The Safe House
CCA has been managing a safe house in Mazar-e-Sharif since April 2007, having since provided assistance to over 600 women from various provinces. The safe house is a place where victims of family violence who are not safe in their family environment can find shelter and support, as a measure of last resort. Trained community workers provide continuous counseling to residents, locate relatives and  facilitate family mediation. A lawyer follows up on any legal matters that need attention.
The safe house is a large two storey building in a gardened compound. It can host a maximum of thirty five women and ten accompanying children - five beds are reserved for emergencies. To ensure safety and confidentiality, the safe house has 24h/day security and its location is known only to a restricted number of people. Only CCA workers have access to the safe house. Length of stay varies depending on the complexity of the case, ranging from 2 weeks to more than one year.
Daily life of safe house residents revolves around vocational training classes, school classes and counseling and mediation
The Safe House commission:
The safe house is managed by CCA and overseen by a Safe House Commission. The Commission meets two to three times per month and is composed of representatives of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, Department of Women Affairs, Department of Health, Department of Justice, Department of Labour and Social Affairs Department of Refugees and Returnees, Prosecutor’s Office and Police. These actors are key referral points for women seeking protection. In addition to referring cases to the Safe House, they support CCA by ensuring a coordinated response and facilitating the last steps of mediation with families. The Department of Women Affairs has, in addition, a monitoring role (visits to the safe house to inspect conditions and interview residents). The main safe house commission is in Mazar-e-Sharif. UNAMA and UNHCR attend as observers. Similar structures exist in Ayback and Pul-i-Khumri, Sheberghan, Saripul, Maimana although they do not meet as often as the one in Mazar.
The safe house commission plays an essential role in following up cases from admission to exit. Strengthening and expanding this structure is important in order to promote active involvement of key institutional actors in the response to family violence and create a sustainable institutional framework to support victims. One of the main challenges of coordination among institutional actors is the lack of a harmonised understanding of violence against women, in general, as well as of basic principles and procedures governing the assistance to victims of family violence (confidentiality, non-coercion etc). This can create coordination problems affecting the resolution of cases, but also undermine the necessary confidence between institutional actors and NGOs supporting victims. There is therefore an urgent need to promote common understanding of the issue, clarify roles and establish clear procedures and principles of assistance to victims of family violence.
Family Mediation:
Counseling and family mediation: four CCA social workers at the safe house provide counseling to the women and coordinate mediation sessions with relatives. Such mediation meetings take place at an agreed time at the CCA office. Because it is presently extremely difficult for women and girls in Afghanistan to live outside a family structure, CCA takes a mediation approach to cases of family violence. This means that dialogue is facilitated over weeks and months between the victim, the victim’s family and community leaders. Mediation aims at reconciliation and at allowing the victim to return to normal life safely. Following the principle of voluntarism, the ultimate decision of whether or not to leave the safe house rests with the victim only.
Vocational trainings:
The safe house is equipped with 26 sewing machines and 12 embroidery machines and a vocational trainer helps residents produce a wide variety of items (quilts, bags, clothes etc…) with a variety of materials. The items produced are sold at public events at key dates and the proceeds are shared 50% for the residents and 50% for the purchase of additional material.
Classes: a teacher is present at the safe every morning to give class to residents according to their education level. For each resident, a level test is made and the appropriate curriculum is followed, in conjunction with any other resident in the same level. These classes have been set up in full coordination with the Balkh Department of Education.