The Ministry of Communities and Return pledges financial support in the amount of 115,000 EUR to aid beneficiary families of the Reintegration and Community Stabilization in Kosovo project funded by the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (BPRM) and implemented by DRC Kosovo.

On 5 March, Minister for Communities and Return Dalibor Jevtic and DRC Country Representative Kristen Stec signed a new agreement which strengthens the established cooperation between MCR and DRC under the framework of the BPRM-funded project Reintegration and Community Stabilization in Kosovo.

DRC welcomes the continued support provided by MCR to enable the reintegration of spontaneous and assisted returnees to Kosovo. MCR’s commitment will secure the provision of needs-based harmonized return packages and income generation grants to families returned from displacement.  For beneficiaries like the Dimic family, such support makes a vital contribution to their successful reintegration. The Dimic family and their five children returned to Kosovo in June 2013. Through the BPRM project, DRC was able to repair the family’s house in Strazhë/Straža village, Novobërdë/Novobrdo municipality and provide food and non-food items and furniture. Given the scarcity of employment where they live, the family depends on agriculture to make a living. With their income-generation grant, the family therefore added livestock to their stable and once conditions allow, they will start cultivating their land again.

MCR’s financial contribution will enable additional beneficiary families to receive similar support in their effort to build sustainable livelihoods in Kosovo.

The Dimic family in front of their stable

The BPRM-funded project Reintegration and Community Stabilization in Kosovo will support at least 26 families returning to Kosovo from Serbia and their wider communities. DRC, in partnership with LNGO Center for Peace and Tolerance, will employ an integrated response to returns and reintegration.