Building peace that lasts

“I am from Albania originally – but now live in this village with my husband and three children. My husband can’t work because his leg had to be amputated when he fought in the war. We get no help from the government and only 63 euros per month for my children.

“I have been a member of this women’s group since it began three years ago. Because of the group we now have materials to be able to make things and are working on finding somewhere to sell them to create more money for our families. Things are getting better - if we can start selling things I will be much happier about the future.”

The women’s group is part of CARE International’s Start II programmes, which are designed to bring different ethnic communities together in this deeply divided region. START has resulted in several shared community development projects such as Razmina’s handicrafts group, opened up opportunities for people to air their views with those on the ‘other side’ of the ethnic divide and, crucially, created economic ties between the different communities.

Sceptics may doubt the impact of such grass-roots community programmes. Yet, when two days of violent rioting spread throughout Kosovo in March 2004, there was barely any unrest in the areas where START programmes were running.

In response to this, CARE has developed a year-long research initiative to evaluate the impact of peacebuilding programmes, like START, at national level.

CARE’s innovative peacebuilding work takes many forms – but at its heart is always the attempt to change attitudes towards and perceptions of people who are ‘other’.