Focus Kosovo - Building peace through economic and social partnerships
Half of Kosovo’s population is under the age of 24 and youth grow up in segregated towns with little hope of economic opportunity. They speak different languages, learn conflicting interpretations of history and live in isolation from neighbors of other ethnic groups just a stones throw away.
According to the World Bank (Kosovo Brief 2006), approximately 37 percent of the population in Kosovo lives in poverty , while the percentage of people living in poverty in rural areas is four times higher than in urban areas. In addition to the economic realities revealed by these numbers, Kosovo’s ethnic groups have experienced a long history of ethnic discrimination and violence in a power struggle to lay claim to the territory.
Half of Kosovo’s population is under the age of 24 and youth grow up in segregated towns with little hope of economic opportunity In areas where WV Kosovo and its Micro-Finance Institution, KosInvest, are working, community members are struggling to find ways of reducing ethnic tensions and develop a fledgling local economy. For economic development to be sustainable within this ethnically strained context, an innovative approach is needed to address issues such as fear, distrust and anger, which are evidently still embedded in the hearts of the population.
WV Kosovo and KosInvest’s response to this has been to adopt a holistic economic and social development approach, incorporating Microfinance, Access to Markets and Peacebuilding practices. Ethnic communities are brought into cooperation with each other on the basis of shared economic interests as a way to strengthen ties between them. Business links are created between KosInvest’s clients from different communities looking to sell their products. Clients from minority communities are given assistance to access local markets and business links are created between small businesses and local industries, no matter what their ethnic origins.
These economic partnerships are mutually beneficial and create a sustainable foundation of multi-ethnic interaction, something very rare in Kosovo despite fertile ground for this type of activity.
Recognising that business links will be the first major route to reconnect communities, KosInvest plans to continue building these multi-ethnic partnerships and aims to further strengthen relationships between ethnic communities through social intervention programs, such as the successfully established WV Kosovo Kids for Peace project.
Through 14 clubs, 360 kids from 5 ethnicities aged 10 to 15 are enrolled in peace education activities throughout rural Kosovo. They are given the opportunity to get to know their ethnic neighbors and are equipped with an understanding of how to deal with daily problems they face in their troubled society.
For economic development to be sustainable within this ethnically strained context, an innovative approach is needed to address issues such as fear, distrust and anger, which are evidently still embedded in the hearts of the population As KosInvest’s programs expand, the resulting social impact will benefit Kosovo’s most vulnerable communities. Although addressing hostilities through the creation of inter-ethnic partnerships will take time, it is the only viable way forward for a society with such a violent past and uncertain future.
Through working with adults and children, meeting their immediate needs and promoting sustainable solutions to social problems, KosInvest will play an important role during a volatile and decisive period in Kosovo’s history.
According to the World Bank (Kosovo Brief 2006), approximately 37 percent of the population in Kosovo lives in poverty , while the percentage of people living in poverty in rural areas is four times higher than in urban areas. In addition to the economic realities revealed by these numbers, Kosovo’s ethnic groups have experienced a long history of ethnic discrimination and violence in a power struggle to lay claim to the territory.
Half of Kosovo’s population is under the age of 24 and youth grow up in segregated towns with little hope of economic opportunity In areas where WV Kosovo and its Micro-Finance Institution, KosInvest, are working, community members are struggling to find ways of reducing ethnic tensions and develop a fledgling local economy. For economic development to be sustainable within this ethnically strained context, an innovative approach is needed to address issues such as fear, distrust and anger, which are evidently still embedded in the hearts of the population.
WV Kosovo and KosInvest’s response to this has been to adopt a holistic economic and social development approach, incorporating Microfinance, Access to Markets and Peacebuilding practices. Ethnic communities are brought into cooperation with each other on the basis of shared economic interests as a way to strengthen ties between them. Business links are created between KosInvest’s clients from different communities looking to sell their products. Clients from minority communities are given assistance to access local markets and business links are created between small businesses and local industries, no matter what their ethnic origins.
These economic partnerships are mutually beneficial and create a sustainable foundation of multi-ethnic interaction, something very rare in Kosovo despite fertile ground for this type of activity.
Recognising that business links will be the first major route to reconnect communities, KosInvest plans to continue building these multi-ethnic partnerships and aims to further strengthen relationships between ethnic communities through social intervention programs, such as the successfully established WV Kosovo Kids for Peace project.
Through 14 clubs, 360 kids from 5 ethnicities aged 10 to 15 are enrolled in peace education activities throughout rural Kosovo. They are given the opportunity to get to know their ethnic neighbors and are equipped with an understanding of how to deal with daily problems they face in their troubled society.
For economic development to be sustainable within this ethnically strained context, an innovative approach is needed to address issues such as fear, distrust and anger, which are evidently still embedded in the hearts of the population As KosInvest’s programs expand, the resulting social impact will benefit Kosovo’s most vulnerable communities. Although addressing hostilities through the creation of inter-ethnic partnerships will take time, it is the only viable way forward for a society with such a violent past and uncertain future.
Through working with adults and children, meeting their immediate needs and promoting sustainable solutions to social problems, KosInvest will play an important role during a volatile and decisive period in Kosovo’s history.
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