The Albania Women’s Empowerment Network (AWEN), has just published an important report that we have been working on together. This publication highlights a crucial issue: the costs for AWEN members providing services for survivors of gender-based violence in Albania.

With Albania’s commitment to the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women (IC), the government has a duty to ensure comprehensive, victim-centred services. However, civil society organizations (CSOs), which play a critical role in filling the gaps left by insufficient state services, remain underfunded. The IC has foreseen that governments should support CSOs as experts providing these specialised services.

AWEN and the Kosovo Women’s Network thus collaborated to assess the costs of CSOs’ essential services – emergency support, shelter, legal aid, and reintegration assistance – to inform needed government budget allocations. To support CSOs in maintaining current services in line with IC requirements, the Government of Albania must increase its budget by  million ALL in 2026, 197 million ALL in 2027, and 199 million ALL in 2028. Without these funds, critical services for survivors may remain inconsistent, limited, or unavailable when most needed.

Beyond the immediate financial need, the report also emphasises the importance of annual costing exercises to ensure budget allocations align with real demand and inflation. It calls for improved data collection through Albania’s REVALB data management system, better funding distribution through the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, and sustained investment in shelter and Rape Crisis Centres.

This report underscores the urgent need for increased government action to uphold Albania’s commitments under the IC.

The report drew from KWN’s experience conducting similar research in Kosovo, which contributed to the eventual establishment of a permanent budget line for shelters. We hope that this can inspire the Government of Albania to do similarly, in line with their commitments to implementing the IC and to protect women and children! This costing exercise was supported by the Swedish International Development Agency.