In the context of the EU Twinning project “Support to the Office of the People’s Advocate and promotion of human rights in Albania”, a study visit took place in Vienna at the end of March 2023. The aim was to present different case management systems of Austrian institutions and to offer guidelines for a possible update of the Albanian case management system. In order to get a good overview of efficient practices and how to deal with challenges, the Albanian and Austrian colleagues had an intensive exchange for two days.

For the seven Albanian representatives the first day started with a welcome by the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights (LBI-GMR), followed by a visit to the Ombud for Equal Treatment (GAW). The deputy head of the office and division manager of counselling strategies,  Cornelia Amon-Konrath, and her colleague Verena Pirker presented the case management system of the GAW and explained its impact-oriented monitoring and evaluation cycle. In the afternoon, a debriefing was held at the Austrian Ombudsman Board (AOB) and the Head of Division of Ombudsperson Gaby Schwarz, Michael Mauerer, gave an overview of the VA’s case management process.

On the following day, a guided tour through the AOB illustrated the different stages as well as the division of tasks of a complaint handling process.  The information service and the service center of the VA were visited. Subsequently, the head of the complaints office demonstrated the processing procedure there and specifically addressed the advantages of the electronic file. Finally, the procedures, intentions and advantages of the Austrian television programme “Bürgeranwalt” were discussed, which the Albanian participants were particularly interested in.