Kosovo

Posted August 9, 2010

Making the Economy Buzz

Country: Kosovo

Topics: Agriculture, Economic Development, Livelihoods

Ali Rama is a 50-year-old beekeeper from the Vushtri Municipality in northern Kosovo. While Ali has enjoyed relative success in his honey production and sales for the last 10 years, he was looking to expand his business into new opportunities.

Mercy Corps supported Ali to implement quality standards for organic honey production and — this year, for the first time in Kosovo — he has begun to produce organic honey. Conventional honey is sold for eight euros a kilogram, and after Mercy Corps’ trainings in the methodology of organic honey production, he now sells for 10 euros.

Mercy Corps supported Ali to identify gaps in the marketplace and, together, they settled on production of organic honey as a potential niche for Ali’s honey business to increase its sales. He has begun to sell honey in Kosovo and is exploring the lucrative market for exporting in the near future.

“For me as a producer of honey, production of organic honey was a new experience,” he said. “Mercy Corps supported me at every stage of development of organic honey.”

With Mercy Corps’ support and shifting his operations to organic honey, Ali has increased his production capacities from a single beehive producing about 30 kilograms of honey, to eight beehives that yield a total of 240 kilograms of organic honey. Compared to previous years, he has increased the value of his production by roughly 20 percent and increased his income by 25 percent, from 1,200 euros to 2,400.

With the better market prices that organic honey commands, the increase in Ali's income this year made his life much easier by covering expenses for the education of his five children. Mercy Corps supported Ali for two years with capacity building and linkages with markets.

Through the Kosovo Value Chain Revitalisation programme, we've supported Ali and 58 other beekeepers with technical trainings to improve their production and business capacity, as well as contribute towards sustainable economic development of their businesses and the overall Kosovo economy.

Posted August 9, 2010

How a Tractor Changes Everything

Country: Kosovo

Topics: Agriculture, Citizen Involvement, Economic Development, Livelihoods, Peaceful Change

The village of Videja is a rural community of 1,000 residents near the Dukagjini Valley, the heart of western Kosovo's agricultural lands. Kosovo Serbs, who for centuries have represented the vast majority of the population in Videje, are still recovering from the conflict of 1999 through continuous post-war refugee and internally displaced persons returns processes. They face high unemployment and few income-earning opportunities.

Farming and raising livestock are the main sources of income for all ethnic groups that live in Videje and its seven surrounding villages. These ethnic groups — Kosovo Albanians, Kosovo Serbs and Roma — live in relative harmony today and are eager to find ways for cooperation and common welfare, putting their past differences and conflicts aside.

An important element of Kosovo’s future stability and overall prosperity lies in the country’s ability to return and re-integrate internally displaced people and refugee populations to their native homes in a peaceful and sustainable fashion. Through Mercy Corps’ Kosovo Economic Support for Sustainable Returns (KESSR) programme, we are facilitating these peaceful returns by partnering with municipal governments to provide household grants for items like greenhouses and agricultural equipment to help families return and re-establish themselves. To improve the economic environment for returns, the Videje community and municipal government presented a project to Mercy Corps to purchase tractor and tractor attachments for the community’s needs. With a 30 percent contribution from the community, Mercy Corps supplied the remaining necessary funds towards purchase of the tractor.

Nominated by his peers to lead this initiative, Nemanja Vulicevic — a 21-year-old Kosovo Serb returnee from Videje — is representing his fellow farmers to the municipality and leading activities under this project. Returned in 2005 from a refugee camp in Krusevac, Serbia, Nemanja — who lives together with his parents, brother, sister-in-law and their three young children — proudly shows the 400 working hours registered on the tractor’s metre.

“We had nothing without the tractor — the tractor does not care about nationality or religion,” Nemanja says.

Seven months after the programme began, the economic benefits to the community are evident: more arable land planted, more corn harvested and more grass and alfalfa baled. The tractor has also provided chronically needed transport of products to local market or raw materials (including seeds, fertilizer and timber) to households.

“There are families that are planning to return and their land is already planted; when they return they will have wheat, corn and alfalfa to eat or trade,” Nemanja explains.

Perhaps more importantly — in addition to the economic benefits — the tractor provides a free-of-charge service to farmers for seven area villages, all of them of mixed ethnicity, all of which were formerly in conflict with one another. Now, more than 90 Albanian, Serb and Roma farmers all use the tractor to plow, harvest, bale, fertilize or transport, improving their farmlands and communities together.

Posted August 9, 2010

Not Small Potatoes

Country: Kosovo

Topics: Agriculture, Citizen Involvement, Economic Development, Livelihoods, Peaceful Change

Naim Fejza is a veteran potato farmer in the small town of Mogila in southern Kosovo. For his entire adult life, he and his household — which includes his parents, wife and three children — have eked out a living on the small income from the sales of potatoes on their farm.

Mogila is a typical Kosovo village of 1,700 residents, where communities of both Albanian and Serb ethnic backgrounds live and work together precariously, relying on crops such as potatoes, wheat and corn for their livelihoods. The mixed-ethnic Mogila Farmers’ Association and municipal authorities approached Mercy Corps with a proposal to provide assistance to farmers of all ethnic backgrounds, in order to improve crop production capacity and overall economic standing.

Following a series of community meetings, the Farmers’ Association and other local farmers nominated Naim to act as the primary representative of the project to Mercy Corps and the local government. With support from the local government and the Farmers’ Association, Mercy Corps facilitated the delivery of farm equipment to Mogila to make their agricultural ventures more efficient. The farmers rent the machinery from the association to use on their lands.

Six months after the project's start, implementation is showing its benefits to the farmers, the Farmer's Association and the wider community. With the new machinery, Naim and the Farmers’ Association have increased the surface planted with varieties of vegetables by an average of more than 100 percent. At the same time, the cost of planting has dropped in half, from the previo£90 per hectare to the present £42

Some farmers have doubled their sales from previous years. Farmers also export their products to Macedonia, Albania and Serbia, as well as selling at local markets. In addition, with the new surplus income, Naim has invested in and built a 500-square-metre greenhouse for pepper seedlings that will increase the quality and their quantity of peppers produced. The Farmers’ Assocation has also grown from 30 to 100 members.

Naim, the pleased father of three, says, “I simply can’t explain the value of Mercy Corps’ assistance — it has doubled the planted surface, cut the cost in half and given meaning to the term ‘profit’.”

Blog Post:  Posted September 28, 2009, 1:25 pm by Drin Mulliqi

A cultural bridge

Country: Kosovo

Topics: Social Innovations, Peaceful Change, Citizen Involvement

The city of Mitrovicë/a in Kosovo is very often described by the media as a city of trouble. The most beautiful bridge in the country — with the Ibar/Ibër River flowing beneath — divides this city in half. In the northern part of the city, the majority of the population is ethnically Serb while, in the south, the majority is ethnically Albanian. The river punctuates some of the still unresolved divisions within Kosovo.

However, a multi-ethnic concert brought people from different communities together to celebrate the International Day of Peace.

“I got the idea for organising this concert because I saw the lack of cooperation between communities in Mitrovicë/a," said Marigona Bekteshi, the project manager of this community initiative. "Thanks to Mercy Corps and USAID who financed this event, we have managed to bring most of the communities that live in Mitrovicë/a together to share their cultural values.”

The concert — which was titled “Promotion of Cultural Values” — featured ethnic Albanians, Turks, Bosniaks and members of the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian community, who performed different dances, plays and songs from their traditional cultures. The concert was attended by more than four hundred people of different ethnicities.

As Mercy Corps continues to work to build confidence and links between communities in the city we hope that, before long, such events will have even broader participation and also include the ethnic Serb community.

Posted June 29, 2009

More Than Run-of-the-Mill Progress

Country: Kosovo

Topics: Agriculture, Citizen Involvement, Displacement, Economic Development, Food/Nutrition, Livelihoods, Peaceful Change, Rural

The village of Milosheva is a pastoral community of 10,000 residents in the heart of central Kosovo's agricultural lands. It is a typical Kosovo village: still recovering from the conflict of 1999, with high unemployment and few income-earning opportunities for residents. Farming and raising livestock mean everything to local families.

Like much of Kosovo, Milosheva is an inter-ethnic mix of Albanians, Kosovo Serbs and Roma. These mixed ethnic groups live in relative harmony today but, with still-fresh memories of a recent war, the potential for conflict is always a reality.

Mercy Corps is working hard to keep those tensions from escalating into violence.

Prospects for Kosovo’s future stability and prosperity rest in the country’s ability to return and re-integrate internally displaced people and refugee populations to their native homes in a peaceful and sustainable fashion. Through our Kosovo Economic Support for Sustainable Returns programme, Mercy Corps is facilitating these peaceful returns by partnering with municipal governments to provide household grants for items like greenhouses and agricultural equipment to help families return and re-establish themselves.

Families in Milosheva are committed ensuring peace in Kosovo through improving the economic environment for returns. The community and municipal government presented a project to Mercy Corps to construct a mill for producing animal feed, pledging a 30 percent contribution from local households.

Fehmi Mjeku is farmer — and a returnee himself — who was nominated by his peers to lead this initiative. A father of seven, Fehmi smiles broadly from under his handlebar mustache, proudly displaying animal feed that's been ground at the mill from locally-produced grains.

“How can you plant your land and maintain your animals if you don’t have a proper feed mill?” he asks rhetorically.

Six months after the programme began, the economic benefits to the community are evident: income for community projects, a market where farmers can sell their grain each day and improved livestock health.

“This assistance came at just the right time to return farmers to their land,” Fehmi says. The mill is producing an average of one ton of animal feed daily, which is sold to other local farmers. Fehmi himself has two dairy cows and four bulls that he is now getting ready for market.

In addition to buying and selling milled grain on the local market, the mill provides a free-of-charge service to mill grain for household use for farmers for seven area villages, all of them of mixed ethnicity. More than 100 Albanian, Serb and Roma farmers all use the mill for grinding their animal feed.

These days, the only sources of tension around here seem to be what the weather will be or what prices their livestock will bring on the market.

Coping with the Economic Crisis:

Posted June 11, 2009

Creating Opportunities for Kosovo's Youth

Country: Kosovo

Topics: Economic Development, Education, Peaceful Change, Women's Empowerment, Youth

Kosovo is the youngest country in Europe, both in terms of its statehood and its demographics. Half of the country’s population is under the age of 25, and many of these young people depart for work abroad or are supported by relatives. It’s not easy to get a job here: in 2007, the unemployment rate hovered around 43 percent.

Nineteen-year-old Altone Ibrahim is a young woman from the ethnically divided municipality of Mitrovicë/Mitrovica in northern Kosovo. She recently graduated from a high school specializing in finance and accounting, but she has been unable to find opportunities to use her professional skills. There are very few chances for youth like Altone in Kosovo, which continues to emerge from the shambles of a war that happened a decade ago.

In response to this growing youth unemployment crisis, Mercy Corps recently launched a USAID-funded initiative called Supporting Kosovo’s Young Leaders (SKYL). The SKYL programme, which began last year, supports young people from diverse communities to gain the job skills, experience and support they need to find future employment. Youth attend a variety of trainings and workshops, and are then placed in internships or apprenticeships with private, public or civic institutions throughout Kosovo.

Altone found out about SKYL in her home village of Kcic, applied and was accepted to be a participant in the programme.

Initially, Altone attended SKYL negotiation trainings aimed at developing problem-solving skills among youth, giving them strategies to deal with differences and handle difficult conversations.

“Before the training, every time we had a problem, we reacted with a hot head,” Altone said. “But after the training, we understood that problems cannot be solved like that, and we have to see problems from the other person’s perspective and come to a solution that satisfies all parties.”

After that, Altone attended job skills training, where she said the most important bit of learning was how to write a resume. ”We had only heard that resumes exist, but we had no idea what it looks like and how to make one,” she said.

After the completion of trainings — and writing a resume for the first time — Altone began an internship with the Chamber of Commerce in Mitrovicë/Mitrovica. She was placed as a finance assistant, a role closely connected to her future dream of becoming an accountant.

Each day, her mentor guides her and provides the information and knowledge needed for her chosen line of work. In addition to technical advice, Altone’s mentor also advises her on career development.

The SKYL programme has changed Altone’s life — and she’s eager to share that success with others. “I liked the programme so much that I also convinced my two sisters to join,” she smiles.

Blog Post:  Posted June 8, 2009, 4:03 pm by Roger Burks

Driving change

Country: Kosovo

Drivers are the unsung heroes of humanitarian work. Their jobs are among the most dangerous in our field: carrying staff and supplies along often-perilous roads to some of the most isolated places in the world. They are jacks-of-all-trades, frequently having to fill in as logisticians, mechanics, security officers and even makeshift translators.

Without them, we simply couldn’t do our work. Lifesaving supplies wouldn’t get delivered during emergencies. There’d be no way to reach the villages where buses or cars would never go otherwise.

In the aftermath of my recent move, I’ve been sorting through a big box of notebooks from my field travels. One of these journals was full of scribbled pages from a journey to Kosovo — that’s how I came to reacquaint myself with a brave man named Arsim.

Arsim is a middle-aged man built like a stone wall, quiet with an easy smile. Over the course of a few days in March 2006, he transported me to some of Kosovo's most troubled and infamous places, including the cities of Peja/Pec and Mitrovica. In the latter place, Arsim helped me negotiate with young-faced, machine gun-toting French peacekeepers to gain entry into a municipal office building where I had a meeting. I doubt I would've gained access without him.

We drove down cratered roads through the coal-spoiled countryside toward mostly-ruined villages to interview families Mercy Corps was helping. Occasionally we passed places or objects of obvious significance and, even though I wanted to be sensitive to what might be sore subjects in relation to the Kosovo War, sometimes I had to ask.

One day, on our way to Mitrovica, I noticed a stone tower on the north side of the road, so I asked Arsim about it.

“That’s Kosovo Polje,” he said. “Kosovo field, where the decisive battle between the Serbs and Turks took place more than 600 years ago. To the south of here is the tomb of Sultan Murad, the Turkish commander. This is also where Slobodan Milosevic rose to power and planted seeds for the Kosovo War.”

It was a road carefully traversing the shifting stones of history — a dividing line unlike any I’d ever experienced. Arsim continued the story.

“During the war, many in my family had to flee their villages when the militias came. They came to Pristina, the capital, to find me. At the worst part of the violence, we had a couple dozen family members hiding out in our apartment to escape being deported — or worse,” he explained.

And that’s a moment I will never forget: caught between ancient history, the recent past and the still-unfolding present before Kosovo’s independence. My ignorance of what had happened here, and why. The bravery and sorrow of the man who was talking, underpinned by a strangely appropriate Robbie Williams song.

The weight of the moment, of the million things it meant and would continue to signify, weighed hard on my chest and felt heavy all the way down in my lungs. I recall that feeling now, and my respect grows for Arsim and the many Mercy Corps drivers I've had the good fortune to meet.

These are men who have seen change, felt it, survived it and now drive it every day.

Blog Post:  Posted May 19, 2009, 10:42 am by Roger Burks

When democracy doesn't photograph well

Country: Kosovo

Topics: Peaceful Change, Governance, Civil Society, Citizen Involvement

Many of the stories sent in from our field offices have to do with meetings. My colleague Dan and I get these pieces, which often read like hastily-transcribed minutes, and honestly don’t know how to turn them into something that anyone but development professionals would want to read.

These stories are usually accompanied by photos that illustrate a meeting in progress: someone speaking at the front of the room, flipcharts stuck to walls or blackboards and a few people sitting in chairs. In other words: nothing nearly as compelling as a camel herder standing in the Gobi Desert or a family returning to their Ugandan village after years of war.

But these meetings, as unglamorous as they might be, are the foundation of the work Mercy Corps does. They’re where communities are created, reconciled and energized. These are the places where citizen engagement and true democracy begin.

I was looking through notes from a trip to Kosovo the other day, trying to find a particular story I’d just remembered. But instead, I came across my own scrawled notes about a meeting — but I read on anyway.

This meeting took place on March 9, 2006 — almost two years before the country declared independence — in a war-scarred schoolroom in the village of Millosheve. There were a couple dozen villagers sitting on small wooden benches and chairs, all business. A young Mercy Corps field officer named Hanife Limani led the proceedings.

The questions they tackled were things most of us have never considered outside a history or civics class:

1. What is a democratic government?
2. What does government transparency mean to you?
3. What are some ways that government communicates with you?
4. Should government have regular meetings with citizens? How often?

These weren’t easy questions for most of the participants, who’d lived most of their lives under Yugoslavia’s total control. But here they were, coming to realizations together, deciding what they wanted from their government — creating a new country one village at a time.

Photos certainly don’t do the proceedings justice — and it’s hard to write a gripping story about three hours of discussion — but this is important work. And it’s happening every day, in classrooms and mud huts and under trees around the world.

Posted February 25, 2008 by Anna Clarkson

Six Stories from Kosovo

Country: Kosovo

Topics: Economic Development, Peaceful Change

The population of Kosovo waited more than eight years for final status to be declared. During this time, their lives have been in limbo, jobs have become scarce and dismayed youth have struggled to find hope for their future within Kosovo. International agencies on the ground such as Mercy Corps, which has worked in Kosovo for 15 years, recognise that a successful transition is critical to enable the people of Kosovo to continue with much needed economic and social progress.

With independence now declared, Mercy Corps has captured a snapshot of how long-delayed status impacted the lives of people living in Kosovo. These individuals have survived years of instability, hardship and frustration and now, regardless of their sex, age or ethnicity, they are starting to unleash their hope for a positive, lasting change for the future.

The single parent — Zade Islamaj

As a single parent with only four years of primary education, life in Kosovo is hard for 33-year-old Zade Islamaj, a Roma who lives in the Istog/Istok Municipality. Together with her five children, she has been forced to live with her brother-in-law after her own house was burned down during the conflict in 1999. Her husband is missing, after leaving the family two years ago to find work and never coming home again. Zade remains jobless except for a small income she can earn through selling the milk from a dairy cow provided by Mercy Corps.

But Zade is hopeful now that Kosovo's status has been declared: "I hope that I will be able to find a job in Kosovo to support my children during their education, so that they do not have to leave school early like I did. I also hope I will have a house of my own again one day, and of course I continue to hope very much that my husband will one day come home to us."

The grandfather — Velibor Trajkovic

At the age of 77, Velibor lives in Novoberde/Novo Brdo, one of Kosovo's poorest municipalities. His small village contains only 30 households of Roma and Serbian Kosovars, with an average of eight people living in each house. Velibor lives in an old house, badly needing repair, with five other family members.

For 30 years, Velibor worked hard in the municipality as a magnesium miner but, when the mines were closed in 1994, the population was left on the edge of poverty with no employment opportunities. Since then, Velibor has been unable to get a job and has provided for his family by farming livestock, wheat, corn and hay that produces enough food for his family but only occasionally generates enough surplus to sell at the market for a small profit.

"People are very worried about lack of employment in Kosovo. I hope that the status declaration will keep our youth in Kosovo by creating more job opportunities," Velibor said. "My own son is a candidate for displacement to other western European countries if the situation does not improve, and I do not want him to leave. My hope is for foreign and private investors to help us keep our youth here with their families, where they belong."

The unemployed — Trajko Marinkovic

From 1993 to 1999, 39-year-old Trajko, a Serbian Kosovar, used to have his own company selling safety equipment to workers in Prishtine/Pristina city. But when violence erupted in 1999, Trajko and his wife had to close the business.

Today, Trajko still remains unemployed. His family's only income is from selling milk and cheese at the local market and farming on their land. Trajko did attempt to set up a glue making business, but due to the diminishing economy in Kosovo he was unable to secure any investments to start the business. Instead, he was forced to sell the glue machines and use the money to support his wife and three children.

He lives in a multi-ethnic village with 120 families, half of whom are Serbian Kosovar and half Albanian Kosovar. His community was helped by Mercy Corps to work with their municipality and build a new road for the village.

Trajko believes that his freedom of movement is limited and, since 1999, he has never returned to Prishtine/Pristina. "Delayed status resolution affected opportunities for all people in Kosovo, and everyone is psychologically stressed with this situation. The concerns associated with economic investments and planning of the future come second to the concerns we have for our own health."

The restaurant owner — Salih Demiralija

Salih Demiralija, 36, runs a small family-owned fast food restaurant in Peje/Pec, the westernmost city in Kosovo. As a Gorani, Salih welcomes every customer through the door of his modest restaurant, regardless of their ethnicity.

During the Kosovo conflict, Salih moved with his brother to Montenegro for safety where they sold cigarettes on the streets to make money. Since being reunited with their parents in Kosovo in 1999, they have all lived together in a small two roomed house.

Salih hopes that status determination will quickly improve the economy of Kosovo and foreign investment will provide much needed jobs for unemployed Kosovar youth.

"I hope that I will be able to employ youth, regardless of their ethnic backgrounds — everyone is welcome in my shop. I also want to expand the family business, which my father started, so that I can comfortably support my family in the future."

The Teenager — Sokol Kantanolli

At the age of 19 Sokol Kantanolli, an Albanian Kosovar, is one of the fortunate youth living in Kosovo because he is employed. After finishing school last year Sokol joined his mother and sister running the family-owned grocery shop in Peje/Pec. He is in the privileged position of being able to save money to go to Prishtine/Pristina University where he will be studying economics next year.

Sokol's father works in a private beer factory in Peje/Pec and, with their joint income, the family are able to afford to live in a new house with three separate rooms.

"I hope that status resolution will improve the educational system in Kosovo by providing better teaching and services for students at schools and universities. I am hopeful that when I am finished university the economic situation will be much better so that there are good job opportunities for me and so that my family's business can grow from strength to strength."

The entrepreneur — Fadil Abdullahu

Fadil Abdullahu is in a privileged and rare position. At the age of 44, he has a more successful business now than before the conflict in Kosovo.

Before the worst violence in 1999 Fadil, an Albanian Kosovar, bought and sold small amounts of flowers to make some money. During this period, he realised there was a lack of packaging available for producers in the region.

After the conflict, he set up his own business producing different sized paper bags suitable for holding a wide variety of products. Initially he began with three employees and today he has more than 10. With the help of Mercy Corps, he has been able to purchase a cutting machine so that he can increase the quantity and variety of bags he produces.

Fadil is married and his wife works in the city's post office. They are fortunate enough to earn enough income to live in a large house with eight rooms and brand new furniture. This is a luxury very few people in Kosovo can afford.

Despite his own successful business Fadil is appreciates that few people in Kosovo are in such a well-off situation.

"I hope that [status resolution] will put an end to the constant delays in Kosovo's economic growth and foreign investments. I think that many other businesses will be able to thrive again once independence is declared and, of course, I am hopeful that my own business will continue to grow and I can employ more people."