Supporting Youth Development in Kosovo

A central challenge for Kosovo is how to develop its fledgling local economy while finding ways to reduce ethnic tensions and reintegrate its multiple ethnic groups.  Mistrust and bitterness among ethnic and religious groups, especially Serbs and Albanians, still exists.

One effort, the First Kosovo Youth Development Project (KYDP) supported by the World Bank, was established in 2006.  The objective of KYDP was to increase social cohesion and inter-ethnic interaction and cooperation among communities in Kosovo, with a special emphasis on improving the relationship between young Albanians and Serbs. Other priorities of the project include ensuring balance in inter-ethnic participation in project activities within the youth centers, introduction of core program modules in these centers, peace and tolerance training for center staff, and development of sustainability plans for the centers.

KYDP has helped 5,800 young people to learn new skills that increase their potential to access the labor market as well as get along with their peers. This innovative project awarded grants to support the rehabilitation and improved youth services in 13 youth centers (iAct youth centers) across Kosovo.  These youth centers in turn served as the spaces for non-formal education, inter-ethnic collaboration, and peace building. And communities and youth throughout Kosovo have had significant achievements through participation in the project.

The youth center in the mainly Albanian town of Lipjan is overwhelmed with demands for English language and computer courses.  Muhamet Grajqevci, center coordinator, says:  “We have between 100 and 200 visitors a day, we are the only place in our municipality, where young people can find support.” The center also serves surrounding villages, inhabited by approximately ten thousand people.

At Cabra youth center in northern Kosovo, the young are also enthusiastic, joining in language and painting classes.  The community was flattened during the war, but has been rebuilt and is trying to improve people’s lives.  There’s a new road and clinic, but citizens lack jobs. “Nothing was done for the young people,” youth center coordinator Aferdita Selmani explains.  “But the center created opportunities for youth and helped them escape isolation.”

Three of the 13 iACT youth centers which received grants are in areas that are populated by the minority Serb community. One such community is Priluze where most of the young are unemployed and their numbers dwindle as many leave to look for work elsewhere.  But the youth center’s radio-station still broadcasts. “It provides entertainment program, mainly music, but also messages against drugs and alcohol,” says Dragisa Lazic, who works at the center. 

KYDP also supported two youth resource hubs: one on the campus of University of  Pristina, and the other near the University of Mitrovica, in a Serb-dominated part of Kosovo. The hubs aim to involve the young in youth development and decision-making. They offer career development information and mentoring, communication and volunteer skills training, library and web information services, and web design classes. The hubs also offer internet access, a photo and camera lab and a movie theater.  Additional activities are added at hubs based on surveys of student needs, such as seminars, public debates, radio programs, movie nights and summer camps.  

Financial sustainability of the youth centers remains a challenge, but to a degree their operating costs are supported by a combination of municipal allocations, fees for training, and other donors, gradually reducing the need for World Bank support.  A Second Kosovo Youth Development Project (KYDP 2) was recently approved which will provide grants to youth centers to refine their longer-term sustainability plans, building on local partnerships  and support from their communities and other donors.