1. Case-study No. & Title:
180. Cegrane refugee camp - providing necessary materials for the camp and helping the refugees to adapt to ‘refugee life’ until it was safe to return home, April-November 1999

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:
14/01/2001

3. Good Practice Information Sheet
3.1 Local Level Good Practice:
The main aims of the project were to provide material and psychological support for the Cegrane refugee camp. During the crises in Kosovo a great number of refugees entered Macedonia. The majority (98 per cent) were Albanians while the rest were Turks, Roma and Serbs. Though some of these refugees were given shelter in host families, a considerable number of them had to be sheltered in refugee camps. The Cegrane camp at one point received and sheltered 45,000 refugees.

It was necessary to give help and support for these people and many organizations were involved in providing the necessary materials. CARE was one of them and can be said one of the most active ones. What they had to do was:

3.2 Location:
The location of this project is the Cegrane refugee camp, which is near the Cegrane village. This camp and the village as well are near the city of Gostivar. Ethnic Albanians make up 99% of the population.

3.3 Minority/Target Groups:
Minority: Albanian, Turks and Romas
Target group: Kosovo refugees settled in the Cegrane refugee camp.

3.4 Major Actors Involved:

3.5 Budget allocated by local government authorities and/or by other actors:
The greatest part of the project was financed by the UNHCR. The NGOs which were involved in the project also participated with some financial help. The Government of Austria and BPRM (Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration) gave some funds for the rehabilitation of the campsite. Local government gave technical support such as logistics and coordination.

The actual budget is not available.

3.6 Timeframe:
The initiative was first proposed in April 1999, launched and put into practice in May and came to an end in November 1999.

3.7 Local level good practice relation to national level ethnic policy
The leader of the project was CARE, an International NGO. For this project CARE appointed a camp manager. This was so because the project was mainly financed by UNCHR so it was their decision. Since UNHCR has contacts and cooperates with local councils and government the local authorities also played an important role in the implementation of this project. They were mainly involved in the matters that concerned the people from the village of Cegrane such as involving the villagers in helping the refugees, helping those people that gave shelter to the refugees in their homes etc.

CARE also cooperated with certain ministries and governmental bodies. They cooperated with the Ministry of Urban Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry for Ecology and Environment. These ministries gave help by providing funds and means for the construction of the sanitation and water supply systems, and provided materials for the refurbishment of the site.

4. Good Practice Description
During the Kosovo crises the Republic of Macedonia received a great many refugees. The numbers at any one time varied according to the situation in Yugoslavia. Several refugee camps were organized in Macedonia to help the refugees. These camps managed to fulfil the needs of some of the refugees while others were given shelter by local host families.

The Cegrane camp received 45,000 refugees. It was set up near the Cegrane village, which is near the city of Gostivar. This area is in the western part of Macedonia and the population of the village consists of ethnic Albanians. The most active organization in this refugee camp was CARE, who provided all necessary materials for the refugees. The priorities of CARE were to equip and supply the camps, and to help the refugees adapt to life in the camp until it was safe for them to return to their former homes.

In order to fulfil its aims CARE had to cooperate with other organizations present in the camp. CARE thus collaborated with Oxfam to find a solution to the sanitation problems and with CRIC – the Italian Organization for Cooperation – in matters that concerned the social and psychological programs.

CARE was aware that they could not meet the demands of all in the camp, but they believed that what was provided was adequate for people to manage while they were in the camp.

Looking for common interests – involvement of the local authorities
For this project CARE appointed a camp manager. This was so because the project was mainly financed by UNCHR and this was their decision. Since UNHCR has contacts and cooperates with the local councils and government the local authorities also played an important role in the implementation of the project. They were mainly involved in the matters that concerned the people from the village of Cegrane such as involving the villagers in helping the refugees, helping those people who gave shelter to the refugees in their homes etc.

CARE also cooperated with certain ministries and governmental bodies. The local authorities were involved in providing logistic support and coordination. They engaged people from Cegrane and nearby cities to help other organization with translation, purchase of necessary materials and work on the construction of the sanitation system.

Development of the ‘Cegrane refugee camp’ project
First of all CARE provided the refugees with shelter (a tent, mattresses, cooking and hygiene kits) and they also delivered fresh water and packages of food. In cooperation with other international and local NGOs, CARE succeeded in setting up many other things important to ensure a reasonable standard of living. Together with Oxfam, CARE solved the problem with the sanitation, which was a big problem not only for the refugees but also for the people of the Cegrane village. After providing the most essential materials for the refugees CARE realized that these people also need psychological help to help them cope with the different kinds of terror they had experienced such as loss of family members, their homes and in some cases the loss of everything they had. That is why CARE, together with CRIC, implemented projects of a social nature. These projects involved psychologists whose task was to help the refugees to overcome the mental scars that were the result of the Kosovo crises. These social projects also involved creating places for recreation and activities that would keep the camp inhabitants busy and divert their thoughts away from the war.

The financial support for the project
The greatest part of the project was financed by UNHCR. The NGOs which were involved in the project also participated with some financial help. The Government of Austria and BPRM gave some funds for the refurbishment of the campsite.

Reaction of the refugees and the villagers to the project
Taking into consideration that the number of the refugees in the Cegrane camp was 45,000, reactions towards the project were overall positive. Essential living needs were met and moreover social and psychological support was available.

The villagers were further satisfied that CARE, in cooperation with other organizations, did everything in their power not to disrupt their living environment while helping the refugees, and sought as far as possible to allow the village to continue normal life.

Benefit for the country from the Cegrane refugee camp’ project
In Cegrane a proposal was drawn up by CARE and funding to assist with the rehabilitation of the camp site was approved by both the Government of Austria and the BPRM. This process took a period of just over one year and in this phase involved the local community as they were trained in agriculture and were also able to work on the site. Special attention was paid to employing women and in the last phase the percentage of women employed was 22 per cent which is a high ratio for such a rural area. The fact that over 100 local people were employed for some of the year brought money to the community and also new skills related to their plots of land and an understanding of how community-based projects can work.