From 1 to 5 May, 2017, three representatives from Kosovo participated in the Knowledge Exchange Program on Gender Based Violence, held in Stockholm, Sweden, and organized by the Kvinna Till Kvinna Foundation. Adelina Berisha from the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN), Shpresa Agushi from the Network of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Women’s Organizations of Kosovo, and Zana Hoxha Krasniqi from Artpolis, represented Kosovo in this event, wherein they had the opportunity to share their experience with other participants.
       The purpose of these meetings was that the beneficiaries of the Kvinna Till Kvinna Foundation from the Balkans and the Middle East share their experiences and best practices in combating Gender-Based Violence. The program was divided into three main pillars, namely: Providing Psycho-Social Assistance to Survivors of Gender-Based Violence; Cooperation with a Comprehensive Approach to Assistance to Gender-Based Survivors; As well as Advocacy as a Form of Prevention.
       Apart from the sharing of experience among participants, there were alsoheld by professors, psychologists, activists, and experts of gender-based violence from Sweden and other countries of the world. Among them, Dr. Allan Wade, who spoke of the resistance that survivors of violence use as a mechanism to cope with violence; Vidar Vetterfalk, who spoke on masculinity norms and violence as a necessary perspective to combat gender-based violence; As well as lectures by the psychologist Josefin Grände, who spoke about Secondary Trauma that people who work in providing psycho-social treatment to survivors of gender-based violence may have.
      Adelina Berisha from the KWN invited by Kvinna Till Kvinna, presented the KWN advocacy initiatives in the area of ”‹”‹gender-based violence, while Zana Hoxha Krasniqi from Artpolis held a workshop on how to use the Forum Theatre as a form of raising awareness about Gender-based violence.
In addition to exchanging experiences and knowledge on gender-based violence, an important part of this program was networking between non-governmental organizations from the region and the Middle East.