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

Musa Rrudhani - Building Democracy in the Villages

Musa Rrudhani is a figure of authority among the 360 villagers of Novo Selo, in the municipality of Gjilan, eastern Kosovo. During the era of the parallel society, he was president of the village committee that governed the village. He showed his prowess as a farmer by growing enough potatoes to feed his large extended family during the war. Now, after the war, he has taken on new responsibilities as a leading member of new form of self-government, known as the community improvement council (CIC).

Musa Rrudhani

The CICs are the brainchild of USAID's Office of Transitional Initiatives (OTI), and they work as follows: whenever OTI receives a request for assistance from a village, it invites the village to elect a community improvement council, or CIC. The CIC then identifies the community's needs and sends a project request to OTI.

OTI made a considerable commitment to the model in 1999. By December 1999, 160 councils had been established in Kosovo, involving some 2,400 villagers. OTI had spent over $2 million on projects identified by these new councils.

From a donor's perspective, this is intelligent aid. It helps OTI to get money directly into the hands of beneficiaries and also increases the chances that a project will be sustainable after OTI's funding dries up. If a community has designed and owns a project, it is more likely to make a long-term commitment.

But what is the impact on civil society? In December last year, the Advocacy Project visited the village of Novo Selo with David Savard, an official from OTI, to find out.

It was the second time that the council had met. It was elected by 60 villagers-about 20% of the total population-and it comprises 11 councillors, including two 14-year-old boys and several women. This was encouraging because no women sat on the LDK council that ran the village's affairs under the parallel society.

The meeting was held in the schoolhouse, and it was well attended. One thing quickly became clear-these villagers knew exactly what they needed. Top of the list came desks and chairs. They had built a schoolhouse at the end of the 1980s, but it had never been used because they had no chairs. Now they needed the school badly, because the nearest school was several kilometers away, along a dangerous stretch of road. 

Once they have equipped their school, the villagers of Novo Selo would like to improve their supply of electricity. Out here, they said, they are at the very end of the grid. They also wanted to provide piped water to the soccer field, pavement for a key stretch of road in the center of town, and a bridge over the stream that runs besides the schoolhouse. 

The Novo Selo Council (far left) David Savard, USAID

It did not take long to identify these needs and prioritize them. The next decision was to delegate a council member to go with David to Gjilan and take up some of the issues at a higher level. Musa Rrudhani confidently volunteered. It was agreed that he would talk to UNICEF, which had chairs and desks in storage but no schools to put them in.

This was a small step forward. Musa might or might not return with desks, but at least he would be able to report back. Under Communism, villages like Novo Selo were the last to hear about anything. This persisted after last year's war: no one knew why electricity was so difficult to come by.

How do the CICs score as a model of aid? From our limited time in Novo Selo, we would say bold but expensive. It takes repeated visits by OTI officials to coax a CIC into existence, and several more visits to help identify a project. Even then, the project might turn out to be no more than the purchase of school tables. Each grant has to be carefully tailored to the individual community. As such it will require intensive oversight.

But OTI officials were convinced that this was well worth the investment. It was, said David, the process that mattered-of electing councils, of identifying priorities, of delegating, and of public discussion.

All this was sparking a small grassroots revolution in Novo Selo:

"It gets them thinking about the public good-something that rarely happens in the Balkans. Usually, decisions are taken at the top and dissenters keep quiet. Communal decision-making is the start of real democracy. Once that is in place, they can move on to petitioning the government. They need to learn that you can make a difference by campaigning and lobbying." --David Savard

In practice, this is less subversive that it may sound, because those elected to the CICs are usually village leaders. The old guard certainly remains powerful in Novo Selo. The committee that ran the village during the 1990s was comprised of representatives from the 40 leading families, and it still exists. Musa Rrudhani is Vice-President, as well as serving on the new CIC. In a sense, the CIC thus reinforces the status quo.

But while OTI might focus on the implications for democracy, to the villagers of Novo Selo like Musa it all came down to foreign aid. As befits his role as village spokesman, Musa posed the question on everyone's lips: How could the international community help to revive the local economy?

In a sense, this is the key question, because the task facing Novo Selo is not about rebuilding after war, but jumpstarting an economy that slipped back into the dark ages during the 1990s, when it was isolated from European markets and ignored by Serbia. The war added salt to the wound. Before the outbreak of hostilities, 20 villagers had paid employment. Now, the number had fallen to four: the bus driver, the teacher, the doctor, and a gas-pump attendant.

Before the war, Musa himself worked in a ceramics factory, which has stopped producing because it has no propane and only one functioning oven. But he still puts in an appearance every week to register for work.

This ensures that he remains nominally on the payroll and entitled to any benefits. It also allows him to claim that he is employed, which is a mark of distinction in Novo Selo. But it's not really work. At the same time, Novo Selo's unemployment statistics are less dramatic than they might appear, because the villagers long ago ceased to place their trust in formal employment. Their hopes are pinned to the rich loam that stretches out beyond the houses. Here, Musa grows potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, and cabbage, all of which he sells at the local market. The cash goes under his mattress. The villagers have not used or trusted banks for years.

Musa earned about 3,000 DM ($1,500) from his potatoes in 1999. The interesting thing is that he could earn more if he linked up with other farmers to build a silo. This would permit them to sell potatoes out of season at five times the normal price. Building a silo in Novo Selo would put more D-marks under the mattress and make a lot of sense.

This would seem tailor-made for a small business loan. But it requires banks and credit. Even if these had been in place-and they were not during the first year after the war-Musa himself was unconvinced. It did not seem to matter that he lived among friends and relatives: he had grown used to working alone and competing at the market.

We found ourselves in the strange position of arguing the merits of cooperatives with this former Communist. We left Novo Selo feeling that the new councils might or might not promote a new form of village democracy, but that the real revolution must begin in the minds of farmers.

* Update: The fate of the CICs is unclear, as OTI phases out of Kosovo. Field offices are scheduled to close in July 2001 and the main OTI office in December 2001. In July 2000, OTI support for NGOs, media, and the CICs fell sharply.