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Mercy Corps has worked in Kosovo since 1993. During this time, our focus has evolved from
immediate post-conflict relief in the early days following the war with Serbia, to short-term recovery, to long-term development. Today we’re helping to improve the lives of Kosovans through projects focused on refugee return and reintegration, participatory governance, rural economic development, support for youth leaders and financial services to help families start and expand small businesses and gain economic independence.
Assisting Returnees and Minorities
Mercy Corps — continuously funded by the Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration (BPRM) — has been successfully implementing returns and reintegration programmes since 2000. The Kosovo Livelihood Enhancement for Returnees Programme (LEFR) is being implemented from September 2009 to August 2010, with the goal to Promote Integration and Interethnic Interaction through Improved Livelihoods for Returnee, Minority and Vulnerable Families in Kosovo by improving livelihoods of 105 returnee and vulnerable households through household level grants, and by improving community livelihoods and social integration of 630 beneficiaries through 9 economic based initiatives supporting business linkages.
Supporting Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Returnees and Internally Displaced People
Through the UNHCR-funded Livelihood and Community Development Programme, Mercy Corps is working to improve income opportunities for vulnerable returnees, refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons across Kosovo. The programme is creating a better economic and social environment for targeted beneficiaries as well as host communities, with the goal of promoting peaceful integration and interaction among ethnic groups.
We’re supporting repairs to infrastructure and other construction, providing grants for 80 small businesses and other income-generating initiatives, and delivering household-level training in management and the related skills necessary to productive businesses.
Helping Minority Families Achieve Stability
Through the USAID-funded RESTART (RAE Economic, Social, Transition, Advocacy and Resettlement/ Reintegration) programme and the European Union-funded EU-MRSI (The European Union — Mitrovicë/a RAE Support Initiative) programmes, Mercy Corps and our local partners are assisting 140 displaced Roma minority families who are living in dangerous, lead-contaminated Internally Displaced Persons camps in northern Kosovo. We’re helping the families move to a healthier environment and achieve durable social and economic resettlement and reintegration.
With Mercy Corps’ support, these families are finding housing, livelihoods, education, health care and social services. Participants are the primary decision-makers during the entire resettlement process, from planning to relocation to integration, so they are empowered to act on their own behalf. We approach this process in a holistic fashion, and with the support of local partners, to ensure that community needs are met and that a trusted local agency can advocate further for community members as needed.
Boosting Income for Small-Scale Farmers
Mercy Corps is working to improve business opportunities and living standards for Kosovo’s many small-scale farmers, food processors and associated service providers. With funding from Irish AID, our Kosovo Value Chain Revitalisation programme works in 18 municipalities, helping farmers, bee keepers, fruit and vegetable processors, and others take advantage of new technology and better access area markets. Our programme focuses on activities that improve product quality and increase product availability, so entrepreneurs can create higher value goods and sell them for higher prices on both the local and export markets.
Building A Brighter Future for Youth Leaders
Through the USAID-funded Support for Kosovo’s Young Leaders (SKYL) programme in 16 municipalities, Mercy Corps and our local partners are teaching young people valuable work skills, from joint problem-solving skills to appropriate job interview techniques. To date, we have placed nearly 800 youth in job internships. SKYL is enhancing employment opportunities for 1200 youth through mentors, on-the-job experience and entrepreneurship training.
We’re also promoting interethnic cooperation among youth from ethnicities formerly in conflict. Our programme teaches young Serbs and Albanians the skills they need to recognize and address differences of opinion and the issues underlying ethnic strife. We encourage teens to become active members of their communities in the public, private and civic sectors.
Through civic engagement and community mobilization trainings, these young people are playing a more active leadership role in their communities. The programme is building new bridges between Kosovo’s divided minority and majority communities, training young leaders in advanced conflict resolution and negotiation and helping them implement joint economic and social projects.
Cardboard Collection Project (CCP) — Pilot Project Initiating Viable Recycling Industry
Recycling is a pioneer sector in Kosovo with no viable system that can channel the increasing pressure of the environment to the continuously growing demand of the local and regional markets for cardboard waste. Mercy Corps, through Phoenix Fund support, is implementing a 12-month pilot project in the recycling industry. This pilot project will establish three recyclable cardboard collection points in three different municipalities.
With Mercy Corps’ initial start-up support and ongoing capacity development, the established collection points will become viable businesses and will be able to collect and buy cardboard waste from the community, from individual collectors, businesses and various institutions, including local schools.
The majority of waste collectors are Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians (RAE), the most marginalised and vulnerable community in Kosovo. They have historically supported their incomes through waste collection activities. This project will bring new sanitation and safety standards to the work, serving 60 collectors from the RAE community. Collected cardboard will be exported to Macedonia, Albania and Serbia. Through the pilot, Mercy Corps will encourage a recycling industry culture in Kosovo, as the collection centers can easily be replicated from paper recycling to plastics and aluminum.
Financial Services for Small Businesses
The Agency for Finance in Kosovo, originally a Mercy Corps programme and now an independent financial institution accessing commercial lending funds, is helping people in Kosovo improve their living conditions through their own hard work. With more than 3,800 active clients, the agency provides entrepreneurs with financial services so they can improve their products and services, expand their small businesses, access new markets and increase their revenues.
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