Although several decades have passed since the war in the former Yugoslavia, there are still refugee families in Serbia who have not been able to solve their housing problem. The most vulnerable, who were not in a situation to organize their own lives, remained in the collective centers. In solving such and other problems of vulnerable groups of people such as refugees or those threatened by natural disasters, a very important aspect is the collection of funds, the so-called. foundrasing, which humanitarian organizations and foundations deal with.
"Vreme" talked to Ana Koeshall, director of the Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation, about what the process of collecting funds for solving refugee problems looks like.
The Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation was founded at the end of June 2007, after the famous basketball player returned from the USA. Apart from refugees, the foundation also deals with youth projects, employment and entrepreneurship of young people.
"When Vlade returned to Serbia, he did not know that refugees still exist and that their problems have not been solved. It touched him, especially because the media began to forget refugees who were no longer interesting to anyone. Because of this, in 2007, Vlade took advantage of all the media attention focused on his return and launched the campaign 'You can do it'. That campaign is still going on," said the director of the Foundation at the beginning of the conversation.
WEATHER: It was the first project of the Foundation?
ANA KOESHALL: Yes. For the first three years, the Foundation dealt only with that project and its mission was to help refugees and displaced persons living in collective centers. We hoped that in three or four years all the collective centers would be closed, but that did not happen. There are still 22 centers, 14 of which are in Serbia, and eight in the territory of Kosovo.
In what ways did you help the families within that project?
Buying out rural households is one way. Our villages are slowly dying, so buying real estate in the villages is relatively cheap. We have our own engineers who arrange the purchased houses and make them comfortable for living.
Another way is to buy building materials. There are also built 88 prefabricated houses and finally - social apartments.
In addition, all families were additionally helped after relocation through our economic grants.
How do these economic grants work??
Our economic workers go to resettled families together with social workers. Consultations were held with all members about what the family could do now that the housing issue has been resolved.
Someone says he would like to have bees. The economic advisor replied that the climate is not suitable for raising bees, but that something else should be found. To start a suitable business, we helped them with funds of up to 2000 euros. We didn't give money in cash, but bought motor cultivators, greenhouses, chickens, beehives... After writing some kind of business plan, our advisors monitor their work and help them for the next two years. So, we didn't give chickens to everyone, but only to those who said they really wanted it. Each of these grants is made for a specific family.
This is exactly the difference compared to other implementers of similar projects. When the refugee gets a house - the job is done. It's not like that here.
These people have been in collective centers for 15 or 20 years. They have lost the sense of taking care of themselves. They were workers, professors, farmers while they lived in Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo, however, when you live in one room for 15 years, it demoralizes you. Our task was to lift them up a bit, to work with them on a psychological level, to tell them: you can do it.
How people reacted?
You know, people who are still in collective centers are among the most difficult social cases, and I don't believe that there is a family that did not want to solve their housing problem on their own if given the opportunity. Therefore, there are families with physical or mental patients, which is an additional problem because one of the family members constantly has to look after the vulnerable member, which means that he cannot work.
The people whose housing problem we solve go through stages. First, they are happy and satisfied that they are finally leaving the collective center. Then they fall into depression because they had the most beautiful house in the village in Croatia, and now they end up in a rural household or social housing. We explain to them that it is still a better solution than if they stayed in two rooms in the collective center...
Mostly, they are in shock. It is another new beginning for them. The children have to go to a new school, the environment needs to accept you, you need to find a job, and we know how much unemployment is in Serbia. That transitional period after they move into their new household is difficult. They usually need six months to a year to get used to and start the small business that we help them with.
By the way, we have helped 640 families so far.
How much is that in money??
The total value of the realized aid for these families is 2,6 million dollars.
What the Foundation is currently doing within the project "You can too."?
In Smederevo, we are working on taking care of people from the collective center there, and in Veliki Mokro Lug on Zvezdara, we are building a social building. It is the fourth such building. We collected funds for it from individual and corporate donors. Raising the $600.000 the building costs from individual donors or small businesses is a huge and long process. It is much easier when applying for a grant from the European Commission or the US Government.
For that building, together with RTS, we launched the "Let's all help" campaign, and people joined in. We are lucky that the media helps us.
The negative side in that case is that the process of obtaining all the necessary permits takes a long time and we have been building that building, unfortunately, for two years, and we had all the funds on the first day. In my opinion, it has to be a very quick process. This is in the interest of the city and Serbia. That procedure should be shortened and the donor should be enabled to realize what was foreseen. Due to the change of administration, due to the otherwise slow process of obtaining all the necessary permits, the implementation of the project has been delayed a bit, but I still hope that it will be finished soon.
How the fundraising process itself works?
One of the ways we collect funds is through the Infostan account. We are happy and satisfied that people in Belgrade trust us and know that we always inform them about money transfers and that everything is transparent. We had 20.000 Belgrade households involved for the building on Zvezdara.
We also include the business sector. Someone, for example, pro bono makes sketches, projects; the Weber company made a huge donation in material worth 100.000 euros.
We also hold donor gatherings, but primarily in the diaspora, in America and Australia. Unlike Western Europe, the diaspora that is so far from Serbia is very easily connected to the refugee story. A large number of these people were refugees and they are happy that they somehow succeeded in life, so now they want to help those who have not managed so far.
There is an SMS number that is quite active, as well as a large number of volunteers who get involved in order to do promotions. Billboard company Alma Quattro came to us with free advertising because we don't have a budget for marketing.
Establishing contacts with donors takes months. We all know that there is a crisis situation in Serbia and the world.
Was it the same during the fundraising after the May floods??
It was a natural disaster, and then the whole world heard about us for a short while, so companies also allocated funds for aid more easily. It was an emergency.
During the floods, we collected 1,2 million dollars in two, three months. With that money, we have already renovated four schools, three kindergartens, a center for day care and stay for children with developmental disabilities, and a center for people with childhood and cerebral palsy. We are also rebuilding 100 houses and awarding 100 economic grants like the ones we do with refugees.
However, now Eastern Serbia is in the same situation, but aid is slow to arrive. The big floods were in May, and then there were many volunteers, companies that donated all kinds of things, and now, I would say, half of the people didn't even hear that the same calamity hit Eastern Serbia. That's why the media is important. If the media gets involved, then the problem will be in front of everyone's eyes and people will help.
