Partners Kosovo

Qendra e Partnerëve Për Administrimin e Konflikteve në Kosovë

Staff photo Partners-Kosova Center for Conflict Management was founded in 2001 to foster a culture of peaceful conflict resolution in a province that suffered from years of underdevelopment and conflict. Since then, the Center has worked with Kosovar citizens of all ethnicities to facilitate the resolution of disputes and build consensus on neighborhood, business, majority-minority, and citizen-government issues. The Center provides services ranging from mediation to training courses in anti-discrimination and ethnic integration. Today, the Center has become a respected institution in the community and has helped expand the acceptance of alternative and peaceful conflict resolution. Partners-Kosova’s main areas of work are:

Mediation
As the most active mediation center in Kosovo, Partners-Kosova’s services include mediating family, property, business, blood feud and other cases; training in basic and advanced mediation skills; and expert consultation in setting up mediation programs for schools, municipalities and other groups. The Center has been instrumental in drafting Kosovo’s pending Mediation Law, which will integrate mediation into the court system and establish a professional group of mediators who are trained in accordance with international standards and ethics. The Center has developed a highly effective Kosovar mediation methodology that blends modern mediation concepts such as voluntary participation and mediator neutrality with Kosovo’s centuries-old traditions of mediation by a trusted third party. Over 85% of cases mediated by Partners-Kosova have resulted in settlement or significant de-escalation of the dispute.

Local Government Reform
Partners-Kosova’s Local Government Initiative empowers municipal leaders to manage social change and conflict in their municipalities. The Center has trained hundreds of municipal leaders in conflict management and citizen participation. Other training topics have included transparency, cooperative planning, facilitation and conflict management. As municipal officials in Kosovo take on greater responsibilities to deliver basic public services, many of them have successfully applied the citizen outreach and transparency skills learned at Partners’ training sessions. One of the most significant results of this program is the creation of a Code of Ethics for Municipal Inspectors, which has increased transparency and accountability among civil servants. From the success of the original program, Code of Ethics workshops have sprung up across the province in Peja, Prizren, and Pristina.

Ethnic Integration & Conflict Resolution
With the Ethnic Integration and Conflict Resolution program, Partners-Kosova supports the re-establishment of Kosovo as a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic society. The Center implements programs that build lasting relationships, curb xenophobia, integrate returnees, and revitalize the social, economic and political life of communities across Kosovo. Partners-Kosova trains citizens to engage in Cooperative Planning processes, where majority and minority citizens collaboratively identify integration challenges, and form partnerships with government and civil society to implement creative, sustainable solutions.

Click here for the Lessons Learned Report from the Partners 2006 program “Kosovo Inclusive Community Change and Reconciliation,” funded by USAID

Learn how Partners Kosova is implementing a 2-year program in the Mitrovica region of Kosovo that is building relationships between Albanians and Serbs through economic development.

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