Back to the Future

Mr. Ismet Sacirovic. Photo: Mercy Corps Serbia

It is not difficult for Ismet Sacirovic to envision what he wants the school in his hometown Mur in southern Serbia to become.

"Thinking back some 25 years when I was a student here, I remember that it was one of the best rural schools with clean water, new desks and chairs, and other school supplies," Sacirovic says.

More than two and a half decades of deteriorating conditions and insufficient funding have left the schools in Mur in a state of disrepair - uncomfortable for students and teachers, an eyesore for a community of industrious citizens. School supplies are limited and the infrastructure crumbling.

Not satisfied with the current conditions Sacirovic, who became principal of his hometown school a year and a half ago, is spearheading a group of community members devoted to improving the schools. He is determined to take the schools back to the future, to return them to the conditions he remembers as a young student.

Sacirovic is a member of the Community Development Committee in Mur which is part of Mercy Corps' Community Revitalization through Democratic Action (CRDA) program in southern Serbia. Mercy Corps has initiated the CRDA program to empower communities to prioritize, plan, and implement projects to revitalize essential infrastructure, create jobs and economic development opportunities, and improve environmental practices and conditions while fostering civic participation.

Meetings have been held with community members and local elected officials and have resulted in the formation of 61 democratically appointed Community Development Committees to assess and seek solutions to their community's needs. Representatives like Sacirovic have taken a lead role in monitoring the works and are partnering with Mercy Corps to see the community projects to completion.

In Mur, Sacirovic’s efforts have resulted in provision of new blackboards, tables and chairs and improvements to heating systems. For the CRDA schoolyard project, Mr. Sacirovic led the successful effort to collect money from parents and residents of Mur; these funds were used to level and gravel the yard. Mr. Sacirovic also lobbied the municipality to provide some green areas in the schoolyard.

"There has not been any investment in this school - until now, under the CRDA program," says Sacirovic. "Although there is a lot of work to be done, I am confident that things will now begin to improve."

Mercy Corps has worked in Serbia since 2000. The CRDA program is a five-year program funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).