1. INTEGRA as a branch of ‘Sami Frasheri” High School - Prishtina

 

In the very beginning INTEGRA existed as a branch of Youth Group of “Sami Frasheri” High School. As a high school group we have developed many projects regarding the concerns of teens of our age. Implementing projects was part of our school activity, which we enjoyed very much.

During the last 2 years as s high school group we have implemented different projects with the support of local and international organizations. The fields that our group deals with are mainly cultural, educative and humanitarian. Down below we will write some of the projects we have developed in the past:

1.2. PROJECTS

 

1.2.1. Survey

 

– Relationship between students and teachers in “Sami Frasheri” High School in Prishtina. This project was implemented on the year of 2000 and was founded by the “Save the Children Foundation UK”. It was implemented on the behalf of the branch of Youth Group of “Sami Frasheri” High School called INTEGRA. It was a quantitative study with 1100 participants. 1000 exemplars were distributed to the students and 100 to the teachers. It was designed to measure the level of the relationship between the students and teachers, applicable educational system, educational conditions in Kosovo, etc. The survey was developed by a professional group that was made of professors and students. It was finalized by the Research Institute INDEX KOSOVA. In order to reduce the costs of the project we engaged 35 students for the operational tasks. The participating students were trained by the project team in field of the research. After the operational tasks the filled up surveys were returned to INDEX KOSOVA for data compilation. The compiled data report was sent to the Ministry of Education, media and to other educational institutions of Prishtina. The main aim of this report was to support the Ministry of Education with data that could help them in their future projects for the Reforming the Educational System in Kosovo.

 

1.2.2. Schools Magazine “Feniks”

 

- This project was supported by “Save the Children Foundation UK” and the “Department of Education” of Municipality of Prishtina and it was implemented on the year of 2000 by the INTEGRA branch within the Youth Group of “Sami Frasheri”. First phase of the project was to train the motivated students on the field of the journalism. The students were trained by the volunteer senior journalists. All the journalistic and prepress tasks were done by the students of the High School under the supervision of a volunteer senior journalist. The donator founded only the printing for the first two numbers. First number was given for free to the students and the second one was sold. It was sold out on the day it was published. This made the project sustainable. The project is still on going self sustainable with the support of some marketing. Content of the magazine was suitable for the youth concerns. It was divided in five issues: Education, History, Youth Concerns, Fashion and Youth Trend and Information Technology. The Albanian Language Teachers of the High School checked the magazine for any possible linguistic mistakes.

 

1.2.3. Schools RADIO “Feniks”

 

– This project was supported by Kosovo Found for Open Society and Canadian KLIP. This project was initiated by the youth group and the leading bodies of the “Sami Frasheri” High School. This project began its implementation on the year of 1999 and is still being implemented by the youngsters of the High School. The youngsters attended different local radios during their work to gain training and experience from the professional moderators and technical operator. After their one month training the radio began to function, broadcasted only in the facilities of the high school. It was broadcasted during the breaks in between the classes. The radio was leaded by the editor chief. In cooperation with the team they created the schedule of the weekly shows. Different shows were during the week focusing in educational, entertainment etc. issues. Music was played by the DJ students of the High School.

 

1.2.4. Schools Web Site

 

- This project was supported by “Save the Children Foundation UK” and it was implemented on the year of 2000. The website was developed by the students of the IT Group of the High School under the supervision of the INTEGRA branch members. Unfortunately this project stopped on the year of 2003 because of the lack of the founds. The domain was: www.sami-frasheri.com. Leading students of the website cooperated with all other branches of the Youth Group to get the latest updates of their activities. In the website history and pictures of the High School were uploaded.

 

1.2.5. Foster Care

 

– This project was supported by “Save the Children Foundation UK” and the “UNICEF HQ Prishtina”. It was implemented on the year of 2001. This project aimed to find shelters (foster care) for orphans. The team of the project was trained by the SCF and UNICEF staff re their tasks. The team made of 30 students of High School went door to door in the city of Prishtina to talk to families re the importance of the foster care. Their aim was to convince the families to offer foster care for the orphans.

1.2.6. Documentary Film against drugs (Once I got you, and then you got me). This project was supported by Kosovar AIDS Committee, Department of Youth within the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Non-residential Issues and media support by RTK. The film was developed on the year of 2002. In the very beginning we advertised the project in the schools radio. Interested students re the media production applied to become a part of the project. Students with different interests on media production joined the working team of the project. General idea was finalized by the working team and then the tasks were assigned to the working team. Team was trained by the staff of RTK about their duties. They begun to implement the project after their training. Aim of the film was to prevent the youngsters from drug usage. We conducted different interviews with doctors, police officers and also got a message from public faces of Kosovo re their opinion on drug usage prevention. After post production of the film the premier of the film was held on the amphitheatre of “Sami Frasheri” High School. Students and leading bodies of Kosovo were invited. Then the Project Coordinator, a police officer, a psycholog was present on a TV Show in RTK to discuss re the drug abuse issue. During that show the film was played in RTK. The film was repeated several times in RTK and in other television in different cities of Kosova.

1.2.7. Fundraiser for widows and orphans of Krusha e Vogel – The project was initiated by the INTEGRA branch of the youth group of “Sami Frasheri” This project was implemented on the year of 2002 and now on became a tradition. Students of the High School cooked different cakes and sold them in two frequent points of Prishtina. Found gathered from the sold cakes were then sent to the widows and orphans of Krusha e Vogel, and to the Kindergarten of the Krusha e Vogel as a donation. In the first fundraiser we fundraised 4632 €.
The team of the students traveled to Krusha e Vogel with the mini bus that was provided for free by the Protection Corps of Kosovo.

 

1.2.8. HIV/AIDS campaign

 

– (STOP AIDS!). Supported by Save the Children and PSI. This project was implemented on the year of 2001. It observed in the International Day against HIV/AIDS. Different activities took part during this project. Posters and brochures were developed to inform the youngsters re the risk of HIV/AIDS and about the way of prevention. Lectures and debates were held within high schools of Prishtina re the HIV/AIDS issue. The lectures and debated were leaded by our trained HIV/AIDS peer educators.

 

1.2.9. Better prevent it now, rather fight it tomorrow

 

- HIV/AIDS campaign - Support by Kosovar AIDS Committee. This campaign was designed to raise awareness re the HIV/AIDS in a discreet way. We hanged door hanges (examples taken from the hotel hangers “do not disturb”). Team made of 40 students divided in groups and distributed hangers that contained basic information re the HIV/AIDS and on the back had a condom attached to it. The hangers were hanged on the doors of Prishtina inhabitants on the night of 30th Novemeber 2002.

 

1.2.10. NOT FOR SALE project

 

– Living in a country in transition and in poverty there is always a will for citizens of a better life. In some cases young aged girls accept work abroad in order to secure a better life, not knowing that they have just became a victim of human trafficking. In order to prevent this phenomenon we organized the awareness raising project re human trafficking. This project was supported by the UNICEF HQ Prishtina. As a part of the project we organized a T4T for the students of 7 high schools of Prishtina. After the T4T the trainers under our supervision were in charge of conducting training re the human trafficking within their high schools. In this case through the branches of this project we have raised awareness to all the students of high schools of Prishtina.

These projects were implemented while we were in High School. Since we have graduated from high school, our desire to continue contributing to our society and our teens was never extinguished. Ever since we graduated we have been acting as a local non-governmental organization, called INTEGRA, registered at the UNMIK registration liaison. We have been registered on 08 June 2003 with the registration number 5102086-3.

 

2. INTEGRA AS A NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION

 

NGO INTEGRA is an organization formed by young people who are committed to giving their contribution to the recovery and development of Kosovo. Our work is guided by the principle of good governance and full enjoyment of human rights, regardless of ethnicity, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and political belonging, are essential to building a democratic and tolerant Kosovo, fully integrated in the European community.

INTEGRA has marked a great success in implementing cultural, educative and social projects. The greatest success was achieved in field of informal education of youngsters regarding the issues that worries them.

In almost three years of its existence, INTEGRA has worked and cooperated with many non-governmental and governmental organizations. This cooperation helped on creating a network of over 40 organizations around Kosovo for its efficient work in the field. INTEGRA organized “Make Love Not AIDS!” campaign against HIV/AIDS, the biggest awareness raising campaign conducted among high school students.

Due to our commitment to development processes in Kosovo, INTEGRA has worked with the Office of Stabilization and Tracking Mechanism in Prime Minister’s Office in Kosovo, for development of the project “Evropë PRITNA!” (Europe WAIT FOR US!). This project was designed to reach as much as possible the citizens of Kosovo by giving them the opportunity in writing down their ideas about Kosovo toward European Union. Billboards with messages of the citizens of Kosova where given to Prime Minister Mr. Bajram Rexhepi who at that time presented those messages to Commissioner Mr. Chris Patten visiting Kosovo for 9th of May, Europe Day.

Since it is formed and directed by young people, INTEGRA has considered one of its main aims the encouragement and stimulation of youth participation. In cooperation with Fractal (Serbia) and IKV (The Netherlands) we have been implementing the project called “Our Future European Union” aiming to increase information and discussion on European Integration, opening communication channels between Kosovo and Serbia and increasing youth involvement. The project consists of different activities such as peer to peer, study visit, multiethnic summer camp aiming to reach as much youth as possible.

In order to create leisure activities for the high school students, Department of Culture is implementing “Theater Club IN” project which intends to create drama clubs in high schools of Kosovo. This project is to provide more after school activities for the high school students and prepare those students who are interested in continuing the field of acting.

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During our experience we have learned to take open-minded approach rather than telling people what should they do!
To this end, the founders envisaged the INTEGRA as a vehicle through which young people could give their contributions and become active in rebuilding of society in Kosovo.

In order to have more efficient work, INTEGRA is made by the following departments:

• Department of European Integration and Democratization
• Department of Reproductive Health
• Department of Culture

 

These are the project implemented by our organization:

2.1. PROJECTS

 

 

2.1.1. ONE billion Adolescents…

 

Think of US. World Population Day observation – This project was supported by UNFPA. For the first time in Kosova, INTEGRA marked World Population Day, by developing a booklet with the public faces of Kosova giving their message about youth. These booklets then were given to the deciding making bodies of Kosova, to think of the way they could help the youth. This project was implemented on the year of 2003.

 

2.1.2. Make Love Not Aids High School Edition

 

- campaign against HIV/AIDS supported by UNICEF. This project was implemented on the year of 2003. This project aimed traveling to 15 municipalities of Kosova, informing students of high school about the issue of HIV/AIDS, giving away attractive booklets with the basic information on HIV/AIDS. In order to make the project more attractive we engaged a famous actor Armond Morina that was trained on HIV/AIDS field. We also organized live music party to mark December 1st 2003 International Day against HIV/AIDS.

 

2.1.3. Youth TV SHOW called RESPECT

 

- This show was initiated by UNICEF in cooperation with B2 and Pr Media Solutions. INTEGRA was engaged as working group of the project. This show was designed to speak about youth problems and issues in Kosova. During the project the participants of the project were trained in media production according to their field of interest such as: design, directing, editing, camera, etc. This show is produced by CBM Production and broadcasted in national TV station RTK once a month – 2003/2004. This show engaged rotationary teams. After the first edition of the project the second team came to become as a part of the project. Idea of the project was to have as many youngsters trained in the media production field.

2.1.4. Evropë PRITNA! (Europe, wait for us!)

 

- Campaign about European Union supported by Prime minister’s Office and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung – 2004. This campaign aimed to raise awareness re the European UNION and also in the mean time observes the Europe Day May 9th. Through different activities we raised awareness re the European Union and also gathered the opinions of the citizens of Kosova through the billboards that were open for writing and placed in city centers, about EU. We also distributed booklets that contained basic information about the functionality of the EU and criteria of getting integrated in the union. It covered 7 municipalities, the final one was Prishtina. The former Prime Minister Mr. Bajram Rexhepi came and wrote his opinion re the European Union. The billboards were presented to Commissioner Mr. Chris Patten on May 9th by Mr. Bajram Rexhepi.

 

2.1.5. Career orientation project

 

- This project was self financed by the NGO INTEGRA and it was implemented on the year of 2004. The project covered 10 high schools of Kosovo aiming to prepare students to decide about their future career.
This project was implemented by our volunteer staff Nicholas Wilkinson, Expert on Career Orientation, and hosted by members of INTEGRA.

2.1.6. Make Love Not Aids

 

- SUMMER EDITION ‘04 campaign against HIV/AIDS supported by UNICEF. The project aimed to have as many youngsters as possible engaged on it. We trained a team of 10 youngsters on the HIV/AIDS issue. We organized three day campaign for each municipality holding peer to peer training, street action and movie night. Project created the “Make Love, Not AIDS!” movement in order to have the activities more coordinated. 15 NGOs from 15 municipalities of Kosovo are members of the network. This campaign was implemented in 15 municipalities on the summer of 2004.

 

2.1.7. Theater Club IN

 

– Creating after school activities, in this case theater clubs in five municipalities which involves competition amongst high schools. This project is supported by Kosovo Found for Open Society Foundation. The first edition is being implemented, it begun on the year 2004.The final activities will take place on March. This project consists different activities. This project begun with the audition that was held on five high schools of Kosovo. Audition was lead by the well known actor Mr. Armond Morina, director Kushtrim Koliqi, actor Besart Sllamniku, etc. In the audition were selected the students that will be a part of the Theatre Clubs IN. The second phase went on, it consist of three day training to the students about basic knowledge on acting. After the training was conducted, the work on developing the short (approx. up to 15 minutes) theatrical plays began. The working team was established in order to develop the play. It was made of professionals of fields of drama. A play writer was engaged to write the plays. The plays were written according to the number of actors (6-8 students). Pre-organizational tasks were completed before the plays development begun. The plays are now at the final phase of their development. In March 2005 the First Festival of the Theatre Clubs of High schools will take place in Prishtina. In the festival awards will be given by the professional jury. This project aims to expand its coverage on its future editions.

 

2.1.8. Make Love Not Aids

 

– December Edition 2004 campaign against HIV/AIDS was developed to observe 1st December 2004, International Day against HIV/AIDS. It was supported by UNAIDS and Kosovar AIDS Committee. We organized awareness raising campaign through mass media coverage, peer to peer trainings, educative activities, street actions, educative party, etc. This is the third edition of the “Make Love, Not AIDS!” project. This was the last project for the year of 2004. We work on all the issues during the entire year, not only close to its International Day Observation.

 

2.1.9. Our Future European Union

 

– This project aims to promote common interest for peace and stability in the region Kosovo-Serbia through raising youth involvements in EU integration process on grass-root level. It also aims to promote contact dialogue between youngsters from Serbia, Kosovo and the Netherlands to relax the tensions in this region and to assist in the process of release following a bottom-up approach.
Trainings regarding the European integration were held in 10 high schools of Kosovo by professionals of our organization in giving the students the clear view of the structures and institutions of EU.
This project is supported by HiVOS. Parties involved in this project are: NGO INTEGRA from Kosovo, Fractal from Serbia and IKV from Holland – 2005

 

2.1.10. Europe Wait for Us!

 

– Activities of this project aim to promote freedom of movement, raising awareness to Kosovar society regarding the process of European integration and initiating debates between citizens and leading structures of Kosova. This project is part of “Our Future, European Union” network implemented by three organizations: INTEGRA (Kosova), Fractal (Serbia) and IKV (Netherlands) and also I cooperation with European Information Center in Kosovo. The aim of this cooperation is discussion on European Integration as a method of opening communication channels between Kosovo and Serbia. It was founded by the Office of Prime Minister – the office for European Integration Processes, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation and EU Representatives in Kosovo. This project consisted of many activities which were : the Carnival, Meeting with the Local and Diplomatic Representative for the European Youth Centre, Multiethnic camp for critical thinking and writing “Losje“ ,Propagandistic Materials, documentary filmand a multiethnic youth party.

 

2.1.11. “Four Voice Camp”- Monte Sole

 

– This project is made by Center for Non Violent Resistance in Belgrade in cooperation with our organization, CBM from Mitrovica, Mission of People of Good Will from Zvecan, Kosovo and Jelena Anzujska – Mitrovica North supported and implemented in School of Peace in Monte Sole and other partners from Germany. The aim of this project is to promote peace through the post-conflict nations and to help the reconciliation processes there. This project was first started with the Israeli and Palestinian nations, continued widening with the Kosovar Albanians and Serbs from Kosovo. The implementation of the project is done in Kosovo and Italy, where 20 selected students with age 16-18 take part in the Four Voices Camp in Monte Sole near Bologna.

 

2.1.12. Loesje

 

– Project for critical thinking and writing (www.loesje.org) – this is a part of “Europe Wait for US!” Project (2.1.10). This project is now led by participants / youngsters of Loesje camp in Brezovica and with financial support by our NGO. The critical slogans that were made by the youngsters of Loesje Camp were printed as flyers and were distributed in whole Kosovo.

 

2.1.13. “Mr. Prime Minister…

 

Show some moral, RESIGN!” – This project is a very short term one. It was realized on September 2005. This project was a sign of a reaction of the civil society towards the scandals of the Prime Minister of Kosova, Mr. Bajram Kosumi. The main slogan of this campaign was “Mr. Prime Minister…Show some moral, RESIGN!”, which was a message to him and to the other part of society to see that what is happening is wrong and that there are being done a lot of abuses of power by Mr. Prime Minister. We have printed black and white posters where we have only written the slogan of the campaign. A characteristic of them was that they were attached upside-down in order to grab more attention. This project was self-financed by NGO INTEGRA and with the help of media, we have managed to make this message as strong and effective as possible.

 

2.1.14. “Make Love, Not AIDS”

 

– December Edition – This project is part of our big packet called “Make Love Not AIDS – Three editions” project and was implemented from Department of Reproductive Health with in our organization. This project was implemented in December of 2005, for December 1st, for International Day against HIV/AIDS. Particularity of this Edition was the re-cooperation with “Make Love, Not AIDS” movement partners in different municipalities and also including the new partner cooperation of this project the Plemetin Camp (REA community).

Except the open discussions, without pardons and official terms, in cooperation with all partners, for this edition we distributed 20 000 attractive mini-booklets and 35 000 condoms. This Edition was supported by one of our main donor of Department of Reproductive Health, UNICEF and Kosova Aids Committee.

 

2.1.15. “Secrets of Love” Theater Performance

 

– This project was implemented from Department of Culture within our organization. This theater professional performance it is based in famous TV show called “Jerry Springer’s Show”. This performance is a comedy, and it was directed by Prof. Faruk Begolli, Prof. Armond Morina and Ass.Prof. Astrit Kabashi. The actors of this performance are a new artist generation and for thies reason our main aim of this project were promoting the new artist, theater, etc. This performance is one of the most successful comedies in our theater productions and it is still part of the National Theater repertory.

 

Note:

In this statement are not included the projects that are ongoing

• “I Decide for My Self” – anti trafficking campaign (IOM, Finish Government) - Finished.
• “Our Future, European Union” 2006/2007 (Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Netherlands in cooperation with IKV/PAX Christi and Fractal) Finished
• “Europe Wait for Us!” 2007 (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, IKV/PAX Christi) – Finished
• “Monograph for the famous actor, Mr. Faruk Begolli” (French Office, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, KOHA Group)
• “Starting Negotiations” (Kosovo Foundation for Open Society – KFOS) - Finished
• Truth Finding in Kosovo (Research and Workshops) (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, IKV/PAX Christi)
• Truth Finding Debate (Youth Initiative for Human Rights) - Finished
• Make Love Not AIDS (UNAIDS – UNICEF - KAC)
• “Our Future, European Union” 2008
• Think Critical Make a Change (finished)
• Silent Wall Workshops (finished)
• Lectures re European Integration
• CooperaTiVa – Reality TV Show (AED, USAID, Fractal)
• Europe Wait for Us! 2008 – Finished
• Peer2Peer Confidence Building
• Translation of Monograph “Faruk Begolli” in English and Serbian Version
• Publication of book “I want to be heard”
• Silent Wall - “Shape Your Critics on Silent Wall” #2
• Consultations for the foundation of the Regional Commission to proof facts and war crimes and violation of the human rights in ex-Yugoslavia (RECOM)