MINELRES: ECMI Newsletter No. 28, July-August 2003

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: William McKinney <mckinney@ecmi.de>


ECMI Newsletter No. 28
July-August 2003

CONTENTS

-------------------------------------
1. Upcoming Activities and Events in September 2003
2. Highlights in July-August 2003
3. We introduce...the Kosovo/Kosova Civil Society Project
4. News from ECMI Regional Offices
5. Staff News
6. New ECMI Publications
7. New volume in ECMI/LGI Series on Ethnopolitics
and Minority Issues
8. ECMI Staff External Publications
9. New acquisitions of the ECMI Library
-------------------------------------

------------------------------
1. Upcoming Activities and Events in September 2003
------------------------------

ECMI Kosovo "School of Politics" supported by the Council of Europe,
Second Session, 26-29 September, in Skopje.
http://www.ecmikos.org/


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2. Highlights in July-August 2003
-------------------------------

Training "Networking and Fundraising for NGOs", ECMI Regional NGO
Resource Centre Kumanovo, 8-9 July.
http://www.ecmingonet.org.mk/

Complex Power Sharing Meeting: Case Review for Follow-Up Project,
Kompanietor, 9 July 
 
Training "Networking and Fundraising for NGOS", ECMI Regional NGO
Resource Centre Tetovo, 12-13 July.
http://www.ecmingonet.org.mk/

Framework Convention Project, Meeting of the Team of Commentators,
Kompanietor, 14-15 July
http://www.ecmi.de/doc/projects_research_10.html

ECMI Kosovo: Standing Technical Working Group Civic Forum
"Promoting Health Care Provision and Access", Grand Hotel, Pristina,
Kosovo, 17 July.
http://www.ecmi.de/doc/download/Report_45.pdf

Training "Networking and Fundraising for NGOs", ECMI Regional NGO
Resource Centre Gostivar, 19-20 July.
http://www.ecmingonet.org.mk/

Field Monitoring Visit to ECMI Programme in Macedonia by ECMI
Administrative Director Astrid Voss and Research Associate Eben
Friedman. Voss held consultative meetings with the project team and with
technical assistants at the ECMI Regional Centres in Skopje, Kumanovo,
Bitola, Gostivar and Tetovo. The Mayor of Gostivar provided a briefing
on the positive impact of the ECMI NGO Network in Gostivar. During the
visit Voss and Friedman spoke to representatives of NGO members of the
ECMI NGO Network for the Improvement of Interethnic Relations in the
Republic of Macedonia.
http://www.ecmingonet.org.mk/

ECMI Internal Research Meeting on Complex Power Sharing. Papers
delivered by Brendan O'Leary on "Two Emergent Forms of Complex
Power-Sharing" and by Stefan Wolff on "Power-Sharing and the Vertical
Layering of Authority: A Review of Current Practices", followed by
discussion, Kompanietor, August 7.
http://www.ecmi.de/cps/

ECMI Internal Research Meeting on Caucasus projects, Kompanietor,
11 August.

--------------------------
3. We introduce�the Kosovo/a Civil Society Project
--------------------------

ECMI Kosovo/a Civil Society Project

This project is supported by the Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign
Affairs (Secretariat for Peace and Stability / FRESTA), the German
Foreign Ministry (Stability Pact Fund), the Swedish Foreign Ministry and
the Swiss Foreign Ministry. Two additional training events were
sponsored by the UK Westminster Foundation for Democracy. ECMI
gratefully acknowledges their generous support. 

Aims
The ECMI Kosovo/a Civil Society Project is a unique institution in
Kosovo. There exists no other standing interethnic forum where public
policy is evaluated and debated and where recommendations for
alternative policies are devised. Through the mechanism of the Standing
Technical Working Group (STWG) and its constituent Expert Committees,
the project has established channels for effective civil society
influence in relation to the policy-making bodies in Kosovo. It achieves
this through pursuing the following aims: 

"	Enhancing the capacity of civil society organizations and
representatives to address issues of public policy at an advanced level. 

"	Fostering policy dialogue among civil society practitioners and
government representatives, and diversifying the sources of information
available to society. 

Supporting the establishment of routine interethnic dialogue on issues
of common interest and assuring a culture of inclusive participation in
decision-making. In this way, the project further seeks to support the
consolidation of practices of good governance, accountability and
transparency in the evolving structures of governance in Kosovo. 

Relevance
There is no tradition of civil society involvement in governance and
decision-making in Kosovo. Often, those communities who are most
vulnerable to exclusion from mainstream political and social structures
have no means of articulating their real concerns while access to basic
public provisions remains difficult. Despite the ongoing transference of
powers and competence to local representatives, there is also a tendency
amongst elected officials to focus on intractable issues, diverting
attention away from public policy reform at a time when it is most
needed. In many cases the real mechanisms of power remain notoriously
non-transparent, and mechanisms of scrutiny through civil society
initiatives are frequently overlooked when formulating policy. Where
dialogue does exist, it is also often characterized by an attitude of
antagonism and exclusion. In a region that has little experience with
democratic governance, including the participation of civil society
actors and minority representatives, the need for a forum to promote
such inclusive dialogue is great. A lack of democratic tradition in
Kosovo has also meant a lack of accountability and transparency on the
part of public authorities, including international authorities, which
the activities of the project help to redress.

Project Activities
In 2001, ECMI established the Standing Technical Working Group (STWG), a
fully interethnic forum, composed of civil society activists,
independent local experts and younger political party members. Over the
year, the STWG considered technical aspects of public policy-making,
including issues of civil administration, health sector reform, judicial
administration and human rights, as well as micro- and macro-economic
development. In conclusion to each of its meetings, the STWG generated
joint recommendations for the improvement of public administration and
engaged the respective international and local administrative bodies in
constructive dialogue on effecting reform. To prepare and follow up on
these meetings, smaller working groups were also established with a view
to sustaining critical dialogue over time. 

In response to the changed political circumstances in Kosovo,
particularly the establishment of the Kosovo Assembly at the beginning
of 2002, the STWG refocused its activities in 2002. While retaining the
element of interethnic dialogue, the STWG sought to enhance its
expertise so as to enable its members to engage the evolving
administrative bodies in critical debate on an equal footing, or where
this was not possible, to devise alternative policy initiatives.
Increased interaction with these bodies was also sought, as a means of
ensuring civil society impact on the political process. 

At the beginning of the year, the STWG formalized its activities by
agreeing a Memorandum of Cooperation in which the group members pledged
to actively pursue the project aims according to agreed Rules of
Procedure. In a series of high-level meetings throughout the year, the
members of the STWG and its constituent Expert Committees engaged the
relevant decision- making bodies in Kosovo in constructive dialogue in
relation to four broad  policy areas: 1) equal access to justice; 2)
education, integration and returns; 3) health and social service
provision; and 4) economic opportunities. Four STWG plenary sessions
were held, where the Group discussed a range of topics in depth. These
included, inter alia, issues of municipal governance, primary and
secondary education reform, public/private health sector financing and
job creation. For each of the plenary sessions, concrete policy
proposals were developed with the help of international experts and
debated in dialogue with the Kosovo Assembly and other governmental
agencies. This in turn led to direct policy impact in 2002, especially
in health and economic reform, and enhanced civil society participation
in decision-making. In this way, the STWG and its Expert Committees have
intensified their planned advocacy work over the year through local and
regional networking as well as increased their visibility in the
political landscape of Kosovo. Training workshops were also organized to
support the work of the Group. A collaborative workshop and study visit
was held with the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, with the aim of
raising awareness of the process of regional integration and knowledge
of European standards across a broad range of policy and legal
mechanisms. Other study visits were organized regionally to develop
strategic links to other initiatives and learn from regional experience.
In this way, study visits took place in Croatia, in cooperation with the
Ministry of Health, and in Albania, in cooperation with the Ministry for
Economics and Privatization. All project activities, outputs and reports
are distributed widely and posted on the project website
(www.ecmikos.org), which also serves as a database for material relating
to public policy development and analysis. 

Links with other Institutions
While remaining independent of the international layers of
administration, the project is closely coordinated with the broader
UNMIK, including OMIK and the EU, and is endorsed by the Office of the
Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG). Other
international organizations and NGOs, including the Council of Europe,
the World Health Organization, UNESCO and the American Bar Association
also provide occasional support through making available external
expertise and collaborating in the organization of joint training
workshops. As the basis of the project is to foster policy dialogue
among civil society practitioners and government representatives, the
STWG and its constituent committees regularly engage in dialogue with
members of the Kosovo Assembly, parliament, local ministers and Assembly
committees. 

Project Personnel
The project is implemented by the ECMI Regional Office in Pristina. The
Country Director in Kosovo is Mr Robert Curis, who is assisted by a
local project assistant and project secretary. ECMI headquarters
direction is provided by Mr Graham Holliday. 

More information on this project can be found at: www.ecmikos.org 

The following ECMI Kosovo/a Civil Society Project reports can be
downloaded from this page:

http://www.ecmi.de/doc/public_reports.html


ECMI Report #9
ECMI Report #14, 15, 16 and 17 
ECMI Report #19 
ECMI Report #21 
ECMI Report #23 
ECMI Report #27 
ECMI Report #31 
ECMI Report #34 
ECMI Report #39 
ECMI Report #40 
ECMI Report #41 
ECMI Report #44
ECMI Report #45

-------------------------------------
4. News from ECMI Regional Offices
-------------------------------------

ECMI Kosovo/a Civil Society Project

Two civic forums were held in June and July.  Returns on 4 June and
Health and Social Welfare on 17 July.  Final reports were published soon
after each event and are available at:
http://www.ecmi.de/doc/public_reports.html

The first session of the UNMIK/Prishtina School of Politics supported by
the Council of Europe and the European Centre for Minority Issues was
held 29 May through 1 June in Ohrid, Macedonia.  After the event, the
Assembly members were so pleased that Robert Curis, as organizer for
ECMI/CoE School received a commendation from the Kosovo Assembly.   

A second session will be held 26-29 September in Skopje, Macedonia. 
Topics are: 

1.	Clash of Paradigms: Universalism and Particularism - the Albanian
Case
2.	Party Democracy - European Perspectives 
3.	Making Democracy Work - Question of Social Capital 
4.	The Politics of International Relations of Balkan Countries 
5.	Sovereignty - Public Administrations Perspectives

A final joint session (with the Bosnian chapter of CoE's Schools of
Politics)  will take place 21-26 October in Strasbourg, France at the
Council of Europe headquarters.  

The Six Expert Groups:

Municipalities and Decentralization:

The group had been focusing on three issue areas: municipal governance;
the Kosovo trust Agency; UNMIK regulation 45 and 49.  They have been
continuing to push their recommendations (from last October's STWG
session) onto the desks of policy makers and Kosovo Assembly committee
members as well as local and international technocrats in the
Provisional Institutions of Self Government.   They are prepared to
begin intense steering committee sessions in order to host an upcoming
plenary session planned for early October.  

Below are the topics proposed for the remainder of 2003:

"	Reformation of the Local Government in Kosovo (Decentralization)
"	The transparency of the work of Municipalities
"	Equal participation (gender and ethnic) in the Assembly and municipal
administrations
"	The effectiveness of the Municipal Administration in resolving
citizens needs          

Economics and Labour:

These are the topics for discussion that the economics expert group has
decided to pursue in September and October:

1.	The first round of privatization of public enterprises
2.   Kosovo's fiscal policy with special focus on customs policy.



Health and Social Welfare:

The health expert group worked diligently and with great professionalism
as it prepared and hosted the 2nd civic forum of 2003.  The 14th meeting
of the Standing Technical Working Group on 17 July 2003 brought together
approximately 25 local and international experts on issues of health and
social welfare in an open Civic Forum. The aim of the forum was to
generate critical dialogue between party representatives and Assembly
members, members of civil society, and a team of experts on key issues
of health policy development, debating needs for reform and highlighting
areas of particular attention. 

A report including a grid which highlights problem areas and establishes
benchmarks has been published in August.  He health group has determined
to turn and focus on specific issues in social welfare.  They have
outlined a program for the second half of 2003:

September
1.	The Law for protection of vulnerable groups of people (children,
elderly people, disabled persons etc.
October
1.	Family Protection ( pregnant women, babies and family as the whole) 
2.	Panel Theme: Social Welfare and its legal regulations
November
1.	Some Aspects of the professional work of nurses and higher health
staff, professional reports, help and work cooperation towards health
care
December
     1. AIDS in Kosovo

Human Rights and Rule of Law:

This group is newly formed in 2003.   The group has proposed these
Kosovo site visits: Lipjan prison; Dubrava prison; Visit to the mental
health asylum in Shtimje

The schedule for the remainder of the year:

September
1.	Freedom of Movement 
2.	Where and how do we measure Rule of law
October
1.	The reflection of the approval of Penal Code in the Legal System
November
1.	The reflection of the approval of the code for  Penal procedure in
the legal system
December
1. Competence transfer from the Internationals to the Locals 
2.	Police Service of Kosovo 



Integration and Returns:
 
The 13th meeting of the Standing Technical Working Group (STWG) was
hosted by the Integration and Returns expert group on 4 June 2003. 
Although a newly formed expert group, cooperation and hard work
culminated in a successful civic forum that included over 30 local and
international experts working in 'Returns.'  The aim of the forum was to
bring the important discussion of return and integration, out of the
sphere of the international community and show the existence and
willingness to accept local ownership of this issue.  Recommendations
were presented and a report on the event was published in July.  The
group has since met twice to outline these topics below as priority for
September-December 2003:

September
1. Integration of the IDP's in Kosovar Society 
2. Small economy projects for displaced persons-alternative
October
1.	Connecting internally displaced people with the once out of Kosovo,
through Kosovo's Institutional System
November
1. Concrete activities in realizing the return process (in support of
competent - leading people in Kosovo)  of the displaced people ()
2.	Building temporary dwelling locations for internally displaced
people, as a key term for remaining in Kosovo  - alternative topic
December
1.	Identifying areas and conditions for the fast integration of the
displaced persons

Education and Youth:
 
The education and youth expert committee had some re-shuffling in its
leadership and has emerged stronger and more committed to ECMI's
process.  The group outlined these topics below as priority for
September-December 2003:

September
1. Identifying and analyzing the issues that affect Kosovo's youth 
2. Private Schools
October
1. Life Long Learning
2. Formal Education
3.	Informal Education

November
1. Obligatory Education in communities, rural areas.
Coping with illiteracy in Kosovo: strategies and/or solutions  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


ECMI Network for the Improvement of Interethnic Relations in the
Republic of Macedonia

The Administrative Director of ECMI Flensburg, Astrid Voss and ECMI
Research Associate Eben Friedman have visited the ECMI program in
Macedonia between 21 and 27 July. During her stay Ms. Voss held
consultative meetings with the project team. In addition, she visited
the Resource Centres of ECMI and spoke to representatives of NGOs
members of the ECMI Network for the Improvement of Interethnic Relations
in the Republic of Macedonia.

ECMI Regional NGO Resource Centre Kumanovo hosted Mr. Morten Villumsen,
representative of the Danish Royal Ministry for Royal Affairs, on August
1. Mr. Villumsen, joined by Eben Friedman, ECMI Research Associate, and
Sunoor Verma, ECMI Regional Representative in Macedonia, was introduced
to the activities of the NGOs in from Kumanovo Centre, as well as with
the implemented and ongoing projects of the Centre.


--------------------------------
5. Staff news
--------------------------------

Ms Ann Strimov was an ECMI intern from June to September 2003. Ms
Strimov graduated with a BA in Political Science and Philosophy in 2002
from Barnard College of Columbia University, majoring in Political
Science and Philosophy. She is continuing her studies at the Columbia
University School of International Affairs, with a view to receiving a
Master's degree in May of 2004. Ms Strimov was involved in the planning
for a number of future ECMI projects.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tobias Etzold is presently an intern at ECMI, having started in July and
working until October.

Tobias Etzold graduated from University in Nijmegen (The Netherlands) in
Political Science with a focus on international relations studies in
autumn 2000. His Master thesis was on regional co-operation and
institution building in the Baltic Sea region from a theoretical
perspective. Subsequently he received a post-graduate certificate in
international politics from the Dutch Institute on International
Relations Clingendael in The Hague. Mr. Etzold conducted internships at
the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), doing
research on arms trade issues, and the Secretariat of the Council of the
Baltic Sea States (CBSS) in Stockholm, doing research on various issues
of co-operation and organizing a regional high-level conference on
energy issues. At ECMI Mr. Etzold is tasked to look into funding issues,
and compiles data for ECMI's electronic map on Kosovo and compiles
information on global inter-ethnic conflicts for a list. His main focus
is on conducting research on the political situation and the conflict in
South Ossetia for the electronic map. 
----------------------------------------------------------------

Simone Giger is presently an intern at ECMI, having started in mid-July
and working until mid-October.


Ms Giger is continuing studies of political science and economics at the
Free University in Berlin. Her main focuses of study are political
economy and Russian politics.
Ms Giger participated in the master's program at Indiana University
Bloomington in Russian and East European Studies, for which she will
receive her Master's degree in August 2003. Ms. Giger's Indiana
University master's thesis was on the topic of Russian economic reform
under the first Gaidar government. 
Here at ECMI  Ms. Giger is working on the ethnopolitical map,
researching the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. She is  also doing some
proof-reading work. After her internship at ECMI Ms Giger plans to go
back to Berlin in order to do an internship at the Stiftung Wissenschaft
und Politik and to complete her political science studies at the Free
University. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oskari Pentikainen is working as an intern at ECMI from July to October.

Mr Pentikainen is a recent graduate (MSc in European Studies) of the
London School of Economics, and also received a BA in Russian and East
European Studies at the University of Sussex, which included one
academic year in Moscow State Linguistic University and Odessa State
University.  At ECMI Mr Pentikainen is assisting in the planning and
implementation of projects in the Caucasus region.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kelly Burke is working as an intern at ECMI from August to November.

Graduating with a B.A. in Political Science from the University of North
Florida (USA) in 1999, Kelly Burke then earned an MPhil in International
Relations at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom and is currently
preparing to begin a Ph.D. programme next Fall. At ECMI Kelly is working
in the Publications Department preparing a book and working paper for
publication and will conduct preliminary research for ongoing ECMI
projects going forward. In November Kelly will return to the US where
she will be working with a non-profit organization charged with
assisting refugees and other displaced persons to re-settle in the
Boston area.  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marnie Lloydd , after having done an internship earlier in 2003, has now
returned to ECMI as Acting Project Coordinator from August until
December.

Ms Lloydd is a solicitor from Wellington, New Zealand, and recent
graduate of the NOHA Network on Humanitarian Assistance Masters degree
in International Humanitarian Assistance from Ruhr University in Bochum.

------------------------------------------
6. New ECMI Publications
------------------------------------------

Three New ECMI Publications

ECMI is pleased to announce the following three new publications.

ECMI Brief #9
Friedman, Eben. The Spectre of Territorial Division and the Ohrid
Agreement. July, 2003.
Download:
http://www.ecmi.de/doc/download/brief_9.pdf

ECMI Report #44
Curis, Robert. "Kosovo/a Standing Technical Working Group", Thirteenth
Meeting: Integration & Returns, Grand Hotel, Pristina, 6 June 2003, July
2003. 
Download:
http://www.ecmi.de/doc/download/Report_44.pdf

ECMI Report #45
Curis, Robert. "Kosovo/a Standing Technical Working Group", Fourteenth
Meeting: Kosovo's Health Care System: Invasive Procedure Needed, Grand
Hotel, Pristina, 17 July 2003, August 2003.
Download:
http://www.ecmi.de/doc/download/Report_45.pdf

------------------------------------------------
7. New volume in ECMI/LGI Series on Ethnopolitics
and Minority Issues
-----------------------------------------------

ECMI is pleased to announce the publication of the second volume in the
ECMI/LGI Series on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues:

Nation-Building, Ethnicity and Language Politics in Transition Countries 
(eds. Farimah Daftary and Francois Grin) 
ECMI-LGI Series on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues,  Vol.II
Budapest: Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative, 2003,
318 pp.
ISBN 963 9419 58 3

Ordering
To order this book please send an email to LGIpublications@osi.hu or
fill in the Order Form at:
http://lgi.osi.hu/publications/RequestPrintedCopy.asp

This book is the second volume in the new ECMI/LGI Series on
Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues. This is a joint venture of ECMI with
the Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative (LGI). This
publishing initiative aims to provide a highly visible and accessible
platform for ECMI's cutting-edge studies. These multi-author works are
the result of the Centre's cooperative research projects that often last
a number of years.

In the wake of the momentous geopolitical changes of 1989, countries in
Central and Eastern Europe, former Soviet republics and constituent
states of the Russian Federation have engaged in various forms of
nation-building or re-building. From the very beginning, language
diversity has played a crucial part in this process. The editors aim to
take stock of the experience of the countries concerned in dealing with
linguistic diversity. Its emphasis on the interplay between the politics
of language (namely, the way in which internal power struggles and
minority-majority relations crystallize around language) and the
development of language legislation codifying the respective status of
the different languages, against the backdrop of complex historical,
ethnic and socio-linguistic realities.

The opening chapter, by Will Kymlicka and Francois Grin, discusses the
ways in which these issues are linked to the main discourses about state
intervention in language matters. The case studies in the book, from the
high-visibility cases of the Baltic States to much less known language
policy developments in Armenia or Tatarstan, provide in-depth analyses
illustrating the remarkable range of language politics and language
policy in times of transition. This book also includes the case a
stateless people, the Roma, and the politicization of the debate on the
standardization of Romanes.

-------------------------------------
8. ECMI Staff External Publications
-------------------------------------

Friedman, Eben. Interest and Disinterest in Roma Political Support:
Macedonia and Slovakia. ACE Analysis of Current Events 15 (1) 2003,
17-20.

Franzinetti, G.M.R. and Robert Curis. The Assembly of Kosovo: One Year
On. 
March 2003. Surrey: Conflict Studies Research Centre, Defence Academy of
the United Kingdom. 
Available online at:
http://www.csrc.ac.uk/pdfs/G119-GMRF.pdf

------------------------------------------------------
9. New acquisitions of the ECMI Library
------------------------------------------------------

Kymlicka, Will and Alan Patten (eds.) (2003). Language Rights and
Political Theory. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.

This volume provides the reader with an up-to-date overview of the
emerging debates over the role of language rights and linguistic
diversity within political theory. It brings together many of the
leading political theorists who work in the field, together with some of
the most important social scientists, with the aim of exploring how
political theorists can conceptualize issues of language and contribute
to public debates on language policy. Includes 'Diversity as Paradigm,
Analytical Device, and Policy Goal', by Francois Grin, p. 169-188.



We hope you enjoyed this twenty-eighth issue of the ECMI Newsletter,
and we hope you will remember to tell interested colleagues about it.

If you have any comments or suggestions for improvement of this
newsletter, please contact William McKinney at:
mckinney@ecmi.de.