http://www.mercycorps.org The Latest Mercy Corps Kosovo Content en-us (c) 2007 Mercy Corps http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Sun, 11 May 2008 23:59:01 -0700 Charity Mercy Corps In-house CMS 60 http://www.mercycorps.org/images/donate/mercy_logo_red.gif http://www.mercycorps.org/ 136 48 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/kosovo/2061/ With independence now declared, Mercy Corps has captured a snapshot of how long-delayed status impacted the lives of people living in Kosovo. Mon, 25 Feb 2008 07:31:16 -0800 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/kosovo/2053/ For almost a decade, Mercy Corps has been working with families, communities, local government agencies and partner organizations to facilitate the return of families who wish to go home. Fri, 15 Feb 2008 06:14:10 -0800 http://www.mercycorps.org/topics/civilsociety/1595/ Mercy Corps is pleased at the resolution of Kosovo's political and legal status. Sat, 17 Feb 2007 08:06:16 -0800 http://www.mercycorps.org/topics/civilsociety/1594/ Mercy Corps is helping students in Kosovo to gain a voice in the issues that affect them most. Mon, 29 Jan 2007 08:59:01 -0800 http://www.mercycorps.org/topics/civilsociety/1320/ Nebil Mjeku wanted to build pride in their community and get citizens working together again. Thu, 15 Jun 2006 06:37:48 -0700 http://www.mercycorps.org/topics/civilsociety/1232/ In Reqane, Kosovo, citizens are helping one another succeed and raising the quality of their agricultural products. Fri, 21 Apr 2006 09:32:01 -0700 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/kosovo/805/ Nedzat Cecunjanin, a young man from the village of Vitomirice/a, lived side by side with his Albanian neighbors prior to the 1999 war. The nearby town of Peja/Pec in west Kosovo was one of the most devastated areas in all of Kosovo in the spring of 1999. When the violence ignited, most Kosovo Albanian inhabitants immediately fled over the snowbound Mountains of the Damned (with peaks reaching nearly 8,000 feet) to seek safety across national borders in Montenegro. Many families began returning in June 1999, after North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military intervention. However, many did not. Western Kosovo was the country's most ravaged region in the late 1990s, suffering brutality at the hands of Serb military and paramilitary forces. Nedzat - like many of the Bosniac community - left his home with his entire family when the NATO bombing started in the spring of 1999, fearing reprisals from the local ethnic Kosovo Albanian community. "We felt very bad that we had to leave our house and everything in it to save our lives," Nedzat says. In 2005, after spending five years as a displaced person in Montenegro, Nedzat made the momentous decision to return to Kosovo. While displaced, he lived in the town of Plave, Montenegro, hosted by his sisters. "It was hard to live on the assistance provided by the Montenegro Red Cross. The only work available was occasional day labor," explains Nedzat. During his exile in Montenegro, he met, fell in love with and married a local woman. Their three children were born in Montenegro. Nedzat explains that he and his two other brothers "had to work hard to ensure food for family." Pondering the wisdom of returning to Kosovo, one brother, Sedat, and their mother returned to Vitomirice/a in 2002 to discover what had happened to their property and to assess the general situation in the neighborhood - unfortunately, their house had been ransacked and virtually destroyed. Nedzat was unable to return right away to help his family rebuild, because he had a young family and there was nowhere for them to live. In April 2005, Nedzat, his brother Esad and their families returned to Vitomirice/a. With materials provided by the American Refugee Council (ARC), a partner of Mercy Corps, the brothers reconstructed their family home using their own labor. In order to facilitate the return of refugee families and rebuild the local economy, ARC asked Mercy Corps to assess the situation and suggest opportunities. Following consultations between Mercy Corps field officers, Nedzat, his wife and brothers, as well as many community members, consensus was reached that a grant to the Cecunjanin family had the potential to assist the wider community too. "We are confronting difficulties during the planting season because of a lack of machinery," one of the villagers reported. All agreed that the provision of a tractor with implements including plough, harrow, grass mower and trailer would be of real benefit to the community in allowing them to cultivate their land and plant their crops in a timely manner. In the past, they'd had to rely on expensive contractors from other villages. Nedzat and his wife, Elzana, received a grant and purchased a tractor. The tractor and implements arrived in the village on July 18, 2005, and the entire community gathered together to celebrate the event. "We are very happy today because we don't have to go to other villages to rent tractors for our agricultural needs any more," said a Kosovo Albanian neighbor. "The Cecunjanins are very nice people and they are friends with everyone. I am strongly convinced that the community will benefit a lot from this project." On July 19, Nedzat and his brother began using the tractor and side mower to work for the community. For the first day of operation, including cutting grass for their Kosovo Albanian neighbor, they worked free of charge. In the future, they will charge modest fees for their services, as agreed by the community. However, the brothers voluntarily agreed to provide free services to some very vulnerable local families. Kosovo is on the mend, thanks to collaboration and a few good neighbors. Fri, 19 Aug 2005 07:11:46 -0700 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/kosovo/426/ On September 27, Mercy Corps helped dedicate a local milk collection center in Treboviq/Trebovic, Kosovo, creating new economic opportunities for local farmers. Wed, 13 Oct 2004 06:59:43 -0700 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/kosovo/341/ Amid multi-ethnic discord, Mercy Corps is working to aid Kosovo in the continuing process of refugee returns and reintegration. Fri, 28 May 2004 07:02:22 -0700 http://www.mercycorps.org/topics/peacefulchange/350/ A three-day soccer tournament united Kosovo Albanian and Kosovo Serb youth in their love of sport. Fri, 28 May 2004 06:44:22 -0700 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/kosovo/312/ From November 2001 until May 2003, Mercy Corps Kosovo implemented the USAID-funded Healthy Community Initiatives (HCI). HCI used health as a vehicle for engaging communities as active members and leaders in local decision-making in order to promote community mobilization and strengthen civil society linkages. The program is considered a successful model within Mercy Corps because of its success in mobilizing communities in a relatively short time frame (19 months), the high level of community match, maintenance of the programs, engagement of government and business, and community enthusiasm. This article focuses on the creative use of gender to the benefit of all. Kosovo is largely a patriarchal society and a key challenge of community mobilization activities in Kosovo is the genuine involvement of women. A contextual analysis had identified that issues relating to health were not only a priority need in but also offered a unique opportunity to engage women. Health has traditionally been a woman's concern in rural Kosovo and this sector not only provided an opportunity to improve the overall health of the community but it also empowered women to participate in other decision-making needs in the community in a manner that was non-threatening to the men. Basic health education is perceived as primarily the responsibility of the women and does not involve a large investment of resources into the community. The first stage of the project was health education. However the objective of these sessions was not only to increase basic knowledge among the female participants, but also to raise the level of involvement and empowerment of local women. The decision to move into the second, infrastructure phase of the project in any particular village was based on the activeness of the participants in the first phase. The first community meeting was then used not only to describe the possible funding and criteria for future projects, but also to "advertise" the fact that the community had been selected because of the success of the women in the health education phase. This not only increased the self-esteem of women in the village, but from the beginning instilled a sense of ownership of the project. During the infrastructure projects, MC staff repeatedly heard women reminding their communities that HCI was in their village because of them. There were inevitably challenges maintaining the level of involvement of women during the ‘bricks and mortar' phases of the project. One of the first challenges to electing women to the Community Health Advocacy Groups (CHAGs) came from the women themselves. Understanding that involvement in the infrastructure projects and training would be time consuming, many women previously active in health education refused positions on the CHAG because of household and child care duties. Another challenge was the type of roles that women were given once elected to the CHAG. Many women were uncomfortable in taking lead roles in the CHAG, or roles connected to monitoring construction. As a result, it was difficult to keep female CHAG members closely involved as the project shifted to the construction phase. While this is a concern, it should also be kept in mind that realistically there are very few cultures in the world where women would take a central role in construction. HCI staff did their best to ensure female CHAG members were involved and in many cases, although not out in the mud monitoring projects, female CHAGs were directly involved in other key activities such as informing community members about the process of the work, community match, etc. Another way that HCI implementation was gender aware was to hire mainly female staff for the program. All community workers hired for the program were female. Additionally MC Kosovo attempted to hire female engineers. Although this action did help raise the level of comfort among female community members, hiring all female staff did at times mean programmatic activities were more difficult to implement. For example when hiring female staff it is often more difficult to find those with drivers license. Additionally female staff often have more difficulty gaining confidence among male community members, especially in a patriarchal society. Mon, 17 Nov 2003 08:14:25 -0800 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/kosovo/307/ USAID funds will provide $2.5 million for the implementation of Mercy Corps new Municipal Infrastructure Support Initiative (MISI) program in Kosovo. Fri, 31 Oct 2003 10:16:02 -0800 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/kosovo/259/ A water program in a small Kosovo village brings clean drinkable water directly into the homes of many villagers. Fri, 30 May 2003 11:26:47 -0700 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/kosovo/248/ As the lead UNHCR agency in Kosovo, Mercy Corps carries out protection monitoring of minority return areas as well as providing self-reliance inputs for returning families in need. Mon, 28 Apr 2003 11:22:00 -0700 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/kosovo/249/ Funded by the Bureau of Populations, Refugees and Migration (BPRM), the RRP builds on the successes of the two programs also funded by the BPRM. Mon, 28 Apr 2003 08:51:58 -0700 http://www.mercycorps.org/topics/peacefulchange/250/ Swiss Development Corporation-funded program to improve the livelihood of dairy farmers through the creation of Milk Collection Centres in Kosovo. Mon, 28 Apr 2003 08:12:33 -0700 http://www.mercycorps.org/topics/hungernutrition/251/ Program targets the Roma Ashkalia and Egyptian (RAE) communities to increase economic opportunities through the distribution of livestock and training programs in Kosovo. Mon, 28 Apr 2003 07:21:56 -0700 http://www.mercycorps.org/topics/health/186/ The Healthy Community Initiatives in Kosovo are focused on improving the health of Kosovars through strengthening health knowledge and health care in four Municipalities. Mon, 06 Jan 2003 10:02:43 -0800 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/kosovo/179/ In a recent trip to observe the reconstruction of Kosovo, Kofi Annan paid a visit to a Mercy Corps which is helping to generate income and bring people together. Wed, 20 Nov 2002 08:48:05 -0800 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/kosovo/171/ One ailing Kosovar girl receives the lifesaving surgery her parents were unable to afford. Wed, 06 Nov 2002 08:52:43 -0800