Women's shelters and counselling centres: Access for ALL women

The association Frauenhauskoordinierung e.V. (FHK) supports more than 270 women's shelters and 300 specialised counselling centres in their work throughout Germany. Together they offer protection and support to women and children who experience violence. This work is done by local staff with limited financial and human resources.
Every third woman experiences violence in the course of her life. The most frequent scene of violence is at home. Physical assaults are only the tip of the iceberg. Domestic violence almost always begins with controlling behaviour, humiliation, isolation and other forms of psychological manipulation. In 2021, the German police were called out for domestic violence about every 45 minutes. Those affected are women of all ages, educational levels and backgrounds.

Our society is diverse - this also applies to women and girls who experience violence.

The problem: Only a few women's shelters and counselling centres are fully accessible to particularly vulnerable groups and equipped for their complex needs.

This concerns, for example

- women with disabilities
- trans* women
- Women with a refugee story 
- women with mental and addiction disorders

and many more.

It is high time to create spaces that meet the different needs. With the project "Women's shelters and counselling centres: Access for ALL", FHK would like to contribute to ensuring that all women affected by violence finally have access to appropriate support.

Making women's shelters and counselling centres more inclusive is one of our heartfelt issues. In order to implement the project, we lack financial resources. As a small NGO, we depend on donations to be able to support the staff in the women's shelters and counselling centres.

With your donations, FHK will be able to implement the project "Women's shelters and counselling centres: Access for ALL". This means: together with the 270 women's shelters and 300 counselling centres, dismantling the barriers to accessing the violence protection system and thus improving access for ALL.
In order to reduce barriers for women affected by violence, the FHK website and the digital search for women's shelters and counselling centres will be made accessible. Flyers, brochures and videos will be made available in easy-to-read language and in foreign languages to women's shelters and counselling centres nationwide so that they can better reach ALL women affected by violence locally. In addition, particularly vulnerable groups are supported (financially) in accessing the women's shelter and the counselling centre.

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