WWC

Women Wellness Center - Safe House (WWC - S.H) is a non-governmental organization working in Peja region, and continues to work based on activities lead by its mission

The mission of the WWC/Safe House: To improve the health, well being and status of Kosovo women and girls by responding to their practical needs as survivors of violence in Peja region; and by protecting, sheltering, advocating and raising awareness for their rights and interests as citizens of Kosovo include all ethnic groups.

The WWC is a multi-service women's Center with wide spectrum of activities in rural and urban areas offering; education, counseling, different courses, seminars, trainings/presentations to different groups including professionals (healthcare providers, social workers, police, judges, and lawyers, public prosecutor) to recognize and respond to survivors of gender based violence (GBV) domestic violence(DV) and trafficking of human being prevention.

Starting with Gender Based Violence (GBV) program in 1999, it durably helped break the silence about violence, especially domestic violence. It has encouraged people to speak up about gender-based violence and make people aware of its consequences on the family cell.

Four main program areas in the focus of the WWC Safe House are:

- Psycho-social counselling

- Education and raise awareness on GBV and counter trafficking

- Sheltering, direct/immediate care and support for their reintegration in society

- Capacity building and support for networking

The Women's Wellness Center is covering four municipalities of the Peja region (Peja, Decan, Istog and Kline) consisting of urban areas and rural zones with a total number of 300.000 inhabitants and except the clients at the safe house from all Kosova.

WWC- Safe House

From December 2002 WWC opened the closed type of shelter "safe house" and offer the accommodation, food and clothing, medical assistance, psychosocial support, emotional support, awareness rising and empowerment trainings, and other relaxation activities for women victims of domestic violence. The capacity of safe house is 18 beds.

The IRC (International Rescue Committee) started in November 1999 to implement Gender Based Violence (GBV) program. Women's Wellness Center (WWC) was opened in January 2000 in collaboration with women from local community to provide a safe and confidential environment in which women may obtain counseling, reproductive health and sexual gender-based violence education, referrals and / or direct assistance related to identified health, social, educational, psychological, legal, and social needs.

From January 2001, WWC worked to become a Local NGO. On May 2001, it was registered under UNMIK as local NGO. Through this time, support was given by BPRM (Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration) supervised from IRC, and from January 2002, there was not any supervision or support, therefore the mode of working was purely as other local NGOs .On December 2002 WWC opened the Safe house for women victims of GBV , DV and sexual assaults.

Different courses at the WWC

965 is the overall number of certificates given from the WWC to the participants in different courses:

- English language course

- Albanian language course

- Computer course

- Internet course

- Journalism course

- Sewing course

- Embroidery course

- Coking course

Extension of the course is 3 month divided 3 times per week.

In general, NGOs are great supporters especially on the discussions of women problems in general. All women NGOs straggle to improve the women position in the Kosovar society, the main cooperation with other NGOs is developed with local and regional NGOs. Several meetings are hosted and organized by WWC in order to exchange experiences and lessons learned in the field of GBV and domestic violence..

The impact of the WWC PEJE activities in Peja region and Kosova has been significant. WWC is proud of the level of success and the efficiency of fund usage through assessing:

- the overall progress on providing services to violated women

- the development of the raising awareness activities with Peja community and specifically with schools and youth

- change in the tradition, culture and patriarchal mentality

- creation of close cooperation with supporting institutions for the GBV victims (CSW, Police, court, victim advocate, health workers and persecutors)

- Help and support during the campaigns / workshops in central level in Kosovo helping on creation legal instruments such are: gender equality law, domestic violence regulation 2003/12

- A study on the prevalence of multiple forms of gender-based violence (GBV) was undertaken by the Women’s Wellness Center (WWC) in the Peja Region of Kosovo in August 2002. The design, implementation, and analysis of the research were the result of collaboration between the WWC, the Reproductive Health Response in Conflict (RHRC) Consortium, and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with expert contribution from GBV researchers at the University of Arizona.

- Initiator in Kosovo level of camping “16 days against violence against women” starting from November 25th until December 10

- Selection of WWC on Inter-Institutional Working Group to combat trafficking of Human Beings of the Office for Good Governance, human rights, equal opportunities and gender.

WWC staff- WWC Staff / Overview

Our staff is composed of 14 permanent and four contracted staff members, with a gender balance of 60% female / 40% male for 2008, The commitment of male staff members according to our mission statement is a very unusual pattern in our society. Their presence and role as educators in the presentations sends a strong message to the community about the importance of this issue to men as well as women. In this way, we justify the main goal of our program, which is gender equality.

The distribution of human resources is based on the services and the need of safe house for client counseling and support.

WWC acknowledges the dedication of the staff for the implementation of difficult tasks with such special target group and during all 24 hours service.