1. Case-study No. & Title
169. ‘Project Babylon’ – an activity centre for children from different ethnic nationalities in Tetovo, R. Macedonia, June 1999 – end of 2003

Keywords:

2. Author information
2.1 Author’s Name:
Sreten Koceski

2.2 Institutional Affiliation and Contact Details:
Sreten Koceski (Chairman of Mladinski informativen centar)
Mladinski informativen centar
JNA N^o 14
1220 Tetovo
R. Macedonia

Tel/Fax: +389-70-250-286
E-mail: mic_sreten@yahoo.com

2.3 Date recorded:
19 January 2001

3. Good Practice Information Sheet
3.1 Local Level Good Practice:
The project’s main aims are to improve interethnic relations by gathering children from different ethnicity together in a place called ‘Babylon’ and to involve local authorities in the project. The project ‘Babylon’ exists in eight cities in Macedonia and Tetovo is one of them. It is a center where children from different nationality can come and be together and at the same time learn new things in the fields that the center offers.

3.2 Location:
The project takes place in Tetovo, R. Macedonia. The city is in the western part of the country and has approximately 50,000 inhabitants. 70 per cent of whom are ethnic Albanians, 25 per cent Macedonian and the rest are Turks, Roma and Serbs. Although Tetovo is among the biggest cities in Macedonia it does not have a place where children from different nationalities can get together to have a good time and at the same time acquire additional education. The ‘Babylon’ center is the only place of this kind in the city.

3.3 Minority/Target Groups:
Minority: Albanians, Roma, Turks and Serbs
Target group: Approximately 500 children and 60 teenagers from the above-mentioned nationalities plus Macedonians.

3.4 Major Actors Involved:

3.5 Budget allocated by local government authorities and/or by other actors:
Not available

3.6 Timeframe:
The initiative was first proposed and launched in June 1999, it was put into practice in July 1999 and is expected to continue until the end of 2003.

3.7 Local level good practice relation to national level ethnic policy:
The project has been initiated by the Italian NGO CESVI – Development and cooperation. They approached the local NGO – ‘LOJA’ to implement the project. At the beginning the cooperation between the local NGO and the local authorities was not very firm. But as the project was continuing with great success the local authorities realised that ‘Babylon’ is making progress in gathering children from different nationalities and that this is something unique in the Tetovo region.

The problem occurred when CESVI demanded that the local NGO should provide free space, telephone and cut the employees from 10 persons to 3. Then the cooperation between the local NGO and local authorities really began. The mayor of Tetovo convinced the director of the Cultural Center to provide the room for free and the means for the bills and salaries were provided by the Canadian Embassy and UNICEF.

4. Good Practice Description
Location: Tetovo is third largest city in Macedonia and has approximately 50,000 inhabitants. The whole Region of Tetovo has approximately 200,000 inhabitants. Since the project is open to the whole region children from surrounding villages also attended the center. Seventy per cent of the population is of Albanian nationality, 20 per cent are Macedonians and the rest are Turks, Romas and Serbs. The situation in Tetovo is very complicated because different nationalities very rarely mix. There are special parts where only Albanians go, special places where Macedonians go etc. The same happens in the schools where children are divided according to their nationality. So people have prejudices against each other which is another obstacle to achieving a better life and mutual understanding.

The project ‘Babylon’ is designed to gather children from every existing nationality together at the same place and try to build up friendships that will overcome the antagonism that has been building up for years.

Until now this project has had four phases. The first phase was from 15 June to 31 December and it was a kind of experimental period. During this period the project underwent several difficulties mainly related to securing the necessary accommodation. First the activities of the project took place at the People’s University. It is an institution for learning foreign languages and other courses. Since the project started during the summer holiday the rooms of this institution were free. The problem occurred with the beginning of the school year. Then the center has to be relocated, or else stop functioning. The director of the Cultural Center made available one big room within the same building. It was a room previously used by SOROS. This room is still used as the ‘Babylon’ center.

The second phase of the project lasted until 15 June 2000 when some re-organisation of the staff took place. Then the number of staff members went down from 10 to 3 persons. It was so because CESVI could only afford salaries for than 3 members – one coordinator and two assistants. It was also a period when the local NGO had to provide free space. At this point they asked for the help of the local authorities and the mayor of Tetovo. Together they managed to agree with the director of the Cultural Center to give them the room without charging them anything.

In November the Canadian Embassy agreed to give some funds for the project. The number of the staff now increased to six persons and the involvement of two more persons it is being considered.

Local authority involvement
At the beginning local authorities were not involved in the project. This was probably because they were not informed enough since the initiative was proposed by CESVI and was being implemented in Tetovo by the local NGO. The other reason could be that people from the municipality were suspicious about the success of the project because nothing similar has been realised before.

As the project got underway people started to realise that it was very successful. This was especially true of the parents of the children attending ’Babylon’. But when the problem with the free space occurred it necessarily meant involving local authorities, in this case the Municipality of Tetovo.

For a long time good working contacts existed between the director of the Cultural Center and the mayor of Tetovo. Also the person from the local NGO responsible for the project had some contacts with the mayor’s counselor. Since the Cultural Center is under the jurisdiction of the Municipality it was decided that a room should be given to the project ‘Babylon’ for free. The municipality also gave some money for teaching materials needed for proper accomplishment of the activities in ‘Babylon’ center. The municipality also provided presents for the children for the New Year 2000.

The Italian NGO CESVI was responsible for the implementation of the project in Macedonia while the realization in Tetovo was responsibility of the local NGO ‘LOJA’.

Before the project really started there were a few things that had to be decided on. First of all it was important to decide which activities to offer. After detailed analyses it was decided that the most appealing activities for children would be: English language, information technology, sport, theatre and art and craft activities. Then appropriate people had to be employed to cover the fields of these activities and who at the same time would be good at working with children. The staff was of a mixed nationality: three Macedonians and five Albanians. After this was done it was decided that the project would be hosted within the People’s University because they were the only ones who could offer free space at that time. The project started with 280 children: 50 per cent Albanians, 40 per cent Macedonians and 10 per cent Romas, Turks and Serbs. This percentage reflected the real structure of the nationalities in Tetovo region.

When the school year began the project was transferred to a room in the Cultural Center in Tetovo. It was one big room that had to be divided into four areas, one for each activity. For the purposes of the sport activities there was an improvised gymnastics hall in the basement of the Cultural Center.

At this period the number of the children, aged 7 to 14, increased to 500, and it was decided that the center should implement activities specially for teenagers. The number of the teenagers was 60 and the proportions according to ethnicity were the same as mentioned previously. The number of the assistants in the center increased to four Macedonians and six Albanians. During this period the assistants involved in this project had the opportunity to participate in different seminars and workshops dealing with interethnic issues, human rights and work with children.

The teenagers had new activities such as journalism, debate, information technology and sport. The center from Tetovo together with the seven other centers published the magazine called ‘Babylon’.

The project continued like this until 15 June when big changes had to be made. The number of the staff was reduced from ten to three, arts & craft and theatre were merged into one activity – creativity - and this was a decisive point for involving the local authorities because the local NGO had to find free space for the project to go on. The room where the project was taking place remained the location of the ‘Babylon’ center and the director of the Cultural Center let the room for free. There were ten teenagers who worked in the center as volunteers. They were of mixed nationality as well. The project went on like this until November when two more people were employed. Now the ‘Babylon’ center has 400 children and 50 teenagers and it expected to continue until the end of 2003.

The financial support for the project
The project was financed by ECHO (European Community Humanitarian Office), UNICEF and the Canadian Embassy.

Involvement of the teenagers
At the beginning the teenagers, who numbered 60, were only involved in the regular activities. They were of mixed nationality, and attended in the following proportions: 50 per cent Albanians, 40 per cent Macedonians and the rest were Roma, Serbs and Turks. They were involved in different activities such as: information technology, journalism, debate and sport. During the project they participated in the ‘Babyloniade’ in Shtip (one of the other cities where the ‘Babylon’ project is implemented) and had opportunity to show what they had learned in the ‘Babylon’ center.

Since 15 June 10 of the teenagers (5 Albanians and 5 Macedonians) have worked as volunteers and received special training for working with children. These training sessions were organized by CESVI.

The reaction of the children
Children are the most satisfied of all because the activities that the center offers are very appealing to them. A positive development is that children are starting to cooperate with each other no matter of their nationality. They are also satisfied because of the outdoor activities such as visiting different religious sites (churches and mosques) that are significant and are characteristic of Tetovo. They were also taken to the swimming pool in Skopje and to the ski resort Popova Shapka.

The reaction of the parents
Halfway through the development of the project it was decided that the parents should also take part in the project. Once a month there was a meeting with the members of BPA (Babylon Parents’ Association) where the parents had a chance to discuss their ideas about the project, say whether they are satisfied with it, what they think is not functioning well etc. It has to be mentioned that the parents involved in this association were also of mixed nationality so they were given a chance to do something together and accomplish something that was useful for them and for their children also.

Problems which appeared during the project
One of the biggest problems that occurred during the project was the refusal of some children to cooperate with children from other nationality. But these problems were overcome by the efficient work of the assistant in the center since they were trained to work with a mixed ethnic population.

The other problem was change of accommodation for the project (from the People’s University to the Cultural Center). Yet another problem that occurred during the project related to rent but in cooperation with the Municipality of Tetovo and the mayor of Tetovo this problem was also solved.

Expansion of the ‘Babylon’ project
The ‘Babylon’ project in Tetovo and in other seven cities is expected to continue until the end of 2003. Now there are some initiatives to open the same center in certain villages in Tetovo region so that the children will not have to travel to come to the ‘Babylon’ center in Tetovo but to have the possibility to attend similar activities in their own village. It still uncertain which villages will be chosen for this purpose. This is also a good opportunity for young people who are unemployed to find a job and do something useful for their community and for Macedonia in general.