by Angela Griep

29 August 2002

Bonn, Germany: Before the war in Kosovo, Momirka Cankovic worked as professional print journalist. But the war and its after-effects made it impossible for her to do her job.

Momirka belongs to the Serb minority in the region; Serbs often have no other choice but to remain in their small villages and live in isolation, as moving around freely can be dangerous. The result is that Serb communities often have little or no idea about what is going on outside of their restrictive enclave, frequently losing interest after a while.

Momirka felt a strong urge to help these communities step out of isolation. Combining her willingness to make a difference and her professional skills as a journalist, she found a new job in the UN-operated Pristina regional Information Centre - one of five facilities set up by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).

The UNMIK Division of Public Information some eight months ago started the information centre project. It keeps the Serb minority groups informed about UNMIK's activities and at the same time, aims to interest them again in getting involved in Kosovo's social life.

"This project is my baby. I am very emotional about that," says United Nations Volunteer Darija Safranic, who started the information centres from scratch. Darija identified and rented suitable localities, organized furniture, computers, telephone and Internet connections for the five regional Information Centres in Kosovo. She also recruited two Serbian staff members for each centre, who collect and publish information from their region.

"The greatest challenge was to convince people from the five different information centres in the five different regions to work together as a team," says UN Volunteer Darija. "They often have to deal with very different problems and equally often have hugely different political opinions. Thus they didn't see the importance to work together at first." Face-to-face contacts changed the situation. Once Darija started to drive them around to meet their colleagues a regular and vivid exchange of ideas and problem-solving strategies commenced.

Now the information centres jointly produce a newsletter twice a month. The letter informs the Serbian communities about the latest UNMIK activities as well as news from Kosovo's five regions. The idea is to revive people's interest in their surroundings, once they realize that what goes on in their own community makes interesting reading.

"The concept works very well," says Mormika. "People are very interested in what we are doing. The joint newsletter is such a success that we now publish 30,000 copies of it." Refugees staying in South Serbia and Montenegro are increasingly interested in receiving the bulletin because it provides them with first-hand about the situation at home - and has thus become a highly valued UNMIK incentive to encourage refugees to return to Kosovo. Serb journalists from radio or television stations use the UNMIK information centres to obtain new information or to confirm news they received elsewhere.

Producing the newsletter, however is one of many important services the information centres provide. "People are coming with very different problems," says Momirka. "As the rate of unemployment is very high in Kosovo, many people look for help to find a job." Application forms to join the UNMIK administration are available at the information centres. UN Volunteer Darija personally delivers the completed forms to UNMIK, as it is still risky for Serbs to make the journey there themselves. If necessary, Darija also helps applicants fill in the forms, which are in English. Momirka is proud that "one man already got a job through this office."

Others come to seek information about credits that they urgently need to establish small businesses or request help in dealing with administration issues.

Yet another important task for Momirka and her colleagues is to build a network with non-governmental organizations in their regions, by finding out how exactly their programmes aim to help and what is required to join in - and to make this known to a wider public. Likewise the newsletter is very useful for NGOs. News about new projects and job announcements do not spread easily in Kosovo - unless the UNMIK information centres fill the void.