Discovering Europe
Slovenian NGOs on world map
Drive, passion and ability to work easily where others cannot; two Slovenian non- governmental organisations (NGOs) are now using expertise gained at their own backdoor on the global stage. Together this is helping child victims of war regain normality and ITF is de-contaminating mines and rehabilitating landmine victims.
Severna Osetjia
© ITF
Together – The Regional Center for Psychosocial well-being of children was founded in 2002 by the Slovenian government and philanthropy after following-up the return of 100,000 Bosnian refugees from Slovenia as they sought to reintegrate back into their own country post-war at the end of the 1990s. It was children who faced some of the biggest psychological difficulties in re-adapting.
The NGO has been able to meet the enormous need for counselling.”Children do not know how to cope with their own pain,” explains the NGO’s Executive Director, Vera Remškar.The outset of every project is very important, explains Vera Remškar at Together’s Ljubljana headquaters.The first step is to reach those who need help.This is often through schools where teachers are the best placed to identify those in need who often have speech impediments or behavourial difficulties.
The next step is a local partner to train teachers on the spot to give direct psychological counselling and organise workshops, often in villages. “Our aim is to strengthen local capacity.We do not move in and out,” says Vera Remškar. Voluntary programmes to involve teenagers over 15 in assisting disabled or older people in their local communities, means that there’s a change of roles giving a much needed sense of responsibility to young volunteers.
Shared culture
With its wealth of data and expertise on war-affected children, the NGO quickly extended its activities to Kosovo and Macedonia. Together is now using its expertise in other parts of the world, as well as continuing vital work in the Western Balkans.
It is still hoping to assist children affected by conflict in Darfur and also continue its work in Iraq where it has been lately difficult to raise funds. The NGO’s expertise will be valuable too in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Northern Uganda. It does not take sides in any conflict: “We are extremely careful in this regard,” says Vera Remškar. She adds: “Our work is to heal inner houses – souls.”
De-mining expertise
The International Trust Fund (ITF) for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance was similarly set up in March 1998 by Slovenia’s Ministries of Defence, Health and Foreign Affairs to respond to the huge problem of landmines and unexploded ordnance which still maim and cause fatalities in the former Yugoslav Republics, says Sabina Beber Bostjančič, its Head of Department for International Relations, at the body’s headquarters in Ig, just outside.
Starting out to tackle the vast problem of contaminated land in Bosnia Herzegovnia, its work quickly extended to other parts of the former Yugoslavia and south-east Europe, notably Croatia and Albania’s northern border with Kosovo and Serbia. Registered local contractors are hired through tender to carry out the work. To date, ITF has decontaminated 76 million square metres of land in the Balkans.
Areas of Bosnia-Herzegovina are still very contaminated, explains Sabina Beber Bostjančič and likewise the Croatia-Serbia border. Croatia itself was declared mine-free at the end of last year. Macedonia is also now mine free. Montenegro will be at the end of 2007, she says and Albania too soon according to ITF’s close monitoring.
EU funding
To date, ITF has worked with 27 donor countries and a large number of private donors and institutions like the EU which funded several projects to clear mines from border areas of the Republics of the former Yugoslavia 2003–2006.
Particularly successful has been cooperation with the United States ‘Matching Fund’. Every dollar raised by ITF is matched by the US Department of State every dollar, contributing over US$100 million so far for the body’s work.
Projects include going into schools to warn children about the dangers of landmines. The bright yellow, red and blue tops mean that chidren often try to pick them up.
Sabina Botjančič stesses the ITF’s ‘holistic’ approach to demining. There’s a constant need for projects to rehabilitate mine victims. An adult needs a new prothesis every 2-3 years, a child every 6 months. There’s a specialised Slovenian government funded centre in Ljubljana for the purpose, but it’s both expensive and destabilising to individuals to go to Ljubljana for treatment.
Now with a wealth of expertise, the NGO is also working in countries of the South Caucasus, Central Asia, Cyprus and Lebanon. It also plans to work in Laos, Cambodia and Colombia – the country that currently registers the most fatalities from landmines. “If land is mined, nothing happens.If agricutural land is cleared this is a pre-condition for development,” says Sabina Botjančič.
