Contact Information
- Where – Kosovo (The Balkans, Europe)
- Website – www.syriivizionit.org
- Contact Person – Veton Mujaj
- Email – info@syriivizionit.org
- Address – Str. Isa Demaj no.14, 30000, Peja, Kosovo
Areas of Expertise
Syri i Vizionit has expertise in a range of areas, including:
- Advocacy and Lobbying
- Dialogue
- Good Governance and Security Sector Reform
- Reconciliation and Dealing with the Past
Main Aims and Objectives
Syri i Vizionit (SiV) aims to promote local democracy and the participation of people in Kosovo. In its continuous efforts for democratic practices, SiV gave a special role to promotion of good governance, accountability, transparency and public participation in decision-making.
In-line with these objectives, since its establishment in 1999, SiV has implemented around 100 project in various sectors of society, including democratization, peace-building, the promotion of human rights, civil society empowerment, monitoring of institutions, economic development, urban mobility, social dialogue and networking.
Since start, the NGO “Syri i Vizionit” has articulated its work around specific objectives:
- to develop the provision and dissemination of reliable and tested information to citizens;
- to promote public awareness on substantial or/and urgent societal issues among a wider public through awareness-raising actions;
- to equip citizens with sufficient advocacy, lobbying and networking skills to exercise their basic rights and challenge government institutions.
Upholding the Principles of Conflict Transformation
SiV has intervened in diversified sectors of civil society since 1999 and tackled a large variety of topics, including media development, minority right’s promotion, support to return and reintegration of IDPs and refugees, monitoring of municipal institutions and networking in the field of peace-building
In its engagement, over the last ten years, SiV implemented over 100 projects in the community; activating thousands of people and supporting their ideas to change the community or neighbourhood in which they live in. Besides interventions to improve living standards, infrastructure or work equipment, the need for society building was always taken into account – ensuring that community, village or group representatives were equipped with the necessary knowledge to become leaders of the processes within their respective communities.
Where and with Whom?
SiV works at the local, national and regional level.
SiV have activated thousands of people, constantly bringing improvements to their lives. This was achieved through creating focus groups of 7-10 people in areas, villages and town neighbourhoods with whom issues were discussed and solutions identified. With this approach, thousands of community members were trained and skilled through the trainings that SiV held for community representatives in these focus groups, and with formal and non-formal groups. Over the last ten years, for these non-formal groups and grass-root organizations, SiV has awarded around 70 grants.
SiV projects have included all communities without discrimination, including the vast majority of minority communities – Kosovo Serbs, Roma, and Egyptians. SiV was and is an important actor in building tolerance, interethnic dialogue and reconciliation. By developing refugee return projects, improving the integration of returned Serbs, bringing hostile villages together through joint cultural and sports activities, helping employ returned Roma and Egyptians, educating illiterate Roma children and opening pre-school classes for learning Roma mother tongue, SiV was a powerful voice in articulating the needs of these communities.
At the same time, SiV has a permanent engagement toward institutions, with the aim of creating good governance, institutional oversight, increased transparency and citizens’ participation in decision-making.
Main Activities in the Field of Conflict Transformation
Peacebuilding
SiV has developed a great number of peacebuilding projects so far. Since 2003, SiV was part of the DRC funded KIP Program, together with other NGOs from Serbia and Montenegro, supporting return and reintegration in Kosovo. Thirty different projects were implemented in the region under the auspices of this program.Dealing with the past is also part of SiV’s peacebuilding work. The RECOM Coalition is a network of over 1,000 NGOs from all the former Yugoslavia countries that affirm the establishment of an Independent Commission to publically investigate and prove facts about war crimes of war in the nineties. Within the RECOM Coalition, SiV is a member of the Central Commission and partner together with other organizations of this initiative from Kosovo. As part of the regional partnership, SiV organized and took part in a number of activities held within Kosovo and abroad with aim to create the Regional Commission. In Pejë/Pec regional level, SiV organized a series of consultation with civil society and families of the missing, victims, war veterans, etc; out of which, 30 organizations from Pejë/Pec region joined this initiative. Other projects supporting returns were implemented through working on the integration of returnees in some municipalities of Kosovo and by disseminating information for Kosovo refugees in other countries, in order to make them aware of returning conditions.
Peace building activities were also implemented under the Kosovan ProPeace Platform, which aims at reporting and preventing potential conflicts, marking Peace Day, etc. SiV also plays an active role in the field of youth networking and peace-building at regional level: in the Board of the Kosovo Youth Network for years and is a founding and active member of Pejë/Pec multiethnic youth network since 2002.
SiV plays an active role in the field of youth networking and peace-building at regional level: in the Board of the Kosovo Youth Network for years and is a founding and active member of Pejë/Pec multiethnic youth network since 2002.
Democracy Development
As far as human rights, over the last four years SiV has drafted action plans for the Serb community in four Kosovo municipalities, as well as for Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in five municipalities. Over 30 advocacy projects were supported. Furthermore, within these projects – in the same number of areas inhabited with minority communities – there are 30 focus groups in villages that were trained on strategic planning, advocacy, lobbying and project design.
Under the BRIDGE project – which aimed at empowering civil society in the region – SiV established 20 joint councils with NGOs, including councils for women NGOs, children, minority communities and the council of people with special needs. These councils were empowered through trainings, joint work in drafting projects, support to compete joint projects and through eight mini-grants for the most successful council. Around 60 Kosovo NGOs were involved in these projects.
Through a number of projects, SiV has also worked on empowering other marginalized groups – children, women and people with special needs. Special importance was also given to support non-formal groups. They were provided assistance to become organizations or provided training in order to advocate for their needs, draft projects and address them to donors and institutions, and provided with mini-grants. Over the last five years, SiV has awarded around 70 mini-grants to citizens, non-formal groups, NGOs and residents of certain settlements, by which they have managed to bring changes to the communities in which they live.
As part of the project for empowering the Roma community, developed with the Olof Palme Center, SiV started a class in Roma language in Gjakovë/Djakovica. This class was unique in Kosovo; teaching Roma children their mother tongue, which is currently very little spoken by the Roma community in Kosovo, since young people now speak Albanian and the Roma language has become a language spoken only by the elderly. The story about this class raised great interest among educational institutions and Kosovo media.
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