A Voice For the Voiceless

MISSION

The Advocacy Project seeks to help community-based advocates produce, disseminate and use information, and so become more effective advocates for human rights and social justice

Guri Shkodra - Cleaning Up the Environment

On December 1, 1999-International AIDS Day - Guri Shkodra and 40 other Young Ecologists of Kosovo dressed up as condoms, gave out a thousand examples of the real thing, and stopped the traffic on Prishtina's main street.

The sky above Guri's home

It was not the first time that Guri had ended up with his photo in the papers. But what, we wondered, did AIDS have to do with ecology? "Oh," he said, without missing a beat, "ecologists care about people."

Guri Shkodra is wise beyond his years, and for much of the past year he has been one of the more visible advocates in Prishtina.

He found the perfect foil for his drive and ambition in the international agencies, and the perfect issue in the environment. This rarely features on the U.N.'s peace-building agenda but it is under everyone's nose, particularly in Kosovo.

It goes back to the 1990s, when Kosovo's environment was subjected to a deadly combination of government neglect and misguided energy policies (such as the excessive use of sulphurous coal). Then came the war, which reduced thousands of houses to rubble and littered the countryside with mines and unexploded NATO cluster bombs. Then the influx of aid workers and motor vehicles followed the end of the war. 

Guri Shkodra

For months there was no waste disposal service to clean up the mess. When the Serbian forces left, they took the functioning garbage trucks with them. Prishtina's only landfill was clogged with discarded uniforms, old currency, and the occasional body.

The result was that for month after month people were forced to pick their way past piles of stinking trash. It broke Guri's heart. Even at his young age, he could remember when the parks were clean and Prishtina was easy to live in. 

Guri's transformation to activist came during his exile in Macedonia, where he stayed with an uncle. With time on his hands, he concluded that the environment would need all the help it could get. After returning to Prishtina, he joined up two other schoolfriends, Dren Ukmata and Arber Istrefi. Together, they formed the Young Ecologists of Prishtina.

They registered as an NGO with UNMIK (using their mothers' names because they were under age.) Then, they set about making their presence felt.

Their first activities were aimed at young children. Guri tried out the message on his five-year-old brother to see how much he understood about the environment. Quite a lot, it turned out. Armed with the advice, Young Ecologists toured kindergartens and talked about ecology. They also handed out coloring books-at the suggestion of Guri's brother. The money for this came from UNICEF.

It is more difficult to get through to the older kids of Kosovo, partly because parents set such a shocking example. But Guri found ways to talk to them as peers. Many Kosovo kids practice a disgusting game of catching birds and cutting their wings. The Young Ecologists patiently explained how this damaged the environment.

They were always on the lookout for new ideas and they struck the right note-mischievous but not malevolent. This was guaranteed to appeal to the international agencies, which were desperate for Kosovars with a sense of community spirit. Guri was the perfect "local partner." He represented youth (one of the U.N.'s most favored categories). He was brimming with initiative, instead of fatalism. His goals were far removed from ethnic hatred. In fact, he was proof positive that Kosovo had a future.

Guri knew that he had a willing audience for his brand of advocacy in the international agencies. When the OSCE decided to hold an exhibition by young Kosovar artists, his group was one of the four sponsors. They painted 40 pictures for the exhibition. They took part in festivals. They produced a poster urging Kosovars to "save their environment" and then took it to UNICEF, which printed 60 copies. They put up a tree in the UNMIK garden at Christmas and dressed up like clowns.

Guri is a fabulous networker and from the start he was hungry for contacts abroad. It was just a matter of time before he decided to turn to the Internet. Their first message was to Joschka Fischer, leader of the German Greens and Germany's Foreign Minister. The Advocacy Project contacted friends in Germany, and the Minister graciously replied.

The Advocacy Project was also able to put Guri in touch with one of our associates, 15-year-old Andrew Siegel from Washington, DC. Andrew designed a website for Guri. The site was launched on the occasion of Earth Day. Within three days it had received 1,677 visitors.

Throughout this giddy year, Guri and his friends did not fall into the trap of letting their organization take priority over their work. They yearned for an office, which was the ultimate status symbol for many NGOs in Kosovo. But they also knew that reputations are made by results not offices. Besides, there were practical considerations, not least the fact that they were still at school. Guri has not completely given up hope of opening an office. In the meantime, he has decided to rent a vacant garage. Each Young Ecologist is contributing 4 DM toward rent.

The hard work and ingenuity is starting to pay dividends. Guri's profile has grown to the point where CNN was considering featuring him in a television series on local heroes in Kosovo. During the summer, the Young Ecologists received one substantial grant, worth 10,000 DM and a prize worth 9,000 DM, for cleaning up another eyesore.

Guri now faces the challenge of creating an organization that can take on big-time lobbying, while still retaining its charm and quirkiness. For most of the last year, Guri has occupied a special place in the ranks of Kosovo civil society. He was loved by the international agencies while they felt unloved-but also treated with some condesc

With normal life beginning to return to Kosovo and the agencies starting to gain some confidence, the Young Ecologists will find themselves facing the sort of government mischief that preoccupies most green lobbies. Guri received a foretaste of this, when he discovered by accident that the environment department was the only one of the 20 transitional departments (ministries) still without a Kosovar co-head. This suggested that the United Nations and Kosovo's politicians are still shockingly indifferent to the environment, and it cried out to be exposed. But this would be a very different kind of campaign from cleaning up a park. 

Of course there will still be a role for the Young Ecologists' charming brand of activism. UNMIK is making plans to recycle glass and cans. Guri's eyes lit up at the news. Cans! Kids! Cameras! 

Andrew Siegel (left) celebrating Earth Day

But if they are to be truly effective in the new Kosovo, Guri and his friends will need to shed their image as school kids-to be seen as an equals, rather than mascots.

This could be hard to do-particularly when school still beckons.