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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

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Akan Ismaili - Wiring Up Kosovo

Akan Ismaili is one of the most cheerful advocates in Kosovo. Perhaps with good reason. He has taken over the Internet Project Kosovo and turned it from a pioneering humanitarian project into a pillar of postwar civil society.

Akan Ismaili - wired to work

Akan is Executive Director of the IPKO formerly known as the Kosovo Internet Project. The project brought the Internet to Kosovo, and since sending out its first message on September 30, 1999, it has done everything right. It has won a reputation for technical competence. It has money in the bank. It is employing 18 Kosovars at decent salaries. It is providing Internet access for a score of civic initiatives (including many of those featured in these pages). And it is entirely run by Kosovars.

But with success comes responsibility. Right now the project is at something of a cross roads-struggling to reconcile its two roles as a pioneer for information technology and a supporter of civil society. It's enough to bring a frown to the most cheerful of brows.

The IPKO was started at the height of the Kosovo refugee crisis. Interpacket, a private company, offered the use of a large satellite dish and free satellite time for the refugees. The dish was installed at the refugee camp of Stenkovac in Macedonia. The refugees returned to Kosovo before they could make use of the offer, but two enterprising Americans-Paul Meyer and Teresa Crawford-persuaded the owners to move the dish to Prishtina and put a year's satellite time at the disposal of Kosovo.

They also secured the backing of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a respected international nongovernmental relief agency, for the idea. This brought a number of concrete benefits, including tax-free status. It also gave the IPKO powerful support when the newly created Post and Telecommunications Kosovo (PTK) made an early attempt to take control of the information technology sector.

Like all the successful initiatives profiles on these pages, the IPKO addressed a gaping need. In this case it was communications. Years of neglect and NATO's bombing campaign had put much of the telephone system out of action, and this dealt a grievous blow to the relief agencies that poured into Kosovo. One international agency spent over $15,000 in the first month on satellite phone bills alone.

The IPKO's solution was to build a network of repeaters, microwave dishes, and routers around Prishtina that allowed customers to reach the Internet by wireless via the Interpacket satellite. Once the system was in place it had to be protected against the frequent power outages and adapted as demand grew. The IPKO emerged from its first year with a strong technical base and some of the best technicians in town. 

'This project can serve as a model for future humanitarian emergencies. By building a shared Internet infrastructure, international organizations will benefit from more reliable communications at a much lower cost and they will be able to take advantage of shared access to databases and other Internet-based applications to improve their effectiveness. When the crisis ends, the infrastructure can be left in place and local people trained to maintain it." Kofi Annan, Secretary General of UN -- Millenium Report

The project shed its link to the humanitarian emergency on March 5, 2000, when it was handed over from the IRC and reconstituted as the Internet Projekti i Kosovës, with Akan Ismaili as the new Executive Director. It was a smooth transition.

By now the IPKO was something of a hybrid. On the one hand, it was registered as a non-profit NGO. On the other hand, it was making a healthy profit. As of mid-July, 2000, 80 customers were paying approximately a total of 160,000 DM a month. Half was profit, thanks to the free Internet satellite time from Interpacket.

This has allowed the project to provide a free connection for 30 leading members of civil society, including the National Theater, several faculty departments at the university, 15 media outlets, and some of the groups profiled in these pages. (Handikos was given a free connection at the last IPKO board meeting.)

One major question has always been what would happen when project's year of free satellite time expired (in September 2000). Akan and his colleagues are confident that they can make up the monthly subsidy ($30,000) by retaining their current clients and attracting new customers once they can begin to offer dial-up access.

But even with its technical and financial base secure, the project seems likely to enter an uncertain new period. As the Kosovo economy shows signs of revival, it is fighting off charges that its generous subsidy has given it an unfair advantage over competitors.

Akan points out that the other three service providers in Kosovo have all received subsidies. The real threat of a monopoly, in his view, comes from government. He looks with alarm at neighboring Macedonia, which has several Internet service providers but only one route to the backbone of the Internet-controlled by the government. 

The IPKO satellite dish

The threat has convinced the IPKO team that they have to lobby for a free Internet, but without openly provoking a fight with the Kosovo PTK that will assume control over telecommunications once the United Nations withdraws. Akan himself has quietly tried to solicit support and even visited the European Commission in Brussels in support of allies.

The larger question concerns the IPKO's future role. Should it be to support civil society, or promote information technology?

As life becomes more complicated in Kosovo, it could become harder to fill both roles effectively. If it comes to a choice, Akan would probably chose the latter.

"Kosovo does not have exports of its own. We offer a tiny market. Seventy percent of our population is under the age of thirty. Information technology is a perfect solution! The IPKO needs to promote the use of the Internet in Kosovo and prepare Kosovo for the new technology age. We can turn Kosovo into an information technology center in the region, capable of producing software solutions, programs, and products." -- Akan Ismaili

Part of the dream is already coming true. There are currently 17 Internet cafes open in Prishtina-eleven are customers of the IPKO. The Internet cafes charge 6 DM ($3) an hour and are often full.

Akan's vision of the future also includes a bold plan for establishing an information technology training academy at the university. The plan has been given the go-ahead by the IPKO board, and the IPKO will put up 150,000 DM toward the initial costs. The rest of the money will have to be raised, presumably from donors. In September, IPKO signed an agreement with CISCO Systems to become a CISCO networking academy. This will ensure high quality curriculum and give the training an imprimatur of legitimacy in the technology world.

This could drain the IPKO's profit and make it harder to wire up civil society. But if the IPKO's board members are worried, they have swallowed their doubts. It is a measure of their confidence in Akan. His cheerful demeanor certainly makes one want to believe. And, like many of Kosovo's new leaders, he has paid his dues. In 1994, at the height of Serbian repression, he took over technical management of the Kosovo "node" in the Zamir email network. This allowed embattled NGOs in Kosovo to contact peace groups throughout the Balkans.

The ever expanding IPKO crew

This was a crucial contribution to the development of Kosovo's parallel society, and it introduced Akan to many of the leaders profiled in this series. Later, he moved to the U.S. Information Office in Prishtina.

It is an impressive resume. Coupled with a winning personality, a ferocious work ethic, and technical expertise, it makes Akan a superb spokesman for information technology-and not just in Kosovo. Europe needs this "Supergeek."

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