USAID/OTI Macedonia Hot Topics
CBI Helps Radusa Women Make History
For the first time in the history of Radusa village, women have come out in full force to make their voices heard. The traditional village experienced a new way of operating when CBI insisted that women participate in making decisions about community priorities. Radusa is an ethnically and politically divided village of 1,800 inhabitants located near Macedonia's northern border with Kosovo. It suffered extensive infrastructure damage during the 2001 conflict, forcing most residents to leave. CBI's assistance with rebuilding the village and its encouragement of broad participation in the process are helping residents return.
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| Women of Radusa Village came together to voice their concerns and participate in project planning at a CBI community meeting. |
CBI's attempts to bring together all community members to discuss priorities got off to a slow start, with only men participating in meetings. Attempts to include women alongside men in decision-making were initially met with skepticism and fear that doing so might threaten traditional practices. However, CBI continued to emphasize the importance of hearing voices representing all ethnic, religious, political and gender groups to the project's success.
With CBI's support, more than 100 women in the community organized their own meeting - a first ever - to voice concerns and identify priorities for their community. Their concerns were not only heard, but resulted in an agreement to begin community reconstruction efforts with restoration of a pedestrian bridge leading to the village's only elementary school.
"Since CBI became involved, so many positive things have happened in our village," said one female teacher at the elementary school. One of the positive changes is the creation of the first Women's Organization of Radusa. CBI's successful inclusion of women in community decision-making, which builds upon nearly two years of active support for women's involvement at all levels of decision-making in Macedonia, has advanced CBI's objective of giving all community members a voice and the power to bring about positive changes. [May 2003]
CBI Promotes Professional Standards for Macedonian Media
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| Radio journalists at the multi-ethnic, multilingual media fair. |
Macedonian electronic media outlets recently showed signs of increased collaboration and a greater commitment to provide the public with quality information through their participation in a national media fair. CBI supported the fair as part of its effort to promote higher standards of professionalism and responsibility in the field, and to help the media overcome its role in fomenting the 2001 conflict.
CBI contributed to a three-day, multi-ethnic and multilingual national media fair, which brought together several hundred journalists representing more than one-third of Macedonia's media organizations, as well as regulatory bodies and private marketing agencies. Officials from the Ministry of Communications and the National Broadcast Council opened the fair. Of the media outlets participating, fifteen were former CBI grantees who eagerly embraced the opportunity to share their experiences and explore prospects for collaboration.
The fair helped bridge the gap between urban and rural media outlets, and provided a vehicle through which public and private-sector outlets could share reporting techniques and technology. National-level media organizations subsidized the participation of smaller, regional and local outlets in the fair. This contributed to an environment in which diversity-ethnic, religious, political, geographic and gender-was actively encouraged in the interest of promoting the increased professionalism of media outlets.
More than 1,000 local officials, students and citizens also visited the fair and interacted with television and radio stations and media celebrities, demonstrating growing public interest in the quality of the media. [March 2003]
Multi-ethnic Parent-Teacher Cooperation Sets "Can Do" Example
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| Parents and teachers of a Bitola primary school replace 70-year old windows. |
Neglected by the state since its establishment in 1932, the Trifun Panovski Primary School in the southern town of Bitola recently witnessed an unusual form of cooperation that turned its dilapidated structure into the center of community pride. With the support of CBI, ethnic-Albanian, Macedonian and Turkish parents and teachers worked in teams for two weeks to renovate the school, which serves students from an ethnic-Albanian neighborhood and four ethnically mixed surrounding villages.
"This is the most important thing that has ever happened to the school," said one parent, whose two children are among the 550 students who no longer have to see their own breath from the cold in classrooms. This cooperation and dedication of parents and teachers, working across ethnic lines but solely focused on the common needs of their children, received widespread national and local media coverage. The publicity, in turn, prompted calls to the school from all over the country by communities interested in pursuing their own homegrown initiatives. In light of a recent spate of school boycotts resulting from ethnic divisions in other areas of Macedonia, this well-publicized collaboration has sent the resounding message that such divisive incidents are the exception rather than the rule.
CBI awarded the school $67,000 to purchase materials to replace windows and install a heating system, which are expected to serve multiple generations of Trifun Panevski Primary School students. More than 200 parents and teachers were involved in providing the skilled and unskilled labor required to complete the work. [January 2003]
CBI Helps Mitigate School Crisis
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| At the center of the crisis - a statue celebrating Albanian ethnic identity at a Tetovo primary school. |
Tensions rose across western Macedonia this month when Albanian leaders moved to rename schools after Albanian political and military figures. The conflict - inextricably linked to wider political tensions between ethnic groups - spread rapidly. In response, CBI drew on its relationships in more than 100 communities to actively engage parents, teachers and local officials in resolving the crisis.
Ethnic polarization intensified in western Macedonia after one village council renamed a school for a World War II-era Albanian military figure. Macedonian students withdrew from the school in protest and subsequently withdrew from five more mixed-ethnic schools in the region. A drive-by shooting of an ethnic-Macedonian student, death threats against students and teachers, and retaliatory violence against ethnic-Albanians during a protest in the capital further exacerbated the crisis.
Yet, schools in conflict-affected areas where CBI had previously worked did not experience significant tensions. Evidence suggests that the relationships CBI built with diverse groups of Macedonians and Albanians while helping communities rehabilitate small-scale infrastructure and reduce tensions played an important role.
CBI rapidly responded to the crisis by re-engaging these communities. Within weeks, myriad local conflict-mitigation efforts were under way. These included an "Educators' Dialogue," which brought together 40 Macedonian and Albanian teachers from western Macedonia to discuss root causes of the conflict. The Kicevo Children's Parliament launched a "Multiculturalism in a Multicultural Society" project involving over 200 youths. Perhaps most importantly, CBI supported media outlets' efforts to report on the reality of positive inter-ethnic collaboration in schools in the affected areas, and encouraged public figures to speak out against the ethnic segregation of schools in Macedonia. [November 2002]
CBI Rebuilds Village Cultural Center to Encourage Return of Displaced People
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| Rehabilitating public buildings like the Varvara Cultural Center will encourage minority returns in western Macedonia. |
Though Macedonia held peaceful elections in September, many areas of the country remain tense. Varvara, an ethnic Macedonian village in an Albanian area, is a case in point. The village is close to an Orthodox monastery with symbolic value to many religious Macedonians. That monastery was blown up during last year's conflict. The village, which also experienced damage to houses and other infrastructure during the conflict, is important to its residents because of its proximity to the monastery. Even so, over the past year, residents have either refused to return or have left the area. CBI approached the community with an understanding that restoring the town's public buildings would encourage the return of residents and bring a sense of normalcy to the village. A $26,000 CBI grant will provide materials to rehabilitate two floors in the cultural center and replace the badly deteriorated roof and windows.
With Macedonia planning to hold its first census since 1994 in November, projects that encourage the return of displaced minority groups will help foster an accurate count and ensure that all groups gain a fair distribution of government funds and official representation in the future.
The Varvara Cultural Center project is one of 39 CBI projects approved since October 2001, involving public parks, recreation centers or sport facilities that help re-establish civic life and positive, community-based interaction among diverse groups of people. [October 2002]
Bitola's Historic Streetlights Help Guide the Way Towards a
More Peaceful and Prosperous Future
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| U.S. Ambassador Lawrence Butler and IOM Mission Chief Pasquale Lupoli applaud for Bitola Mayor Zlatko Vrshkovski after presenting a public plaque at the inauguration of Bitola's historic streetlights. |
U.S. Ambassador Lawrence Butler inaugurated new historic streetlights in the southern Macedonian city of Bitola earlier this month, noting that they evoke the town's rich history as a cultural crossroads and center for multi-ethnic tolerance and peace. The result of a $52,000 project sponsored by the Macedonia Confidence Building Initiative (CBI), the project was hailed as a turning point in a town wracked by ethnic tensions only one year ago. Located along a pedestrian street in the heart of the commercial district, Bitola's Mayor welcomed the lights as symbols of a brighter future.
The local initiative is a strong example of CBI's contribution to restoring confidence in the wake of ethnic conflict. The result of nearly a year of community meetings between local officials, residents and CBI representatives, the project was designed as a means to bring diverse groups together after communication between the city's many factions had broken down. These public meetings resulted in agreement among all participants that restoring the lights could be a first step toward rebuilding confidence in the city's future. An improved working relationship between once-estranged officials and citizens has been a happy by-product.
As Bitolans celebrated the tangible results of their cooperative efforts with a street festival, CBI used the occasion to publicly sign two new grants to rehabilitate a dozen Albanian, Turkish and other Muslim-owned shops that were destroyed in ethnic riots last year. The destroyed shops remain charred reminders of the conflict and confronting them has been difficult for everyone in the town. According to one local observer, the fact that the Bitola mayor made a public statement addressing this politically sensitive issue for the first time, "represents CBI's greatest achievement yet." [October 2002]
Macedonia Newspaper Initiatives Become Self-sustaining
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| CBI's rural newspaper distribution project proved so popular prior to elections, that the distributor has continued it as a for-profit venture. |
It started out as a modest project to support an independent newspaper in the run-up to Macedonia's elections last month. Now, Aktuelnosti, supported by a $9,000 CBI grant, is poised to become a mainstay of balanced, nonpartisan reporting in eastern Macedonia.
One of more than a dozen CBI media projects worth $450,000 to promote peaceful and informed participation in the September vote, reporters in the eastern town of Kocani launched Aktuelnosti to provide balanced information in traditional stronghold of nationalist politics. The town is known for its intensely divided politics and many local journalists feared politically motivated reprisals for honest, accurate, and nonpartisan reporting in any of the established papers. Aktuelnosti proved to be so popular that, in the month since the elections, local journalists have continued to volunteer their time at the new weekly while holding day jobs at mainstream media outlets and the paper has received free printing from a local print house for one year. The group of journalists who founded the paper say that CBI funds were a vital bit of seed capital which helped to launch a sustainable, long term venture.
But Aktuelnosti is not the only CBI election project to transform itself into a viable institution. CBI's newspaper distribution project, which disseminated thousands of free newspapers to more than 200 isolated villages that had never received newspapers before, is also being continued by the private newspaper distributor without any CBI support. The distributor says that newspapers were so wildly popular in the villages that he is certain that he can continue profitably by continuing in certain areas. It is a perfect example of CBI's power to marry private enterprise with its mission of promoting informed decision making in the country. These media projects are among more than 250 other initiatives CBI has supported in an effort to usher in an era of peace and prosperity in Macedonia in the wake of a peace deal signed last year between ethnic Albanian rebels and the government. [October 2002]
CBI Billboards Promote Peace in Southern Macedonia
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| "What kind of future are you putting together for us?" |
Recognizing the impact that well placed publicity can have upon the peace-building process, CBI has funded a $5,580 grant for a peace-oriented billboard campaign in ethnically diverse southern Macedonia.
Coming to terms with their role in last year's ethnic conflict when the city was rocked by riots, Bitola's citizens, shocked by the events, are committed to ensuring they never repeat themselves. With Macedonia's first post conflict elections on September 15, this campaign is aimed at reminding citizens of their power to shape a new future.
Employing the slogan, "What kind of future are you putting together for us?" the billboards depict two children sitting amid a photo montage of buildings damaged during last year's conflict. The conflict, between Albanian rebels and the government, was settled in a peace agreement signed in Ohrid one year ago. The 15 billboards are located on busy thoroughfares and access roads leading to and from Bitola, Resen and Ohrid to give the campaign the widest possible impact.
The project is one of nearly 50 media-related initiatives worth $970,000 aiming to help usher a new era of peace in Macedonia following last year's conflict. [September 2002}
CBI Provides Water Supply in Conflict-Affected Village
In northern Macedonia, the Macedonia Confidence Building Initiative (CBI) is helping to reconstruct a water supply system in a village near the center of last year's conflict. The result is a project working to restore confidence in Macedonia's future and enhance the relationship between residents and local authorities.
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| Residents gathered for the CBI grant signing. Near a conflict flashpoint, Ljubodrag had not received assistance. |
CBI does not often rebuild water supply systems. The cost usually makes them prohibitively expensive. But in Ljubodrag's case CBI pursued the project because of the village's proximity to the northern flashpoint of Kumanovo and because Ljubodrag had been bypassed by national and international agencies. The need for confidence building measures, meanwhile, was very real. Villagers had been hit badly by Macedonia's faltering economy and unable to till their fields due to armed forces deployed in the vicinity. CBI targeted the community as tensions threatened to boil over.
The high-impact project, supported by a CBI grant of $48,000, will not only rehabilitate the local water supply system. It aims to achieve the important underlying goal of mitigating social tensions by fostering a better relationship between citizens and their local government. Like all CBI projects, the project was conceived and planned by community members. Its success will rely on their in-kind contributions. Residents will provide $14,000 in equipment and labor while the Kumanovo municipality will contribute $15,000 in materials.
The grant is just one of 85 small-scale infrastructure grants approved by CBI since the program's start in October 2001. These projects have included the reconstruction of water systems, rehabilitation of roads, and the renovation of primary schools and other public institutions all over the country. [August 2002]
Radio Station Targets Youth in Post-Conflict Macedonia
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| Radio Life's irreverent bilingual programming is growing more popular everyday in Skopje. |
Radio Life is changing the way young people in Skopje listen to radio. Using an $11,000 grant from the Macedonia Confidence Building Initiative, the new "Radio Life" station uses contemporary rock music mixed with Albanian- and Macedonian-language radio programming to generate trust across the ethnic divide.
Feedback indicates that the new show is attracting an enthusiastic following among the 14-to-34-year-old segment of the population, a group key to cementing peace in the wake of last year's conflict.
Radio Life's use of Macedonian and Albanian is an ingenious way of bringing both communities together. Albanian and Macedonian presenters speak their own languages, and translate for each other in a friendly, irreverent banter interspersed with the latest rock music hits and informational programming.
Station Director Kreshnik Ajdini says the music draws in listeners who get comfortable with the different languages, learn from the informational segments, and become more tolerant in the process. Programming does not deal with ethnic politics directly, but all programs involve multi-ethnic teams and coverage involves interviewees of all ethnic groups. Radio Life has been broadcast daily since April from 6am to 4pm, and includes interviews, guest appearances, and call-in segments.
The station is just one of more than 40 media projects that CBI has funded since October 2001 in an effort to build a lasting peace in the wake of last year's civil conflict. [July 2002]
CBI Helps Town Moderates with New Sports Field
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| The sports field, now under construction, will promote peace in a town with a reputation for extremism. |
The western Macedonian municipality of Zajas has a reputation for extremist politics due to last year's civil conflict. Now, with Zajas focused on creating a more tolerant future, CBI is working with the local government and citizens to build a professional-quality sports field that will encourage Macedonians from all walks of life to visit for positive recreational activity.
The Albanian-majority municipality did not see fighting last year, but it has a reputation for extremism because several prominent members of the National Liberation Army, the ethnic Albanian insurgency force, were born there. The new sports field will encourage members of other ethnic groups to visit and see the town's true face.
It is not just the sports field that benefits Zajas. Because the project is a result of extensive collaboration between citizens and the local government, it will encourage members of the Zajas community to engage more actively in civil society activities and enhance the relationship between citizens and their local government. Such engagement will ultimately create healthier communities and more accountable local institutions, helping reduce the potential for violent conflict in the future.
The Zajas project is not unusual. CBI has used its community-driven grants process for nearly 200 projects in an effort to rebuild the networks of trust that once gave the country a reputation for tolerance. Since October 2001, CBI has helped rehabilitate nine sports fields and has funded dozens of multiethnic sports camps, competitions, and local recreation facilities. [July 2002]
Soccer Tournament Supports Reconciliation in Conflict-Affected Region
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| The Beloviste Reconciliation Cup gave many villagers in northwestern Macedonia their first constructive contact across ethnic lines since the conflict last year. |
As part of OTI's ongoing effort to foster inter-ethnic reconciliation in northwestern Macedonia, CBI recently supported a soccer tournament that brought together seven different villages in the heart of the region torn apart by last year's civil conflict. The initiative gave more than 500 Macedonians their first contact with people living across the ethnic divide in more than 18 months.
The "Beloviste Reconciliation Football Cup" tournament aimed to help rebuild inter-ethnic trust in a corner of the country where freedom of movement for both Macedonian and Albanian ethnic groups remains limited due to continuing tensions. The tournament involved the cooperation of the council of Beloviste village, the mayor of Vratnica municipality, and the OSCE. It was unique because it included teams from the police, border guards and customs officials. State authorities are still distrusted by many in the region, and have only recently returned to the area after it was taken over by the rebel National Liberation Army last year.
The Reconciliation Cup is one of nearly 40 sports, arts or cultural events-including theater and dance performances, music concerts and art exhibitions-that CBI has sponsored since October 2001 in an effort to help rebuild trust between Macedonian social groups in the wake of last year's civil conflict. [July 2002]
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| A Bitola residents participate in the citywide clean-up campaign following the ethnic riots last year. |
"Beautiful Bitola" Campaign Sweeps away Hate in Southern Macedonia
In a bid to clear away both the physical debris and emotional scars left by two waves of ethnic riots last year, the municipality of Bitola launched a citywide clean-up campaign last week with a $46,000 CBI grant. More than a thousand residents and 10 local non-governmental organizations volunteered in the weeklong effort to demonstrate the progress their community has made towards peace one year after the riots.
For the past year, graffiti such as swastikas and "Death to Albanians" scrawled across local mosques and Muslim shops on Bitola's main street, cast a pall over a city that prides itself on its rich multi-cultural heritage. In response to the one-year anniversary of the second riot, the municipal government hired public workers to paint over the graffiti and went further by initiating a campaign to clean up the entire city. Special efforts went towards Roma neighborhoods that have never been served by municipal garbage collection services. CBI's grant partially supported the purchase of over 100 dumpsters, prompting the municipality to commit to regular trash collection in Roma areas. The grant produced a new level of cooperation between municipal authorities and a wide range of citizens who were mobilized to address the needs of marginalized groups such as the Roma. [June 2002]
Bitola Neighborhood Initiative Reclaims Common Space
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| A citizens group in Bitola renovates their community hall. |
In an effort to support civic action and increase public space for community activities, CBI has provided $12,000 in materials to a citizens group in Bitola for the renovation of their community hall. The building is the seat of the local Neighborhood Council, part of a public network of meeting halls once intended to encourage citizens to play an active role in their community and provide a means for local authorities to maintain close ties with their constituency. Historically, they served as both community centers and polling stations but most fell into disuse and disrepair following independence in 1991.
The passage of the Law on Local Self Government earlier this year created renewed interest in the role of Neighborhood Councils. An increasing number of local groups now want to rejuvenate these dilapidated buildings. The CBI grant for the rehabilitation of the Gorgi Naumov Neighborhood Council in Bitola is one of a series of grants to promote community engagement. A second grant of $4,000 to the Klea Women's Association, a group of local business and political leaders, will refurbish space within the Neighborhood Council for their activities. The facility is open to the entire community. Once renovations are complete, CBI anticipates supporting other activities there. [May 2002]
Local Media Breaks New Ground in Collaborative Effort to Mitigate Conflict
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| Guests and journalists crowd around to hear welcome speeches presented in three languages. |
The official opening last week of the Media City Desk of Tetovo marked the beginning of a collaborative effort between Macedonian and Albanian media to increase balanced news coverage in the country's most volatile region. Until now, one-sided reports from the area have contributed to tensions across Macedonia. The project, supported by a $29,000 CBI grant and additional funds from the Canadian International Development Agency, OSCE and Mercy Corps, brings together nearly all of the privately-owned electronic media in the Tetovo area.
Participating news outlets contribute journalists and technical staff to the desk on a rotating basis. A Macedonian-language and Albanian-language news editor share joint responsibility for the desk's editorial policy. Stories must contain balanced content and represent all sides.
As a result of continued insecurity in the Tetovo area, journalists' movements remain restricted. Macedonian reporters have difficulty accessing Albanian areas, while Albanian reporters have difficulty in Macedonian areas. Through the daily cooperation and combined efforts of journalists from various ethnic groups, the Media City Desk will provide balanced local news coverage of events in the area. National television stations such as A1 and Sitel will rebroadcast the reports, providing the rest of the country with the other side of the story.
[May 2002]
CBI-Supported Dialogue Results in Inter-Religious Council
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| Facilitator Dr. Paul Mojzes flanked by the deans of Macedonia's Orthodox and Islamic Seminaries. |
More than fifty representatives of Macedonia's Orthodox, Islamic, Catholic, Methodist and Jewish communities concluded a five-day conference last week with the formation of an inter-religious council to facilitate future dialogue and collaboration. The initiative, jointly funded by CBI and the United State Institute of Peace, brought more than forty emissaries from different religions around the world to Macedonia to encourage their local counterparts to play an active role in promoting peace and building confidence.
In significant gesture of support, the President of Macedonia, Boris Trajkovski, gave the opening speech with Gospodin Stephan of the Macedonian Orthodox Church to one side, and the Hafis Arif Emini leader of the Islamic Community of Macedonia, to his other side. The most important work of the conference took place in open discussions and small group dialogues in which Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish and other community leaders demonstrated a sincere desire for dialogue and willingness to grapple with the difficult issues dividing their communities.
The conference included visits to both the Macedonian Orthodox and the Islamic seminaries. In a poignant first step towards cooperation, the Deans of each seminary addressed the students at each other's institution.
[May 2002]
U.S. Ambassador Signs OTI's 100th Confidence Building Grant in Eastern Macedonia
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| Ambassador Butler helps to renovate Grdovci primary school. |
The United States Ambassador to Macedonia, Lawrence Butler, made his first trip to the eastern municipality of Kocani to sign USAID/OTI's one hundredth grant on Thursday, in support of local efforts to transform a historic theater into a Community Arts Center. A group of citizens and local officials have successfully mobilized community participation and civic pride in the restoration of the old theater, formerly seen as a seat of culture in Eastern Macedonia. With the support of the Municipality of Kocani and CBI's $40,000 in-kind donation, the Arts Center will offer a wide range of cultural arts programs.
Following the 100th grant signing, the Ambassador, the Mayor of Kocani, and the Chief of Mission of the International Organization of Migration, OTI's implementing partner, joined in a ribbon-cutting ceremony and reception to inaugurate the CBI-Kocani office. Approximately one hundred citizens, local officials, and CBI partners from around the region turned out for the event.
Ambassador Butler seized the occasion to draw attention to U.S. Government assistance provided to an area that lies beyond the conflict zone, but where ethnic and political divisions run deep. Earlier in the day, he traveled to the rural villages of Vidoviste and Grdovci to witness how small amounts of in-kind support have the capacity to bring communities together. The community of Vidoviste overcame apathy and distrust of local and international governments to cooperate on the recently completed rehabilitation of their local community center with a $15,000 CBI grant. The community of Grdovci surmounted political divisions to reach consensus on a shared priority: their children's education. A CBI grant of $12,000 to the local primary school is supporting badly needed renovations.
[May 2002]
Local Newspapers Launch Multi-Ethnic Collaboration
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| People of all ages benefited from the newspapers' distribution in more than 50 villages this week. |
In a bid to bring more balanced reporting to conflict-affected areas of the country, two of Macedonia's leading dailies launched a collaborative effort. Utrinski Vesnik and Fakti agreed to exchange articles and produce joint reports several times a week, as part of OTI's Confidence Building Initiative's ongoing efforts to promote public collaboration between Macedonian and Albanian language media.
The OTI Confidence Building Initiative supports this initiative as part of a $55,000 grant to ensure the distribution of more balanced information in remote, conflict-affected areas around Tetovo, Skopje and Kumanovo where villages have remained isolated and residents have had limited access to newspapers. The grant covers printing costs and daily distribution of 12,000 copies of Utrinski Vesnik and Fakti for six weeks.
As mixed ethnic police patrols continue to deploy to these villages, it is more important then ever for local populations to have access to both moderate news coverage as well as accurate information about the implementation of the Framework Agreement, which brought an end to Macedonia's armed conflict last August. [March 2002]
OTI/Macedonia Supports International Women's Day Activities
Nationwide efforts by the United Women of Macedonia, a network of more than fifty non-governmental organizations, exceeded all expectations when more than 800 women and their families turned out in Skopje's main square to demonstrate their support for peace and political action on International Women's Day, March 8. OTI's Confidence Building Initiative (CBI) supported the activity as part of a series of small grants promoting International Women's Day as an opportunity to bring diverse groups of women together.
Participants gathered from across Macedonia and from all religious and ethnic backgrounds to debate issues related to violence, human rights and women's roles in decision-making, economics and the peace process. Workshops resulted in the United Women of Macedonia adopting a common advocacy position on each of these issues. As a follow-up, they sent letters calling on the relevant government ministries to adopt their recommendations for political action.
In Tetovo, ethnic Albanian and Macedonian women's groups cooperated on the first inter-ethnic Women's Day celebration, inaugurating a kindergarten playground to symbolize the importance they place on promoting ethnic tolerance among youth. In Bitola, a week of women's events culminated on March 8 in a peaceful demonstration in the center of town. Ethnic Albanian, Turkish, Roma, and Macedonian women marched together under banners proclaiming "Together We Are Stronger." CBI provided a total of $14,000 in assistance to these and other local women's initiatives. [March 2002]
U.S. Chargé d'Affaires Signs OTI Confidence Building Grant in Macedonia
The United States Chargé d'Affaires to Macedonia, Lawrence Butler, made his first visit to the Municipality of Bitola, in southwestern Macedonia, in support of USAID/OTI-sponsored activities. Together with Bitola's Mayor Vrshkovski, Butler signed one of CBI's largest grant agreements to date. This grant will go to support local community efforts to revitalize part of Bitola's main pedestrian street, Sirok Sokak, which remains scarred by damage suffered during ethnic riots last year. The street is significant for all communities in Bitola--as a residential quarter, commercial district, and social meeting point.
To help rebuild confidence within the community, the municipality, with a grant of $51,000 from OTI's Confidence Building Initiative (CBI), will reinstall historically accurate streetlights along Sirok Sokak and continue to actively involve the diverse array of citizens, business leaders and local officials that have come together to discuss urban renewal efforts. The grant has already initiated an unprecedented level of public participation in community decision-making through town hall meetings.
Butler's visit also marked the official opening reception of the CBI field office in Bitola. The event, covered in both the local and national media, was well attended by local civil society leaders, community representatives and local authorities from around the region. CBI first began operations in southwestern Macedonia in November. Since then, its Bitola office has approved a total of 12 grants, providing $250,000 in assistance to the area. [March 2002]
OTI/Macedonia Supports Inter-Religious Dialogue
With the support of the Macedonian President's Office, OTI/Macedonia's Conflict Building Initiative is helping to lay the foundations of an inter-religious dialogue between Macedonia's Orthodox, Muslim, Catholic, Jewish and Protestant communities. The initial round of dialogue, scheduled for May and titled "Dialogue on the Peacemaking Role of Macedonian Religious Communities", will be led by respected religious professors Dr. Paul Mojzes and Dr. Leonard Swidler.
According to the dialogue's organizers, the primary purpose "is to assist religious leaders of Macedonia to interact with one another in order to make a direct contribution to the building of trust among themselves and an improvement in the badly shaken confidence in the Macedonian and Albanian ethnic communities." In addition to bringing together the leaders of Macedonia's religious communities, up to 50 of the most respected religious and conflict resolution scholars from around the world will attend as representatives of the International Scholars Annual Trialogue.
Dr. Mojzes and Dr. Swidler have led or been a part of similar dialogues in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Indonesia. As a result of these experiences, the May conference is not intended to be a one-off opportunity, but rather the beginnings of an ongoing discussion amongst Macedonia's various religious communities.
CBI will provide $10,000 to cover the travel-related costs of Macedonian participants, conference interpreters and for the translation, printing and publication of documents into Macedonian and Albanian. The United States Institute of Peace has also committed $30,000 to support the conference. [January 2002]
OTI/Macedonia Supports Journalists to Analyze Crisis
OTI/Macedonia will support the Institute for War & Peace Reporting to produce a book that objectively analyzes key developments in the Macedonia crisis. Equally important, however, the project is designed to strengthen collaboration and understanding between polarized Macedonian and Albanian media communities.
Written by a team of ethnic Macedonian and Albanian journalists, the book will chart and analyze the genesis and development of the crisis, the key actors and events, and implementation of the Framework Agreement. Not only will it provide a comprehensive account and analysis of events and their impact upon society, it will also represent the first occasion that information is provided from a single, reliable, local, yet ethnically-unbiased, source.
While the entire book is scheduled for July printing, each chapter or article will be released to the local media upon completion. In the event Macedonia's parliamentary elections are postponed until September, the book will conclude with analysis of the likely impact the campaign will have on Framework Agreement implementation. The final product will be published in Macedonian, Albanian and English in hard copy and electronic format and distributed free of charge.
OTI/Macedonia will support the project with $30,000 for training, compilation and printing costs. [January 2002]
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