Annual report 2005 Malteser International - Ordine di Malta

Europe
Balkans
National staff: 28
Aid for 2,000 people
Malteser International has worked in
the Balkans since 1995.
The reorganisation after the
collapse of the former Federal State
of Yugoslavia has still not yet reached
its final conclusion today. Separation
between Serbia and Montenegro has
been realised; the federal diversity
of Bosnia and Herzegovina remains
unproven in reality and the future
status of Kosovo remains open.
Irrespective of the political path taken
and yet to be taken by the successor
states, they all remain united in a deep
social and economic crisis today, with
the exception of Slovenia.
Malteser International has been
working in the Balkans for over ten years.
Initially, work concentrated on emergency
aid measures such as the distribution of
hygiene and food packages, but later the
focus became rehabilitation and structural
aid projects. The aim was and is to help
people develop a new peaceful centre
of life after years of bloody conflict and
displacement. Over the years, Malteser
International has developed two project
forms still running today in the focus
regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and
Kosovo.
Women’s initiatives in Bosnia
and Kosovo
As many men died in the wars or were
injured and returned home traumatised,
the central organisational role in life
after war fell to the women in many
families. Working with local women’s
groups, we developed programmes and
measures intended to reinforce women’s
skills, self-confidence and independence.
Kosovo: The support of small-scale businesses – such
as this coffee-roasting plant – improves the financial
situation of many households.
This includes careers training, the
promotion of small trades, preventative
health promotion, legal advice, the
development and strengthening of
local non-governmental organisations
and reconciliation work. This concept
developed in Bosnia was also adopted in
Kosovo after 1999 and later even in Asian
project areas.
The foundation created in 2002 under
the name ‘Bosnian-Herzegovina Women
Initiative’ (BHWI) has been running all
women’s projects for us since then as a
local agency. For example, it counsels
and supports unemployed women in the
setting up of a business. The next step in
independence was taken in 2005 when
the BHWI requested subsidies itself for
the first time and received them.
Income-generating measures
Our income-generating measures are
used to promote the integration of those
returning home by helping them to found
small businesses and service industries.
Kosovo: Production sites for toilet paper: work and
income for numerous families.
Aid recipients pledge to donate part of
the income they receive from their first
year of operation to social and charitable
projects, thus providing simultaneous
support for the development of civil
society and democratic structures. In
this way, we have promoted about 600
individual projects in Bosnia alone since
2000, reaching more than 3,000 people in
family and neighbourhood groups. Since
2002, 650 people have found work in
Kosovo in 230 businesses, thus creating
a new existence for themselves and their
families.
Refugees and returnees
On behalf of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),
Malteser International has accompanied
135 refugee convoys over the past year,
mainly carrying refugees home from
Bosnia to Croatia, and also in the opposite
direction in some cases. We also provided
those most in need when repatriated
with an initial aid of up to EUR 100 per
person.
‘Rigid Shelter’ – a roof for the winter
Some people in Kosovo are still
without fixed accommodation that offers
sufficient protection against the hard
winter. On behalf of UNHCR, Malteser
International has installed winter-proof
ready-built houses for returning refugee
families. In this way, around 20 families
were provided with a new, secure home
in 2005.
Kosovo: Thanks to a small loan, this hairdresser has
been able to re-open his salon.
32 E U R O P E