Grants and Grantees / Close-Ups / Initiative for Kosova Community

Established on February 17, 2008, Kosovo is one of the youngest countries in the world, and boasts the youngest population in Europe.  At the same time, Kosovo also lays claim to having one of the highest rates of poverty and unemployment in the continent.  According to a recent United Nations Development Programme report, 37 percent of the population lives in poverty, of which 17 percent are in extreme poverty.  Most of the impoverished live in rural areas, which is the guiding impetus behind Initiative for Kosova Community's (IKC) work.  "We choose to work in rural areas because we want to be where there's the biggest need," said Executive Director Ekrem Bajrami.

The sole nongovernmental organization (NGO) doing rural development work in the nation, Initiative for Kosova Community was established in 2005 as a local offshoot of the Belgian NGO Balkanactie vzw.  Since then, IKC has played a unique role in Kosovo, implementing projects at the grassroots level with a focus on community, economic, and social empowerment. 

IKC targets the most disenfranchised of society: the rural poor, women and children, and multiethnic minority groups.  In a country where women and girls are often not educated beyond primary school, IKC encourages them to be less dependent on men financially, and to start their own businesses cultivating flowers or greenhouse vegetables, or starting up artisanal trades.  In Roma and Ashkali minority communities, IKC helps individuals who want to further their education and find scholarships and funding.  In 2010, 60 Ashkali families in the Gadime village of the Lipjan municipality will attend a technical school to study business management, accounting, and bookkeeping.  IKC is also in the process of setting up an education and support center in the village of Dubravë, Ferizaj, to help locals build their self-confidence and train for better job opportunities.

Supporting agricultural cooperatives is another approach IKC takes.  "One way to pull people out of poverty is to link them to business and get them to work together.  For small Kosovo farmers it's hard to create sustainable businesses with limited capital.  If they join forces, they can establish a bigger business and then compete in the market," Bajrami said.  Indeed, IKC has made footholds in four municipalities-Ferizaj, Gjilan, Lipjan, and Shtime-where it has brought together producers and rural development officers to create new agricultural models for the largest farms in their municipalities.  For example, IKC coordinated a learning exchange between Kosovar and Macedonian fruit, vegetable, and dairy farmers.  Visiting more established Macedonian farms gave Kosovar famers an opportunity to learn from their peers, develop relationships with municipal officials, and exchange best practices on their trade.  Owners of apple orchards in the Bitola municipality discovered organic alternatives to currently used pesticides and fertilizers, and new technologies.  Such methods may be employed on Kosovar farms in the future to decrease the present pesticide usage so that they will be able to meet European Union standards and sell their produce in foreign markets. 

What's the secret behind IKC's success?  IKC is firmly rooted in a participatory, hands-on approach.  "We like to measure and figure out what people are doing.  We work in the field and don't make decisions in our offices without the community's input.  The community is with us every step of the way."  Bajrami also credits the communities IKC work with for the inspiration they provide.  "Working with these people involves becoming a part of their lives.  We can see what they are able to do, and what kind difficulties they can overcome." With such vision, determination, and strategy, Kosovo-and Europe's youngest population-have real hope for a brighter future.