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 the Serb forces and the deployment of KFOR in Kosova, about 760,000 refugees and displaced person returned to Kosova, amongst them 600,000 women and children.

One of the greatest challenges facing these communities was the need to provide some form of education to their children, helping them to secure the future. Needs assessment conducted by NGO’s, local authorities and KFOR showed that about 1,000 schools had been damaged or destroyed.

The schools were damaged by shelling, burning and vandalism. Some of the schools were mined to cause maximum damage to students and many of them lacked adequate or any water and sanitation facilities.

More than 50% of the schools assessed required partial re-roofing and approximately 20% needed completely new roofs. The electrical installations in many of the schools needed repairing and in some cases total re-wiring was required.

Some 44% of school reported having water supply inside the building, 56% had water supply outside the building or no water supply at all. Some were still relying and operating with well systems.

Most of the schools had been looted and the furniture was destroyed, either through vandalism or fire. As a result, all the schools in the area lack necessary school equipment, and basic resources to allow them to provide even the minimum of services to the community.

The international humanitarian relief community devised and adopted a 5 category system of evaluation which was used as a criteria to assess what action is needed to be taken for school rehabilitation:

• Category 1: Light / No damage The repairs will be undertaken at a later stage

• Category 2: Some damage Repairs currently undertaken

• Category 3: Moderate damages Repairs currently undertaken

• Category 4: Severe damages Repairs currently undertaken

• Category 5: Completely destroyed Temporarily replaced either by utilisation of a winterised tent, or by adapting an alternative building.

In total 668 schools were identified as needing repairs in line with categories 2-4.

To date 55 NGOS and KFOR have committed themselves to repair and rehabilitate 543 of these schools, although only fourteen have been completed.

Project Activities
IR has committed itself to the rehabilitation of 3 schools with CAFOD and a further three schools funded by Jamiat Islah-Lajanat Aamal Al-Kheyriya (AL- Eslah Society), as the need for completed schools increases.

Detailed needs assessments of the schools were carried out and the results showed that with the necessary inputs, these schools could be operational within two months.

Project Objectives

• To provide returnee student population in the villages of Halabak, Batllava 2 and Llapshtice with adequate study facilities by rehabilitating the damaged local schools

• To allow continuation of education of the former students as well as to encourage future intake of students

• To increase employment chances for communities through localised and educated workforce

Beneficiaries
All three schools are in the Podujeva municipality and the total population of the three villages is approximately 4781 of which approximately 840 are of school attending age.

These figures were based on initial assessment and throughout the duration of the project, refugees were continually returning, which will increase the direct beneficiaries figures.

Also, these are direct beneficiaries of the project, as indirectly and in the long term, families of the students and their communities will also benefit, hence the actual number of beneficiaries is deemed to be much more.

As the initial stages of the project have been completed, IR is looking to expand its program in collaboration with other aid agencies as well as providing for projects on its own. By the spring season of 2000, it is envisaged that another 14 schools will receive various forms of assistance.

The targeted schools fall within three different degrees of assistance and IR program will aim to provide for each categories, namely:

Category 1: Rehabilitation of existing schools
Category 2: Reconstruction of existing school buildings
Category 3: New School Building

Other Projects in the Country
Supporting the Islamic Faculty of Prishtina – Prishtina · Shelter Support Program – Obilic, Podujevo, Prishtina · School Rehabilitation Program