1. Case-study No. & Title:
179. Radusa, Bojane, Rasce, R. Macedonia - project ‘Shelter Macedonia’
Providing support for the Macedonian families that gave shelter to Kosovo refugee; Helping the Kosovo refugees sheltered in the refugee camps; Raising the awareness of Macedonian public for the problems connected with different ethnic entities, March – September 1999

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
04/01/2001

3. Good Practice Information Sheet
3.1 Local Level Good Practice:
The project has three main aims:

Providing support for the host families in the short term: Families who decided to give shelter to the Kosovo refugees faced great difficulties, especially at an economic level. They had to provide food and other essential goods. Since they could not manage it by themselves it was decided that these people should be given support to fulfil the needs of the refugee families. Therefore MCIC with help from other government and non-government organizations distributed food packages and sanitary products to more than 26,000 refugees and host families.

Providing support for the host families in the long term: After the first wave of Kosovo crises it became clear that there were problems that had to be solved urgently. The problems were connected to water supplies and sanitation and the locations most affected were villages near the refugee camps such as Bojane, Radusa and Rasce. It was urgent to resolve these problems because there was a threat of drinking water being polluted.

Providing necessary facilities for the refugees within the refugee camps:
MCIC also participated in equipping the camps by constructing the toilets and the primary infrastructure of the camps. They also provided food and sanitary packages for the refugees.

Raising the awareness of the Macedonian public in terms of inter-ethnic issues:
The attitude of the Macedonian public towards acceptance of the refugees was one of the reasons for MCIC to come up with a campaign for promotion of mutual understanding, peace and stability within the territory of Macedonia.

The first results: The villages Radusa, Bojane and Rasce received new water supply systems and sewerage and steps were taken to prevent the pollution of the water in Skopje since Skopje supplies water from the springs in Rasce. The solution of these problems contributed to securing clean drinking water for one third of the Macedonian population. Dealing both with the refugees in host families and in refugee camps resulted in clear improvements.

3.2 Location:
The project took place in Macedonia during the Kosovo crises. The main emphasis was placed on the villages near the refugee camps such as Radusa, Bojane and Rasce. These are the villages where 99% of the population is of Albanian ethnicity and the rest are people of Turkish nationality. These are the ones who gave shelter to most of the Kosovo refugees. One part of the project is concentrated in the refugee camps Radusa and Cegrane near the above-mentioned villages.

3.3 Minority/Target Groups:
Minority: Refugees from Kosovo; Albanians, Turks from Macedonia
Target group: Macedonian families of Albanian and Turkish national entities who gave shelter to the Kosovo refugees and the refugees themselves.

3.4 Major Actors Involved

3.5 Budget allocated by local government authorities and/or by other actors
The money for this project was provided by different sources: Swedish government, HEKS, UNHCR, Ministry of Urbanism. Some of the expenses were supported by different NGOs but most part of it was provided by MCIC. No exact data on the budget are available.

3.6 Timeframe
The initiative was first proposed in March 1999, officially launched and implemented in April. The project came to an end in September 1999.

3.7 Local level good practice relation to national level ethnic policy
This project was first initiated by MCIC and the local community but was also supported from the Government of the Republic of Macedonia. After initially helping only the refugees it was obvious that families who gave shelter to the refugees also need help. One of the biggest problems was that of water supply, sewerage and sanitation. Different institutions were involved in overcoming these problems such as the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Ministry of Urban Affairs and Construction, the local community, different NGOs, HEKS and the Swedish government.

The cooperation between MCIC and governmental bodies was extremely good because they all realised that what they were doing was not only for the benefit of certain groups of people but for the benefit of the whole country. This solution was also seen as one step forward to showing that the government is concerned about an improvement of the inter-ethnic relations in R. Macedonia.

4. Good Practice Description
The project took place in the villages Rasce, Bojane and Cegrane, villages, which are near the refugee camps and the camps alone. These villages were the ones, which were the most affected by the Kosovo refugee crises. During the Kosovo crises Macedonia accepted 28,000 refugees. 11,000 were sheltered in refugee camps while the rest 17,000 were sheltered in host families mostly in the above-mentioned villages. At the beginning the main concern was how to help the refugees adjust to life in the camps, to provide food for them, to manage sanitation and take care of the necessary things connected with their stay on the territory of the Republic of Macedonia. MCIC together with other NGOs managed to provide shelter for two-thirds of the total number of the Kosovo refugees.

The village Bojane is situated on the mountain Zeden and is 2.5 kilometers far from the road Tetovo - Skopje. It has approximately 1,910 inhabitants and they are all of Albanian nationality. The village Radusa is 25 kilometres far from Skopje and is also situated on the mountain Zeden. The approximate number of inhabitants is 1824 all of them being ethnic Albanians. Rasce is the biggest village of the two previously mentioned. It is also situated on the mountain Zeden and on its territory is one of the biggest springs in the area. The approximate number of villagers is 2363, of which 99 per cent are ethnic Albanians and the rest are ethnic Turks.

The first action was taken on the border entrance at Blace and Jazince where MCIC provided 42 tonnes of food. They also coordinated the supply of materials from the partnership organisations that was arriving by air and land. Two hundred and fifty tonnes of different materials were provided, with 40 tonnes of this being provided by local suppliers and producers. At the same time, in cooperation with El Hilal and the Republic’s office for health protection, MCIC organized the clearing up of litter on the no-man’s land area. With approval from the Ministry for Labour and the High Commissariat for Refugees in the UN, MCIC took over the management of the refugee camp near the village of Radusa. Together with the Ministry of Urbanism MCIC set up the camp infrastructure and did all preparations required for sheltering the refugees.

Although the first impression was that only the refuges required help it soon became apparent that there was another problem, which was as important as helping the refugees settled in the refugee camps. 17,000 Kosovo refugees were hosted in families living in Macedonia. Most of the families were of Albanian nationality and a small number were Turks. They decided to help the refugees without taking into consideration the problems that would follow. The economic situation of these families was precarious to start with, and the additional burden of caring for the refugees meant that many faced severe financial difficulties. The old water supply system and sanitation could not support the big increase in the number of users and it needed refurbishment. So MCIC had to provide:

In co-operation with the other organisations, local community and certain ministries MCIC met these challenges.

Looking for common interests – involvement of the local authorities
When the problem with the host families occurred it was obvious that they should be given support to overcome the burden caused by the large number of refugees needing shelter. The local community was also affected so they showed great interest in solving the problem. They not only cooperated with the MCIC but also with the Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Urbanism. These governmental bodies helped in providing financial and material help for the families and also helped in the reconstruction of the sanitary and water supply systems. All materials were purchased from Macedonian producers, thus supporting the local economy. The local community also co-operated with HEKS and the Swedish government to provide financial support for the host families.

At the same time MCIC cooperated with the Macedonian mass media in developing a campaign to raise the public awareness of inter-ethnic issues.

Development of the project ‘Shelter Macedonia’
Short-term support: The escalation of the Kosovo crises at the end of March 1999 resulted in an increase of the number of the refugees who entered the Republic of Macedonia. The approximate number of refugees was 28,000 and it was estimated that 17,000 of them were given shelter by Macedonian families, 99 per cent of which were of Albanian nationality. Even before the crises the economic situation of these families was bad but it become worse when the refugees arrived. The majority of the refugees were placed in families with more than four persons so in some families the total number of persons to be accommodated reached 50. These families were on the edge of economic breakdown and they desperately needed help.

The primary thing that had to be done was the provision of food and sanitary materials. MCIC together with the local community manage to provide food packages and sanitary products for 50,000 users. Out of these 2000 were babies, 24,000 were social cases and the rest were members of the families who gave shelter to the Kosovo refugees. The support consisted of food packages, a package of hygiene products for the family, baby food and hygienic products for babies.

Apart from MCIC and the local community 17 other NGOs from different regions of Macedonia were involved in the realisation of this support. The materials were mainly purchased from Macedonian producers, thus supporting the local economy.

To support the other local NGOs involved in the project MCIC started 18 local initiatives such as material help for the refugees, initiating inter-ethnic dialogues, technical help etc.

With the help of the Ministry of Labour MCIC provided financial help for 2000 host families. This took the form of compensation for the expenses incurred for electricity, water and heating. This financial support was given by HEKS and the Swedish government.

Long-term support: When the main wave of refugees diminished the most important operation of the project took place. It appeared that people from Rasce, Bojane and Cegrane were facing serious problems with the water supply system and sanitation. These systems were overloaded because they were used both by the refugees in the refugee camps and refugees settled in the host families. The drastic increase of the population was more than the normal water supply to these villages could cope with. On the other hand the quantity of the waste water increased and endangered the spring near Rasce. This spring provides water for the villages Bojane, Rasce and Radusa and also for Skopje, the capital. These three villages are in the immediate protected area of the spring near Rasce, the main spring for water supply to Skopje.

The Ministry of Labour contributed towards solving this problem by providing financial support for the reconstruction of the water supply and sanitation systems. By virtue of the action taken the functioning of the water supply and sanitation has also been ensured in the long term so that people in this area will not encounter problems in the future. The action taken was moreover important for the population of Skopje and others, overall benefiting one third of the total population of Macedonia.

Improving living condition for the refugees in the refugee camps: Fist of all MCIC organised the infrastructure of the camps. Then they provided tents and blankets for the refugees. MCIC also helped in setting up sanitary systems in the camps, crucial to ensure a proper standard of living. They were also involved in providing food and hygienic materials for the refugees.

Building public awareness
The attitude of Macedonian public towards acceptance of the refugees motivated the MCIC to promote a media campaign concerning inter-ethnic issues. The aim of the campaign was to promote mutual understanding, peace and stability in R. Macedonia.

The campaign started on 24 May and covered themes such as tolerance, human values, understanding and solidarity. It consisted of production and distribution of video and radio spots, billboards, t-shirts, calendars etc. At the beginning of July there were concerts, and an exhibition in Ohrid. There was also an international film festival where 13 movies with inter-ethnic topics were presented.

The financial support for the project
The money for this project was provided by different sources: Swedish government, HEKS, UNHCR, the Ministry of Urbanism. Some of the expenses were supported by different NGOs but most of it was provided by MCIC.

Reaction of the members of the host families
The number of persons hosted by these host families increased and sometimes it went up to more than 50 people. Ismail Samokova records giving shelter to Kosovo refugees. According to the information received from El Hilal Mr Samokova gave shelter to 56 refugees, of whom 46 were children aged between 9 months and 18 years. Each family had a room to itself but in the house there wasn’t water or sanitation. The only tap water was in the yard and so was the toilet. He reacted positively to the project because he managed to feed the refugees and at the end he also ended up with proper sanitation and a water supply system.

Continuation of the project
After the project ‘Shelter Macedonia’ had ended and the refugees had left Macedonia, MCIC continued with the help but now within the Kosovo territory. In the first period MCIC provided tents, sheets and blankets for 171 families.

MCIC was involved in the reconstruction of the houses. They managed to repair 151 houses in Gakovica and Dragas. They also provided 136 pre-fabricated houses. MCIC distributed packages of wool and knitting needles and food packages for 7,820 families.

MCIC did whatever possible to aid the return of the refugees and allow them to return to a normal way of life as soon as possible.