1. Case-study No. & Title:
178. Water supply to the village of Dolgaec, Macedonia: involving the local community to solve the water-supply problem of a village inhabited mainly by Muslim Macedonians and ethnic Albanians, March 1999 – end 2000.

Keywords:

2. Author information:
2.1 Author’s Name:
Sreten Koceski

2.2 Institutional Affiliation and Contact Details:
Sreten Koceski
(Chairman of Mladinski informativen centar)
Mladinski informativen centar
JNA N^o 14
1220 Tetovo
R. Macedonia

Tel/Fax: +389-70-250-286
E-mail: mic_sreten@yahoo.com

2.3 Date recorded:
17 November, 2000

3. Good Practice Information Sheet
3.1 Local Level Good Practice:
The project has two key aims of solving the water supply problem of the village Dolgaec which is inhabited mainly by Macedonians and Albanians and has a total population of 173. individuals) and of encouraging the local community to collaborate across ethnic divides in realising the construction of the water supply system. In addition, there was a considerable amount of initial mistrust to overcome.

a) Construction of the water supply system
The hardest and the most expensive part of the project has been the construction of the water-supply system. The villagers proposed participating in the construction of the system. This was necessary because the area itself is not accessible to heavy machinery. This was also important because it facilitated the total involvement of the inhabitants of Dolgaec, gave them responsibility of the proper use of the water supply system and encouraged their identification with their area of residence.

b) Community work
The involvement of the inhabitants of the village to the greatest extent possible is one of the key aspects of the project. This is the point where the responsible NGO and the local people achieved the greatest level of co-operation. The involvement and responsibility of the local villagers was encouraged at the meetings and the training organised by the NGO people. These kinds of meetings were also important because the local authorities became acquainted with the villagers’ views about the water supply system, their needs and abilities.

c) Solving the problem of mistrust
When the initiative for the construction of the water-supply system was first brought up, the inhabitants were dubious about it because they did not have a clear idea of the benefits of up-to-date water supply systems. The construction of the same system in the nearby village of Margari encouraged them, and they not only agreed to the idea but also provided a great input into its realisation.

3.2 Location:
The project takes place in the village of Dolgaec, R. Macedonia. It is situated in the central part of the country and it is 36 kilometres from the city of Prilep. This village has 40 families who live there permanently and the number of inhabitants is 97. This number is supplemented with 26 families more i.e. a further 76 inhabitants. So the total number of the inhabitants of the village of Dolgaec is 173. The population is of mixed ethnic structure: Macedonians with Muslim religion and ethnic Albanians. This village is in a simple rural area, which is positioned in the hill region and is very remote. The village is very neglected, which is unsurprising if we take into consideration that the most of the population consists of people above 50 years of age.

3.3 Minority/Target Groups:
Minority: Ethnic Albanians
Target group: Ethnic Albanians living in the rural area i.e. the village of Dolgaec, R. Macedonia.

3.4 Major Actors Involved:

3.5 Budget allocated by local government authorities and/or by other actors:
Not available.

3.6 Timeframe:
This initiative was first proposed by the inhabitants 15 years ago, but because of lack of resources, they were not able to implement this project. This project was officially launched in 1999. The water supply system was put in practice in 1999.

3.7 Local level good practice relation to national level ethnic policy:
The project was initiated in 1998 by the national NGO MCIC (Macedonian Centre for International Co-operation) active within the territory of the R. Macedonia. On the basis of contacts with the local authorities, the MCIC succeeded in convincing the local authorities to start co-operation with a view to solving the water supply problem. With the exception of the local authorities, different partners and certain ministries made significant contributions to the realisation of the project.

During the realisation in of the project in 1999, many obstacles had to be faced, with the specific geographic location of the village key among them. Opposition to this project did not come from specific departments within the local authorities but from the villagers themselves. These people were used to living in an old-fashioned way and showed a great hesitation about changing their way of life. In order to encourage them the NOG provided training, which helped overcome this obstacle.

The MCIC was formed in 1998. Their main aim is to work for the improvement of inter-ethnic relations in R. Macedonia and the stimulation of regional co-operation. They were one of the most active NGOs during the Kosovo crises in 1999. This was a period when they postponed all other activities and directed their efforts towards emergency situations under the name ‘Refuge Macedonia’. MCIC was among the first who helped refugees in Blace and they gave support to two refugee camps, Cegrane and Radusa, by providing food and sanitary equipment to 26,000 refugees.

Since MCIC is working for peaceful solutions to the problems and for the promotion of peace in the region they decided to give help to people in Kosovo after their return from Macedonia. They considered this as one of the main ways of improving regional co-operation.

In 1999 MCIC started three new projects in Macedonia: Connection of the Enterprises Skopje – Thesaloniki; Support for Micro and Small Enterprises; and Strengthening the Capacity of Women NGOs to Provide Health Education. This was a period when the MCIC concentrated more on aiding the co-operation of different NGOs and citizens within R. Macedonia, no matter what their national belonging was. It was during this period that the ‘Water supply system’ project was first implemented.

After the Kosovo crises MCIC concentrated primarily on projects connected with inter-ethnic issues. One of their biggest successes was the media campaign for inter-ethnic and inter-cultural tolerance ‘The whole is when you have everything’. This campaign was to influence public awareness and covered themes of tolerance, mutual understanding and solidarity.

The main foundations that support the MCIC’s projects are: ICCO (Holland), DCA (Denmark), CAID (Great Britain), HEKS (Switzerland), NCA (Norway), FSA (Finland), CSA (Swiss), DIAKONIE (Austria), CARITAS (Germany), and ECHO.

The MCIC offices are located at:
MCIC
Nikola Parapunov b.b.
1000 Skopje, R. Macedonia
P. F. 835

4. Good Practice Description
The village of Dolgaec is situated in a typical rural area and the main sources of existence is low-income agriculture like tobacco and corn. Dolgaec is very neglected with old ruined houses. The main reason for the bad condition of the village is the fact that most of the people are above 50 years of age and are not capable of doing anything about this situation. The other problem was that they did not have any water supply system in their village and were forced to use water from the wells, which was a problem because that water was not always of an adequate sanitary standard.

It was thus decided to carry out a project by which the living conditions of the villagers would improve. The NGO MCIC held meetings with local authorities, certain ministries and with the village committee and decided to start preliminary negotiations about the project. In co-operation with the local authorities and the village committee, a meeting with the villagers was organised:

All villagers were present to this meeting and the first impression was a little bit disappointing. People were very hesitant about this idea and were not very willing to participate nor did they believe that this project would work. They were so suspicious that they even refused to talk about it. There was a moment when the MCIC wanted to withdraw from the project. The problem was to persuade the people of the importance of having healthy drinking water and the bad effects that might be caused by polluted water.

In order to solve this problem MCIC decided to organise training where villagers would have an opportunity to understand the details of the water supply system. The training concentrated on the functioning and maintenance of a water supply system.

Looking for common interests – involvement of the local authorities
Before starting the project MCIC had to make contact with the local authorities. Although in the beginning they were suspicious about the outcome of the project they could not refuse the opportunities that MCIC offered them. A water supply program for the villages requires the integration of a wide spectrum of activities such as financial support for the construction of the water supply system, training in its function and in the maintenance of the system, education and information (leaflets and handbooks about the program), representation and lobbying.

Since most of the financial support was provided by the MCIC, the local authorities realised that what was being offered to them was useful and would be in their interest because the water supply will be much more simple and regular. Construction of this system also means that people would not depend only on the weather conditions but would have healthy drinking water all year round. The local authorities realised that the project means one problem less for them to worry about so they decided to give their approval.

Development of the project ‘Water Supply of the Villages’
The positive results of the project in the village of Dolgaec provided the encouragement for this project to be implemented in other communities. It was decided that nine more villages should be involved in this project. The villages were selected on criteria of ethnic structure, geographic position and infrastructure. According to the nationality structure most of the population is comprised of Macedonian Muslims, Albanians, Turks and Serbs. Villages are mainly situated in the central and eastern part of the Republic of Macedonia and most of them are impenetrable as far as heavy machinery is concerned. The project is mainly focused on the areas that have significant problems with water supplies.

This is first project in R. Macedonia where more ethnically mixed communities were involved. MCIC determined that it would work with this kind of community because they believe that only by doing something together will people improve their relations, communication and co-operation. The water supply system was not only meant to be a means of achieving better living conditions but also a focal point that will connect people from different nationalities and force them to do something together in order to improve their existence. The construction of the system is also a heritage for the younger generations that come to the villages from time to time to visit their relatives. A water supply system is a prerequisite for these people continuing to come to the villages. It also means that they will have to co-operate in order to maintain the aqueduct.

The project aims to stimulate village initiatives to improve water quality and its supply and to offer grants to support villagers, local and national authorities and local enterprises in renewing water supply systems. One of the aims of the project is also to stimulate the establishment of local associations to work on water supply issues.

During the period April to August the activities were stopped because MCIC concentrated completely on helping the Kosovo refugees and the activities of the post-crises period. The water supply project has been accomplished in five villages during 1999, and the realisation of the other four is expected to be finished by the end of 2000.

The financial support for the project
Money for this project came from number of different sources. Most of the expenses were borne by the MCIC, but a number of other institutions also made a contribution.

Involvement of the villagers in the project
When the project first started the villagers were very suspicious about its likely success. So certain problems and barriers had to be overcome. The problems included:

In order to make people more familiar with the modern methods of water supply MCIC had to organise specially designed training on the functioning and maintenance of water supply systems. The aim of this training was to encourage appropriate organisation and participation on the part of the villagers. This was seen as a basic condition for the success of the project.

Reactions of the villagers to the project
The reaction of the villagers was changing throughout the whole project. At the beginning there were negative attitudes towards it because people did not believe that the project would succeed. This was because most of the villagers are elderly and they had become used to the old way of living. They were not capable of understanding that building a water supply system would make their way of living easier. The training in the functioning and maintenance of a water supply system was the right way of promoting a positive attitudes among the villagers. They became so motivated that they even participated in the construction of the aqueduct. At the end their excitement was very obvious because for the first time they had opportunity to drink proper sanitary water.

Involvement of the villagers
At the beginning of the project villagers regarded it with mistrust and did not realise the importance of the opportunity being offered to them. Once the villagers had a clearer picture about the project, rumours began to circulate to the effect that if MCIC were to help with a certain amount of money the villagers would dig a channel 2.5 kilometres long and transport the necessary materials for the aqueduct on their donkeys.

Once MCIC decided to realise the project the results were astonishing. The ‘old’ population of Dolgaec dug a 2.5 kilometres long channel in record time and transported the necessary material along the piping, which was of a great help because the land was impenetrable for heavy machinery. Another aspect is that they worked together without regard to their ethnic entities. The goodwill of the villagers is one of the most important reasons for providing an up-to-date water supply system.