EWMI takes pride in its commitment to its local partners, and established the Partner Legacy Support Program in 2013 as a mechanism to continue to fund its partners around the world. To date, EWMI has accepted donations from individuals, foundations, and donor advised funds for partners in Cambodia, Kosovo and Liberia that promote access to justice for the most vulnerable groups in various political, economic and cultural contexts.
Kosovo
EWMI Programs in Kosovo
2009-2012
Since achieving independence in 2008, Kosovo has faced the challenge of establishing a system for enforcing legal agreements and court decisions that are necessary to stimulate domestic economic growth and foreign investment. In particular, the responsibility given to municipal court judges for executing utility bills and other minor claims has left the courts with large backlogs of civil cases and diverted resources from protecting the contract and property rights of citizens and businesses.
2008-2012
Since opening its office in Kosovo in 1999, the East-West Management Institute (EWMI) has been at the forefront of Kosovo's development by supporting Kosovo's civil society, government and media through mentoring, training, grant-making and networking programs. In September 2012, EWMI completed work on the Kosovo Constitutional Justice Initiative. Launched in June 2008, under a grant from the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the project played an essential role in the development of the new Constitutional Court of Kosovo.
2008 – 2010
EWMI is working with local partners, including the Association of Kosovo Municipalities, the Office of the Prime Minister of Kosovo and the Ministry of Local Government Administration, to improve security in Kosovo at the municipal level by reactivating and strengthening the Municipal Councils on Safety in Communities (MCSCs). The MCSC Project aims to build trust between citizens and elected officials, and between Kosovo Serb and Albanian communities by providing mechanisms and resources for them to work together to improve life and security through more effective participation in municipal and central government decision-making processes.
2007-2008
EWMI has been at the forefront in assisting Kosovo prepare for independence. In early 2007, with the support of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF), EWMI established a Task Force comprised of leading civic leaders and policy analysts from Kosovo to assist the Kosovar administration and civil society prepare for upcoming challenges associated with the resolution of its status.
2006 – 2007
In May 2006, EWMI launched the Negotiations Awareness Campaign (NAC), a project funded by both the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Balkan Trust for Democracy Fund that aimed to increase the transparency of the final status negotiations. Through a series of public meetings, citizens had an opportunity to learn about the negotiation process firsthand, and to present their views and concerns directly to the negotiation team. These meetings also worked to raise public awareness of the final status process, while simultaneously furthering the development of a participatory civil society in Kosovo.
2006 – 2007
EWMI worked to improve relations between ethnic Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo through the implementation of an inter-ethnic Community Watch Project (CWP). The CWP was designed to build trust between Kosovo Serb and Albanian communities by providing mechanisms and resources for them to work together to improve life and security through more effective participation in municipal and central government decision-making processes. The Project established Citizen Watch Committees (CWCs) comprised of citizens, NGOs and local government officials.
2005
EWMI, with support from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF), conducted a needs assessment of the Kosovo Ministry of Local Government Administration (“MLGA” or “Ministry”) to identify activities that would strengthen its organizational capacity. A well-functioning MLGA is essential to Kosovo’s peaceful, democratic future, and this newly established Ministry must have the tools and capacity necessary to lead Kosovo’s decentralization process.
2002
Under a subcontract to Norway Registry Development (NRD), EWMI designed and conducted a highly effective and wide-reaching training program to assist in the establishment and operationalization of Kosovo’s new, state-of-the-art Business Registry. The result of the training sessions was a major outreach to a wide range of groups, audiences, interests and business areas providing training that will positively impact the value of the Business Registry to Kosovo society.
2001 – 2005
EWMI’s Kosovo NGO Advocacy Project (KNAP) was a USAID-funded cooperative agreement that has achieved its main goal of transforming Kosovar NGOs from service providers into issue-driven agents of change, successfully participating in the formation of policy at local and Kosovo-wide levels, holding local, Kosovo-wide and international authorities accountable and raising public awareness about corruption and other issues in Kosovo. EWMI, in cooperation with the rural-based grant-making Foundation for Democratic Initiatives (FDI), supported more than 84 NGOs to implement advocacy, educational and policy research activities throughout Kosovo.
1999 – 2001
Shortly after the cessation of the NATO bombing campaign, in July 1999, EWMI established an office in Kosovo. With funding from the American Jewish World Service and the Joint Distribution Committee, EWMI provided assistance to Kosovo’s civil society, taking a “hands on” approach to assisting local NGOs and providing training to NGOs in the rural regions of Kosovo. The short-term goal was to assist the local NGOs by creating a structure that would allow them to have the ability to receive grants not only from the “emergency phase” donor community but also from established Western foundations and organizations.
1999 – 2001
Shortly after the cessation of the NATO bombing campaign, in July 1999, EWMI established an office in Kosovo. With funding from the American Jewish World Service and the Joint Distribution Committee, EWMI provided assistance to Kosovo’s civil society, taking a “hands on” approach to assisting local NGOs and providing training to NGOs in the rural regions of Kosovo. The short-term goal was to assist the local NGOs by creating a structure that would allow them to have the ability to receive grants not only from the “emergency phase” donor community but also from established Western foundations and organizations.
![The Kosova Women’s Network (Pristina) and The New School for Public Engagement (NY) have collaborated to create the Kosovo Oral History Initiative. [photo: Nicole Farnsworth]](http://dev.ewmi.org/sites/ewmi.org/files/styles/slideshoweffect-copy/public/images/programimages/PLSPJul2014-1.jpg?itok=4F0k80zu)
![[photo: Constitutional Court of Kosovo]](http://dev.ewmi.org/sites/ewmi.org/files/styles/slideshoweffect-copy/public/images/programimages/KCJIimageOct2012.jpg?itok=iiZFTufp)