence to make their own choices and to take responsibilities; sensitizing and awareness raising of public opinion on the phenomenon of gender violence and trafficking; Awareness of institutions and professionals to provide support to improve women raped and trafficked etc.

Association of Women with Social Problems (AWSP) – Durres ,is a non-profit organization, established on 1999, operating in the Durres Region. It aims to promote the gender equality into society and protect the rights of the marginalized women in this region.

Domestic violence, gender equality, active participation of women in decision- making as well as the integration of the informal areas’ marginalized communities into the mainstream society, are the main issues in the focus of AWSP. Over a decade, the Association of Women with Social Problems has been providing various services to vulnerable women of Durres Region, which have been consisting of: psycho- social, legal, and medical services, as well as on the provision of informative and awareness activities.
Concrete lobbying and advocacy initiatives with regard to the community development, with a specific focus on the strengthening of women status in society, has also been an important AWSP area. The mission of AWSP is: to protect women rights as a part of human rights; to increase the women public image as well as her presence in the politics and public life
and to develop the alternatives and possibilities, aiming to strengthen the position of women in community.

is a non-governmental organization that has been operating in Diber region for 15 years, initially as a project of SNV (Netherlands Development Organization) and since 2001 operates as an independent organization.

In the beginning of its work Agritra-Vision, has provided training and support of rural women groups, mainly on issues related to agriculture activities which were unique services in the region. Based on this fact, Agritra-vision has expanded over the years its number of services being based on the needs of different groups in community and the ambition of the organization to respond to new developments.

The mission of the association is strengthening the social-economics position of women and girls in Diber through technical assistance and advice in agriculture, livestock, environment, tourism, social issues and promoting gender equality. Her vision is the empowering women to develop society.

Agritra-Vision objectives are: – to assist and advise rural women in Diber area on sectors of agriculture, livestock and agro-processing, – to encourage women to use the resources of the area for the development of tourism as an opportunity for economic empowerment of women, – to improve women’s knowledge on environmental protection and good management as an important factor for the wellbeing of the community, – to stimulate and support the organization (cooperation) of women in groups as an opportunity to increase their economic role in the family and community, – to improve the social position of rural women in Dibra through trainings and consultations on gender equality issue, – to increase centre’s capacities in accordance with the needs of the target group based in the changes during the development process in order to become a local capacity builder.

WOMAN to WOMAN in Shkodra was founded in 2002 by a group of women that have had a long experience in the field of support to women and girls, victims of physical, sexual, emotional abuse and trafficking.

The organization aim is: To sensitize public opinion and to increase public awareness on phenomena such as violence towards children, women & girls, and violence and human trafficking in our country; to help in changing the state of abused women, girls & children and to make possible the creation of a powerful and functional network that will operate in order to help them; to raise the public image of woman, her presence in the public life and the empowerment of women in defending their rights; to establish collaboration relationships with governmental and non-governmental organizations, in order to realize its goals; woman’s emancipation and support of women in need; to change the condition of violated women and girls, to raise the public image and increase their presence in the social life as well as their empowerment in defense of their interests; to sensitize the public opinion about the phenomena of violence towards women, girls and human trafficking in our country; to collaborate with other governmental and non-governmental organizations inside and outside the country in the accomplishment of our goals.

is a non-for profit, non-political and non-religious organization, registered under the Albanian law as local association in the year 2003.

The association “Me the woman” is contributing very hard toward improving the social and political equality between women and man. The strategy of the association targets the following areas: equal opportunities for women; minimize violence and abuse toward women; empower women in rural areas; increase women participation in decision-making and policy setting; establish effective information sharing regarding women’s issues to inform women; create and maintain sustainable partnerships all over the region; be a model association in national level; to be self-sustaining organization.

The activities of the association include: counseling services, training, public awareness raising, information dissemination, encouraging women to actively participate in decision-making, monitoring local government decisions from a gender perspective, and leading advocacy and lobbying campaigns at the local and national levels.

The association closely collaborates with all-important stakeholders including: local government, local organizations, national and cross-border organizations, local media, local and national businesses, by establishing and maintaining effective communication systems and effectively sharing resources and information.

is an association established in August 1991, and was created as an association with membership. The organization implements its activities in Elbasan Region and has the right to extend them all over Albania.

The specific profile of the organization is based on issues and problems of women particularly those with problems of violence, of different ages, levels of various denominations from urban and rural areas and to increase women’s participation in public life, especially in politics and in decision making.

Parts of the target group of the organization are also men since their presence on the problems of women and girls affects the treatment, alleviation of solving problems by gender. The organization has a good working experience for women’s rights, direct service delivery to girls and women in need, training capacity, and management and specific services providers. The organization assists yearly more than 180 cases through psychological and legal counseling.

Mission of the association is the protection of women rights, their legal representation before the justice, the establishment of the Advocate Studio, Counseling Centers for abused women and girls and establishment of emergency shelter; Increase of women awareness for the role and rights they have in society and family; The education and protection of the reproduction right; The encouragement and inclusion of women in the business. The vision of the association is the protection, guaranteeing and promoting women in social life.

was established on 2001. It operates in Saranda town and the communes around it. The organization consists of 50 members, women of different ages and professions, with eighth-grade, secondary or university schooling. They are characterized by commitment and willingness to render their contribution.

Jona association has made a useful contribution to protect women’s rights and supporting vulnerable groups. It is an organization that works directly with the community and it is very close to them by offering expertise in the most needed areas. The association works to prevent domestic violence and human trafficking. It has collected data and worked to improve inter-ethnic relations and qualified women and girls to get skills that meet the labour market demands.

It is very important and useful for Saranda community the work done by JONA in implementing different projects to increase women’s role in the decision making processes and empower them to participate in decision making.

The mission of “Jona” association is to increase women’s awareness to be an active part of the society through their qualification and re-qualification so that their skills are compatible with the labor market demands and they get positions in decision making.

The Centre was established in November 1997, as a project of the Lawyer Women’s Association and has been operating regularly ever since. On 6 December 2001, by means of Decision No.8 of Tirana District Court, it was registered as an independent legal entity, with status “center”. On December 14, 2004, with the court decision No.8/1 Women’s Advocacy Centre changed the name in Centre for Legal Civic Initiatives.

CLCI’s MISSION

CLCI’s mission is to support, aid and provide legal education to the citizens, giving priority to women and girls, so as to increase their access to public institutions, and in particular in the justice system.

The objectives of CLCI are:
•  Offering free and psycho-social legal services for the victims of domestic violence and of other violent acts and for the people in need.
•  Legal education, with the aim of recognizing and exerting the human rights and freedoms, as provided for by the Constitution, international acts and laws.
•  Advocacy and lobbying for democratization of the justice system and building of its effectiveness, by studying, monitoring and generalizing the best experience and practice in the justice field.
•  Undertaking and support of initiatives for improving the legislation and for lobbying for draft-laws and state policies in the field of protection of the human rights, focusing on gender equality, fight against domestic violence, fight against corruption and trafficking of human beings, aiming their full compliance with the best advanced international standards and the European Union acquis.
For further details please see www.qag-al.org