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USAID/OTI Kosovo Field Report

July 2001

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The primary goal of OTI's Kosovo Transition Initiative (KTI) is to maximize the number of Kosovars involved in, and recognizing the value of, participating in decision making and the future development of democracy in Kosovo. Through its initiative, KTI encourages political diversity, increased citizen participation in political and community affairs, and professionalism and transparency in media and public service institutions. The bulk of KTI's portfolio has consisted of assistance to communities in forming and organizing Community Improvement Councils (CICs). These Councils were designed to support Kosovars in the process of rebuilding their communities while preparing them for the challenges of democratic self-governance. Following Kosovo's October municipal elections, KTI refined its focus to contribute to the cultivation of lasting relationships between citizens and their elected representatives. Additionally, KTI supports local media outlets in Kosovo, providing them with assistance to ensure that professional, moderate and high quality media are available to as many Kosovars as possible. Working closely with these media outlets to help them better understand their role in civil society, practice that role responsibly and build on KTI's community-based programs is a KTI priority. KTI also actively supports the efforts of local non-governmental organizations. The KTI program is implemented by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which manages field offices in Ferizaj/Urosevac, Gjilan/Gnjilane, Gjakova/Djakovica, Mitrovica/Kosovska Mitrovica, Peja/Pec, Prishtina/Pristina and Prizren. Since July 1999, KTI has provided $15.1 million in assistance to Kosovo.

OVERALL SITUATION

On July 2, 90 men were arrested in the Gjilan area for suspected membership in the National Liberation Army (NLA), an armed ethnic Albanian group purportedly fighting for increased rights for ethnic Albanians in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). The NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) and the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) police detained an additional 17 citizens of Albania on July 3 near the western Kosovo border village of Junik under suspicion of arms trafficking. Weapons were confiscated and the suspects turned over to Albanian authorities.

An investigator from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) met with representatives of Gjakova's Office for Information on Missing and Imprisoned Persons on July 6. The ICTY representative informed the group that there was a possibility that the recently discovered mass graves in Serbia may contain the remains of 87 bodies removed from a graveyard in Gjakova during the spring of 1999. The office will assist in providing information to facilitate forensic testing of the remains.

U.S. President Bush visited soldiers at Camp Bondsteel in the Gjilan area of Kosovo on July 24. Although he did not meet with Kosovar representatives or leaders, the visit was nonetheless interpreted as confirmation of U.S. commitment to remain in the region as a guarantor of future stability.

After having been appointed to represent the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on Kosovo matters, Deputy Primer Minister Nebojsa Covic traveled to Zvecan Municipality in Kosovo on July 26 and met with Serb businesspeople. His visit increased tensions in the area. UNMIK authorities continued to pursue talks with Belgrade on dismantling the parallel Serb institutions in the north of Kosovo and encouraging the Serbs living in these municipalities to accept the authority of UNMIK. Covic also traveled to Gracanica on July 28, where daily demonstrations had focused attention on the issue of missing Kosovar Serbs. Some sources estimate that 1,300 Serbs from Kosovo remain missing.

Registration for political parties planning to participate in Kosovo's November provincial elections was completed on July 27. In all, 32 parties registered, including four Serb parties. Registration of individual Serbs remains a contentious issue. Serb authorities in Belgrade, including Deputy Prime Minister Covic, are urging Serbs to register. Local Kosovo Serb leaders, especially in the northern provinces, however, are urging Serbs to boycott registration and the elections. Members of the Turkish minority in Prizren recently began registering, with some 5,200 registered by July 30.

USAID/OTI HIGHLIGHTS

A. Narrative Summary

In July, KTI concluded the heightened level of project activity begun in May. KTI approved 55 grants, totaling $1,070,823, of which 25 were in the program category of local governance, 15 for local media support, 12 in local non-government organization support and 3 in community improvement. By the end of the month, the emphasis of program activity shifted to the implementation and completion of all ongoing projects in preparation for the September 30, 2001 KTI program closeout.

The KTI media office was particularly active in July. Throughout the month, the office received proposals from 40 radio stations across Kosovo as part of a KTI media equipment competition. Of these, KTI awarded five stations live feed links, including link transmitters, receivers, consoles, antennas, stands, microphones, headphones, cables, and connectors, enabling them to broadcast live from remote locations. Each of the proposals detailed how the stations would utilize the equipment to improve civic education and local governance programming and for coverage of the upcoming provincial elections this November. The proposals were judged on their overall quality, feasibility, and creativity. Before selecting the five winning stations, the KTI review committee conducted interviews with the station managers of each of the finalists. On July 30, the KTI review committee announced the five winning stations, including Radio Dukagjini in Peja, Radio Globi in Mitrovica, Radio Gjilan in Gjilan, Radio Tema in Ferizaj and Urban FM in Prishtina. The live feed equipment will be delivered by the end of August, allowing time for stations to be trained on the equipment and to use it in the campaign season preceding the elections.

A number of grants were approved specifically to improve the quality of investigative journalism and reporting in Kosovo. One grant will support Zeri, one of Kosovo's leading daily newspapers, to publish an additional two pages for two months covering issues related to the Joint Interim Administrative structures of UNMIK, the workings and operations of which have received scant in-depth coverage or analysis from the local press in Kosovo. Such coverage will address a critical gap in local media coverage and reporting. KTI also supported Internews-Kosovo to create a radio production center for the Department of Journalism at Prishtina University. KTI will renovate and equip the studio so that journalism students can be trained on the same equipment they will use as professionals. Internews-Kosovo will work with OSCE and UNMIK to develop the university's journalism training program.

One media grant approved in July enabled a local non-governmental organization to monitor and evaluate the quality of reporting and the sustainability of 16 KTI grantee radio stations operating throughout Kosovo. Another grant provided Init Productions, a local media house, with digital video and software equipment to produce two investigative documentaries examining the political and social perspectives of youth on a variety of issues, and another on the trafficking of women, a problem which continues to worsen throughout the region. Both documentaries will be aired during prime time this September on Kosovo's three main television stations, potentially reaching over a million viewers.

In Prizren, KTI supported Radio Astra with equipment to provide the Bosniak residents of the Zhupa Valley with locally generated radio programming in their own language. The office also underwrote the publication of two pages in Alem Magazine to provide coverage in Bosniak of local news and information, particularly of the Prizren and Dragash municipal assemblies. KTI Prizren also funded an hour of daily news coverage of municipal issues for the Turkish speaking listeners of Radio Yeni Donem. KTI Prizren also provided support to the weekly Albanian language newspaper Java ne Prizren to provide coverage of community issues.

In addition, KTI supported initiatives to increase civic awareness and responsibility, including the Care for Our Kosovo ecology festival and concert, which is part of a six-month campaign to raise the level of understanding among Kosovars about the environment and the increasing levels of pollution. In Gjakova, KTI also funded a youth drug awareness campaign.

In July, KTI funded a number of initiatives to strengthen the rights, education and empowerment of women in Kosovo. On July 20, the rural women's group, Motrat Qiriazi, launched a four-month Kosovo-wide campaign to battle violence against women. The KTI grant enabled Motrat Qiriazi to build a multi-ethnic coalition of Albanian, Serb, Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian women's groups throughout Kosovo to develop and conduct the campaign. The campaign consists of a variety of multi-media and cultural activities, including radio and television public service announcements, dramatic theater performances to be held across Kosovo and pop songs. KTI also supported the women's lawyers' association, Norma with a grant to cover expenses for six months of Internet access, enabling the association to improve communication with other women's groups throughout the region. Norma is the only local women's non-governmental organization dealing with the legal aspect of women's rights in Kosovo. The monthly publication Teuta also received funding to increase distribution of its publication. The monthly addresses women's and family issues in Kosovo, and specifically offers help for women trying to hold their families together while dealing with the traumas of recent and current conflicts, and discusses the evolving role of women in a democratic Kosovo.

In Gjakova, KTI provided materials to repair four women's centers in the Anadrini area. The grant included funds to purchase computer equipment for all four centers and educational materials for a second series of training programs that will be conducted by the centers, including English language, dressmaking, bookkeeping, and computer training courses. KTI Gjakova also provided the local non-governmental organization Ruth with funds to purchase materials and provide training and staff support for two income generation projects involving female-headed vulnerable families from ten rural communities in Gjakova and Rahovec municipalities. A portion of the generated funds will be used to start a bee-keeping and honey production project. The remaining funds will be used to purchase sewing machines and materials, provide additional training, and follow-up staff support to a seamstress association in Rahovec Municipality.

In July, KTI undertook several projects to rehabilitate Kosovo schools. In addition to renovating two primary schools in the Gjilan area and another in Prizren, KTI supported an initiative of Serb university students in Leposavic to repair a crumbling dormitory. In Gjakova, KTI worked with the municipality to restore the Gjakova Mejtepi Ruzhdie Music School, the oldest public school building in the municipality and an historical landmark under the protection of the Institute for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments. The project represented an effective partnership between KTI, the teachers, students and parents' council of the music school, the residents of Gjakova, and their municipal representatives.

KTI assisted three summer camps for youth, designed to address specific conditions in Kosovo. In Gjakova, an Interethnic Trust Building Summer Camp for Children opened on July 9. Sponsored by a consortium of local and international non-governmental organizations, including KTI, Gjakova Municipality and KFOR, the seven-week, overnight summer camp brought together over 240 Gjakova-area vulnerable and minority children between the ages of eight and 14. KTI Prishtina supported a series of three weeklong summer camp sessions for approximately 750 minority youth from Lipjan Municipality. The camps will not only offer the participants supervised recreational and informal education activities, but also a chance to meet and develop relationships with youth from other villages in the municipality. The ability to engage in such activities, easily taken for granted by other families, is generally nonexistent for most minority children in Lipjan Municipality, who generally lack access to either playgrounds or recreational activities and are required to move directly from school to home because of threats to their security and restrictions to their freedom of movement. In Peja, KTI helped sponsor the locally organized Crossing Bridges mine awareness camp for 450 local children. The children learned map and compass reading skills as well as landmine awareness through direct presentations and educational performances in both Albanian and Bosnian.

In addition to five road rehabilitations approved this month, KTI supported a number of projects to improve traffic and safety conditions in Kosovo, including a bridge in Mitrovica, six pedestrian footbridges in Gllogovc, a student pathway in Lipjan and a parking area for the center of Malisheva. In Gjilan, villagers, KFOR, and KTI inaugurated the recently completed sidewalk and bus stop project in Pozhoran village, and in Prishtina the official opening of the new Sunny Hill Market Place was held on July 20. The opening was attended by the chief executive officer of the municipality, other municipal officials, UNMIK, and members of the local community, and was covered by the local media.

In total, 13 projects were completed in July, including three road rehabilitations, two electrical upgrades, a water system, a lighting network rehabilitation, a sidewalk and bus stop project, installation of community bulletin boards, and a multiethnic Internet center. In addition, KTI provided support for a newspaper, an ecologists' association, and the Office for Information on Prisoners, Detainees and Missing Persons. Currently, 166 KTI projects are in various stages of implementation.

Table 1. July 2001 Grant Activity Summary

B. Indicators of Success

In July, KTI continued collaboration with USAID's Community Infrastructure Services Program (CISP), resulting in the approval of five infrastructure projects worth $719,505, including an electrical upgrade in Peja, a streetlight repair project in the Prishtina, and another in Gjakova, a road upgrade in Gjakova and another in Prizren. In all, during the past six months, KTI has identified 14 projects worth $1,858,097 in CISP funding.

Table 2. CISP Collaboration Summary

On July 20, Christopher Dell visited the town of Gjakova on a brief farewell tour of Kosovo before departing post as Chief of Mission for the U.S. Office in Prishtina (USOP). Mr. Dell, accompanied by KTI staff, toured Old Town Gjakova and met with municipal leaders, shop owners, and local youth representatives. KTI provided the first funds to begin reconstruction of Gjakova's historic retail district that was burned and almost completely destroyed by Yugoslav forces on the first night of NATO bombing. A camera crew from the Prishtina-based, KTI grantee, RTV 21 provided extensive coverage of Mr. Dell's visit. Their profile of the USOP Chief of Mission was broadcast on July 26 and July 27. Mr. Dell met with the President of the Gjakova Municipal Assembly and the Gjakova Municipal working group, both of whom have been closely collaborating with KTI Gjakova staff since January 2001 to identify community development and infrastructure projects for KTI and CISP funding consideration.

On July 25, the multiethnic Internet center in Fushe Kosova/Kosovo Polje was officially opened. Representatives from USAID/OTI, IOM/KTI, the municipality, OSCE, local non-governmental organizations, the community, and the press attended the opening ceremony. The center will provide 11 computers, an Internet connection for three years, and a secure environment for people to learn computer skills, have access to unfiltered information, and to communicate with friends, family and others.

In July, KTI leveraged $778,135 from other donors and another $213,639 from direct grantee contributions, increasing the $1,070,823 committed by KTI by an additional 93%. Two notable grantee contributions, both in the local governance program category, exceeded $30,000. In Gjakova Municipality, Botush village committed $48,280 toward the repair and extension of the north Gjakova sewer network, and in the Mitrovica area, the Zvecan Youth Organization collected $34,783 for the renovation of the municipal youth center.

C. Program Appraisal

In July, KTI committed over $1 million in grants, concluding the accelerated spending level planned for the second quarter of 2001. In August and September, KTI will concentrate on effective and timely project implementation, completion, and sustainability as well as project and program review and evaluation in anticipation of the program's completion on September 30. Since July 1999, KTI has initiated 696 community development projects and committed over $15.1 million in assistance to Kosovo.

NEXT STEPS/IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES

In August, plans for continuance of KTI by the USAID Mission after the September 30 OTI departure are expected to be formally concluded. Currently, it is expected that six out of seven KTI field offices will remain for three additional years, beginning October 1, 2001. This agreement will cap KTI's collaboration with the USAID Kosovo Mission and will assure the continued positive impact of KTI's community-based participatory development approach, allowing USAID Kosovo's longer term programs to draw upon the extensive experience and knowledge of KTI staff from across the province. Already, in addition to KTI's continued collaboration with the CISP program and Democracy Office implementing partners, the USAID Kosovo Mission plans to program at least $150,000 through KTI after September in support of provincial elections-related programs.