Master thesis about CBM

Jul 11, 2016, 1:12 PM | Volunteers

In 2011 CBMitrovica was visited by Thomas Baar and Just Baer, two Dutch Master Students conducting research on the history and work of Community Building Mitrovica. They are in the process of finalising their Master thesis, and have been so kind to send the CBM the abstract of the thesis.

Abstract CBM thesis

 From March 2011 onwards, Thomas Baar and Just Bär conducted research on the history and work of Community Building Mitrovica. During 7 weeks of fieldwork in Kosovo, primarily in the Mitrovica area, we held interviews with key figures of local government, civil society, and representatives of the international community. Our aim was to uncover what the methodology behind the work of CBM is. Post-conflict environments are harsh to work in, but CBM has managed to set up and successfully run projects for more than 10 years now. Besides the fact that it would be useful for CBM to have its history written down, we hope that our thesis provides an analysis that might be applicable for other organizations.The thesis follows key timelines, which are then split up in respectively a focus on Kosovo, on Mitrovica and on CBM.

The timelines are: post-conflict/establishment; 2004; and 2008-2011. These periods of time roughly demarcate in chronological order: the end of the Kosovo war up till the March riots in 2004; the aftermath of the riots up till the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo in February 2008; and finally the time span running from the declaration of onwards to the present. Additionally, though unrelated to CBM, we touch upon the latest developments of the political dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, and the unrest of autumn 2010 around the border crossings in North-Kosovo. All these timelines will follow the same sequential focal points: Kosovo, Mitrovica, CBM. The establishment of CBM was tightly intertwined with the international community, which has had a great impact on CBM’s affairs. The shift in character of the dependence-relationship between CBM and its donors is described in the research as well. On a local level, CBM always tried ‘to feel the pulse of society’ in order to assess whether certain projects would land in fertile ground. Comparing the current work of CBM with that of 2001, one can only conclude that there has been an enormous change with regard to the scope, profoundness and reach of their initiatives. CBM has managed to steadily expand its activities in accordance with their reputation, without ever compromising the safety of their employees and/or the integrity of the organization. Moreover, when the situation on the ground became perilous, for instance during politically tense times of much protest, CBM had its projects reduced, postponed, or shut down until further notice. This meant that the organization would not run the risk of overstepping its boundaries, thus increasing its capacity by working with patience and astuteness. In a difficult post-conflict environment, credibility or a trustworthy reputation is lost easily.  In the starting years of CBM, the initiatives were to have high visibility to spread awareness of the organizations work and emphasize their accessibility, as it needed local participation. One of the key characteristics and strengths of CBM has been that the projects always centred on the needs of local population, and this group was involved in the processes.

This approach bears much similarity with that of Participatory Rural Appraisail (PRA), as developed by Paulo Freire. PRA entails that in the field of development, a local population should be enabled to participate and analyse their own reality. CBM provides workshops and trainings as well for locals to gain for instance basic social skills for inter alia negotiations and discussions. In general, this approach aims to increase possibilities for social mobility.In the thesis, we highlight the factors of local involvement and patient caution with regard to tensions as contributing to the success of CBM. Moreover, by now the organization has grown tremendously and is running larger and more ambitious projects. The most important challenge for any NGO engaged in inter-‘ethnic’ community building, is to safeguard projects from politicization. Any initiative that CBM engages in has to be ‘depoliticized’. Especially in a post-conflict environment with existing grievances and distrust between communities, initiatives that comprise of inter-communal cooperation are viewed with suspicion. There is a relevant risk of political radicals framing a project as a threat to the social cohesion. CBM has managed successfully to adhere to a depoliticized approach.From an organizational perspective, CBM has managed to sidestep a common trap for NGOs; that of donor dependency and international intermingling.

The initiators of CBM employed local population to fill in the positions; internationals took on a guidance-driven role, tasked to start up the organization, not run it. Much of the projects empower people through the transfer of knowledge. In vocational training for the RAE-community, knowledge of raw skills is taught. Within the media component, a plea for independent, critical media and transparency of their work can be seen as the wish for unbiased knowledge from reliable media. Extrapolating this to the monitoring activities, the organization contributes to increasing transparency of mechanisms of governance and politics. Empowerment of women and minorities takes place via trainings in which social skills and a platform for a network are provided. Cultural projects such as the Rock School aim to increase inter-communal interaction; mutual understanding should counter a pre-text of former hatred. The Human Rights projects are all meant to increase knowledge on the topics of human rights, advocacy, democracy and confrontation with the past. All initiatives are aimed to carefully set up a framework of (renewed) trust between the communities. 

Though armed conflict has ended, the situation in Kosovo and especially divided Mitrovica remains unstable at times. North-Kosovo being a disputed territory, the future remains unclear for the population. However, as long as there is a stalemate on the political level, Community Building Mitrovica acknowledges that renewed and sustainable communication between the opposed communities is of vital importance. It is laying the grounds for cooperation in spite of the political complexities. An organization like CBM is essential for renewed trust between communities.