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Project Background
Between March and June 1999 NATO launched an air campaign
against Serbian forces who had waged war on the Kosovans,
as a result of which Serbia finally agreed to sign a UN
approved peace agreement.
Following the departure of Serb forces and the deployment
of KFOR in Kosova, about 760,000 refugees and displaced
persons began their return to Kosova.
Upon their return however, many faced numerous difficulties,
most prominent of which was the mass destruction of local
infrastructure and homes, destroyed by Serbs during the
war and upon their departure from the area.
Needs assessments conducted by NGOs, local authorities
and KFOR showed that over 67,000 homes had been damaged
or destroyed.
Islamic Relief operations in Kosova began in June 1999
and as one of the first NGOs to enter the region, IR quickly
established itself and began the distribution of food and
non-food packages as well as tents.
Project Activities
In continuing its relief efforts IR campaign in the area
included the distribution of emergency winterised materials
consisting of dry and warm room packages, which included
materials necessary for temporarily rebuilding of houses.
IR held discussion with CAFOD and reached an agreement
regarding the composition of the kits that were to be provided
to the returnees.
An Augmented Roof Kit (ARK), consisting of enough timber
to construct a semi-permanent roof structure with reinforced
plastic sheeting was provided, to host households with limited
income and those that were considered exceptionally vulnerable
or who were also willing to house a homeless family.
The incentive provided to the host family who offer up
their home was that they would be left with this roof structure
which made up a considerable cost towards the repair of
their home.
The ARK program was aimed at providing a temporary shelter
for the returnees and succeeded in ensuring that the beneficiaries
were able to survive the winter periods.
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Project Objectives
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To provide returnee communities with an Augmented
Roof Kit (ARK) to assist reconstruction of their
homes.
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To allow homeless families to share accommodation with
host families provided an ARK.
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To provide communities in Kosova with a temporary shelter
for the coming winter.
Beneficiaries
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91 augmented roofing kits have been distributed to
the communities and to those members of the communities
most needing them.
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Totalling these households, together with those households
who will be housed by the hosts, the project should
assist 273 households.
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With each household containing on average 6 members
the total number of beneficiaries will be approximately
1638
With the coming of spring, UNHCR which is leading the coordination
efforts for shelter in the region is focusing efforts towards
providing more permanent assistance to the communities enabling
them to ensure that they are able to reconstruct their homes
with permanent sustainable structure.
While the IR shelter program has gone a long way towards
that program and had assisted the process of long term sustainable
development, focus will require a shift towards assisting
communities to erect permanent structures.
Other Activities in the Country
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Supporting the Islamic Faculty of Prishtina - Prishtina
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Shelter Support Program - Obilic, Podujevo, Prishtina
and Gllogovc
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School Rehabilitation Program
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