ALBANIA/ROMANIA – “Break the Circle” – Integrated transnational project to combat gender-based violence
The project aims to contribute to the fight against gender-based violence in two Eastern European countries, Albania and Romania, in harmony with SDGs no. 3 (Health and well-being), no. 5 (Gender equality) and no. 10 (Reduce inequalities). The project aims to directly support women who suffer violence, improving the prevention of the phenomenon in the two national contexts and strengthening the response of organizations and institutions. The strategy is based on three levels of intervention: assistance to women who have suffered violence; prevention through the training of professionals and the education of the younger generations; the comparison and exchange of good practices between bodies and institutions dealing with the issue.
The context
In both countries, Romania and Albania, the underlying causes of gender-based violence are to be found in a patriarchal cultural environment that feeds ideas, beliefs and stereotypes that lead to a conception of women as inferior to men.
Romania occupies the last place in the European ranking in the Gender Equality Index and ranks fourth among the European countries with the highest rates of GBV. Official statistics for 2024 report 1,271 victims of rape in the country and 130,000 interventions related to cases of domestic violence. Services dedicated to women who report violence are scarce and women living in peripheral areas such as that of the Municipality of Sibiu, where the problems are often accentuated, have even fewer opportunities to access rescue and assistance services.
In Albania, too, the problem is mirrored. According to the National Survey on Violence Against Women and Girls, 52.9% of Albanian women report having suffered violence at least once in their lives, and 36.6% said they had suffered it at the time of the interview. In Vlora, the city of intervention, domestic violence is accompanied by the problem of trafficking for sexual exploitation. According to data from the National Coalition of Anti-Trafficking Shelters, 178 cases of human trafficking were taken care of in 2024 alone.
Activities
In particular, the intervention makes it possible to:
- Guarantee assistance to women who have suffered violence through immediate care and the offer of psychological, medical, legal and socio-economic support;
- Prevention through the training of professionals who, in their work, can come into contact with women who have suffered or are at risk of suffering violence and through the education of younger generations to respect and reject gender stereotypes;
- To generate a comparison and an exchange of good practices between bodies and institutions working on the issue in Albania, Romania and Italy.
