News and Events Archives - Page 37 of 264

BIRN Kosovo and Radio Gorazdevac Hold Public Discussion With Residents of Gorazdevac About Public Services

On April 11, 2024, Radio Gorazdevac in partnership with BIRN Kosovo held a meeting with residents of Gorazdevac, on Radio Gorazdevac spaces, to discuss the needs of the Gorazdevac community regarding public services.

This interactive meeting gathered 13 residents of the village Gorazdevac near the municipality of Peja, out of which 6 were women. The participants shared their experiences of living in a rural part of Kosovo, by emphasizing the lack of essential living conditions such as a good sanitation system, electricity, and the lack of public institutions including kindergartens and youth centers where their residents conduct activities. Overall, the meeting shed light on a load of problems and poor public services in this area.

More specifically, Visar Prebreza, editor-in-chief at BIRN started this gathering by presenting the topic of the discussion and then invited residents to share their concerns and needs on public services. Residents listed several concerns starting from the lack of safety on the roads, especially around school areas and the lack of sidewalks, the troubles with bills on water and electricity, the lack of a proper sanitation system, and the lack of kindergartens that enroll children younger than 3 years old.

Moreover, Darko Dimitrijevic, the executive director of Radio Gorazdevac raised the problem about being the only media in the area and the difficulties to access the information from local or central institutions regarding open calls for subsidies or grants for citizens of Kosovo in agriculture, economy or other social aids as well as other important announcements from the Kosovo institutions. In addition, residents raised concerns about the exclusion of Serbian language in most of the announcements and official documents from Kosovo institutions.

This activity was implemented as part of the “Addressing the situation with public services in war-affected community of Gorazdevac” project implemented by BIRN Kosovo and Radio Gorazdevac supported by Community Building Mitrovica and the American people through USAID in Kosovo.

Transitional Justice Vital for Bosnia’s EU Path, Conference Says

Participants agree transitional judice is a priority for the EU and feelings of ‘fatigue’ must not get in the way.

A conference titled “Role of Transitional Justice in Bosnia’s European Path”, organised by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network of Bosnia and Herzegovina, BIRN BiH, with support of the Belgian embassy, on April 4, put a focus on one of the five key priorities of the European Union, which advocates promoting an environment conducive to reconciliation and overcoming the legacies of the war.

Denis Dzidic, executive director of BIRN BiH, said the fifth priority of the EU should be additionally defined, especially in light of widespread hate speech, revisionism and denial of genocide and other crimes.

“All these things continue to deepen the gap between people and it is simply impossible to talk about other aspects of the European Union accession without making this segment clearer and more precise,” he said.

“For that reason, we wanted to open a discussion with a broad spectrum of people. Today, we have representatives of victims’ associations, who are manifestly living with the consequences of all that, but also representatives of judicial institutions and the international community,” Dzidic added.

He noted that, unfortunately, government representatives did not accept an invitation.

Benjamin Sturtewagen, acting charge d’affaires of the Belgium embassy, said his country had tried to affirm this topic as a priority in the UN Security Council a few years ago.

“Transitional justice is one of the priorities of the EU and that is especially highlighted in a Council of Europe’s decision of two weeks ago. So, this remains one of the focus points of our efforts and our activities. Just like with any other topic that is talked about a lot, public fatigue happens. That has happened with transitional justice too. But given it is the priority of the UN, European Union, BiH and all us actors, we must not let it be forgotten and the fatigue happen,” Sturtewagen said.

Results of an analysis of almost 30 years of work on prosecution of war criminals in Bosnia were presented at the conference by Dzana Brkanic, BIRN BIH deputy editor, and by Emina Dizdarevic Tahmiscija, BIRN BiH journalist.

Speakers included state prosecutor Ivan Matesic, Murat Tahirovic, president of the Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide in BiH, Joeri Maas, from the EU Office in BiH, Irma Zulic, political and development advisor at the United Nations in BiH, Mirza Buljubasic, a professor of Criminalistics, Criminology and Security Studies and Agnes Picod, senior human rights advisor at the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in BiH.

The participants concluded that civil society organisations, jointly with associations of victims and with support of the international community, must insist on this matter with the holders of authority.

BIRN Kosovo Holds Training for Journalists on Reporting About Missing Persons

On April 4, 2024 BIRN Kosovo held a training for journalists on how to report about the missing persons in Kosovo as part of the EU-funded project “Uncovering the Truth: Combatting Monoethnic Journalism and Advocating for the Missing Persons in Kosovo“.

More specifically, the training focused on the critical issue of reporting on missing persons, encompassing aspects from individual cases to court proceedings, social, political and legal contexts, forensics and medical expert analysis and the challenges faced by affected families. The technical expertise of journalists lies in their ability to research, document, and communicate stories effectively.

The training module was delivered by BIRN’s regional and local team of award-winning journalists and editors, who have extensive experience in investigating, reporting on, and advocating for such issues.

The first session was held by Kreshnik Gashi – Editor in Chief of KALLXO.com who spoke about safe sources to report on missing persons, treatment of family tragedies based on the Code of tEhics, protection of personal data and the principles of transitional justice in the treatment of missing persons. Gashi emphasized the importance of including every ethnic group when reporting of missing persons in Kosovo. In addition, he talked about the spread of disinformation in the missing persons in Kosovo, by giving examples of fake news and the impact they had on revictimization of families of the missing persons.

The third session was held by Lamija Grebo from BIRN BiH who presented the Practical Handbook on reporting about missing persons in BiH, including the media reporting on persons missing due to 1992 – 1995 conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

She also spoke about BIRN’s BiH standards of reporting including empathy, impartiality, victims, and the communication with the families of missing persons.

Grebo also stated that the media must not abandon their socially responsible role, must not only be a carrier but also a change-maker, and must be current and bring important topics such as this one back into focus.

This training was attended by 22 participants of whom 15 were women. The participants engaged in this training by asking questions on how to refer to missing persons when reporting, how to treat the news when they find a corpse of a missing person, and how to treat families of missing persons while reporting on such matters.

BIRN Kosovo Holds Training on the Methodology of Filming, Editing, and Presenting Oral History Interviews

BIRN Kosovo held a one-day training on the Methodology of filming, editing, and presenting Oral History interviews on April 3 at the Civil Society House, in Prishtina.

The training consisted of four interactive sessions that were designed to address various questions related to oral history methodologies, with a particular focus on the technical aspects such as arranging the interviews and the interviewers, locations, logistics, filming, sounds, lighting, and editing.

In the initial session, attendees were given insights into the technical aspects of recording oral history interviews such as frame selection, lighting, and recording techniques. In the second session, the participants learned more about how to conduct interviews using the method of oral history and, in general, about the techniques for getting good human stories. During the third session, the focus was on improving the quality of written content by exploring techniques for editing and scriptwriting. In the last session, the attendees were able to see several presentations showcasing interviews within the context of exhibitions and memorials.

The trainers, Denis Dzidic, the Executive Director of BIRN Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Lamija Grebo, a journalist from BIRN BiH presented thoroughly their experience at the Oral History Memorial project which tells the stories of survivors in Srebrenica. The project ‘The Lives Behind the Fields of Death’ is a valuable example that will serve not only the participants who attended but also BIRN Kosovo’s aim to create such initiatives that commemorate the Kosovo war.

This training was attended by 36 journalist, including 20 women. The participants were engaged and asked a lot of interesting questions, especially about how to interview people and the importance of treating survivors with empathy and understanding. During the screening of interviews with survivors from the project ‘The Lives Behind the Fields of Death’ the participants had the opportunity to see survivors who not only shared their stories, they also gave belongings of their loved ones, victims of Srebrenica.

BIRN Kosovo Holds Workshop for Referral Mechanism in South Mitrovica

BIRN Kosovo held a workshop on March 28 in South Mitrovica about strategic communication during the implementation of the activities of the National Strategy for Preventing and Countering Terrorism for members of the referral mechanism of the South Mitrovica municipality, a multi-disciplinary team set up to address terrorism-related issues.

The workshop began with a discussion about the participants’ role that they have in the referral mechanism in the South Mitrovica municipality. The workshop examined the principles of strategic communication, covering a wide range of topics including the functioning of the media and other outlets that are critical to strategic communication.

Ten people took part in the workshop, of whom four were women.

The workshop’s trainer, Kreshnik Gashi, managing editor of Kallxo.com, presented the principles of strategic communication. The discussion that followed centered on the practical examples given by Gashi, particularly about the perceptions of post-war returnees.

Gashi noted that the impact of social media platforms on sensitive issues like this cannot be ignored, and so members of the referral mechanism must exercise caution when using social media.

The participants said the workshop was useful so the referral mechanism can be more informed about preventing violent extremism, rehabilitation and reintegration and other methods of combatting extremism that can be used in the South Mitrovica municipality.

The workshop was part of the ‘Resilient Community Programme’ founded by GCERF.

Meet the People Behind BIRN: Behar Mustafa

Behar Mustafa is a court monitor, researcher and journalist for the TV programme Justice in Kosovo.

Before joining BIRN in 2014, he worked in various NGOs and media outlets, including the daily newspaper Koha Ditore, where he served as Vushtrri correspondent, and at Kosova Channel in Mitrovica. Although he has a degree in law, he decided to work as a journalist.

Let’s find out why and let’s meet him!

You graduated in law but work as a journalist. What made you decide to pursue that career?

I started in journalism working as a court monitor and journalist/ correspondent from Mitrovica. Before journalism, I was part of civil society, mainly engaged with youth and women empowerment. I studied Law and this helped me to work in an organisation such as BIRN because of the scope of interest it has in the field of justice. It has been 10 years since I started with BIRN.

What’s it like working in Kosovo as a court monitor and researcher? What is most challenging for you?

Nowadays, it is easier to do the job than when I started a decade ago. Initially, from 2014 to 2015, I worked in Mitrovica, covering mostly trials that were carried out by Mitrovica court, and at that time it was very difficult to get there because the court is located in the northern part of the town and we needed to find ways to go there. It was also very difficult to organise your day as a court monitor because in North Mitrovica the court has only courtrooms; all the staff, including prosecutors, were based in another town, in Vushtrri, some 15 kilometers from Mitrovica. There were cases when we went to Mitrovica to attend a trial, but during the day, we had to go to Vushtrri for any request that our job required us to do.

Last year, you received the ‘Best TV Story of the Year’ award from the Association of Journalists of Kosovo for your ‘Brezovica Dossier’ investigation. Tell us more about it.

Last year our team was awarded “Best TV Story of the Year” by the Association of Journalists of Kosovo, AJK. This was a special moment because my colleagues and I got an award for a story we had been patiently working on for almost three years.

“Brezovica Dossier” aired in September 2023. This investigation was done through a series of publications that show how politicians, businesspeople, and other powerful figures in Kosovo are suspected of bribery related to the construction of villas without any criteria in a picturesque tourist site in Kosovo, which has caused huge environmental damage to the beauty of the mountains in this resort. The prize becomes even more special because prosecutors who investigated the case used our findings as well grounded for their work.

What story/stories that you worked on made you incredibly proud (please insert the link to that story/stories)?

I am mostly proud of my stories from the north, which disclosed cases of smuggling, which resulted in many arrests, but also stories related to tenders given by institutions and the way they have been granted to people and businesses close to the authorities.

What makes a good journalist?

Working always for the truth, seeking and finding the truth, even when it looks difficult and, in some cases, impossible. It is very important to take time analysing the facts in front of you and not to publish anything you are not certain presents the whole truth of the story. We are reporting for the public, and public trust is something sacred in our job, something that makes you a good journalist. Once you misuse that trust, you are done for in this job.

What should any journalist not agree to, especially the young?

Not to accept to report on anything you don’t have enough facts about – and avoid political, religious or ethnic bias.

Millions Spent on Public Competitions Poorly Controlled, BIRN Serbia Report Reveals

Serbia spent millions of euros on thousands of projects with little control over spending, no evaluation of projects’ impacts and no oversight if projects were implemented as agreed, a new report by BIRN Serbia shows.

Serbia’s state institutions and local governments distributed around 6.5 billion dinars [€55 million] to finance 13,407 projects carried out by 7,788 civil society organisations, companies and associations in 2023.

The data are published in BIRN Serbia’s new annual report “Publicly about Public Competitions” that highlights some of the key issues and shortcomings of state project financing processes.

“State funds are one of the main sources of financing for civil society, and many [organisations] are financed with small sums of money. What we recognise as systematic problem is the lack of evaluation – we almost never see reports on how the money was spent and whether it was spent as intended,” said Tanja Maksic, program coordinator of BIRN Serbia.

This is the fifth year in which BIRN Serbia and Gradjanske inicijative (Civic Initiatives), together with a team of 16 researchers from local civil society organizations, have been monitoring the spending of state funds on projects in four fields – media, civil society, culture and youth.

The report is based on data collected in a database that provides insight into state spending on projects in these four sectors between 2019 and 2023. This is currently the largest public database of this type.

In procedural terms, the report says, the biggest problems are: the lack of evaluation of projects’ accomplishments; lack of audits of narrative and financial reports; non-standardised decisions on allocation of funds; an inadequate appeals mechanism that cannot prevent abuses; and non-transparent work of committees that decide on the allocation of money.

Zarko Stepanovic, from the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue, said an analysis and amendment of the regulations on public financing of CSO projects is expected in 2024 and 2025. “This process should be completed by the end of 2025,” said Stepanovic, adding that he expects that many shortcomings will be addressed and amended with new regulations.

BIRN’s research into 396 organisations that received more than one million dinars from state ministries revealed that a third of them are so-called phantom organisations, meaning that almost no information can be found about them or their projects. The same research showed that 27 organisations meet one or more criteria for qualifying them as „governmental non-governmental organizations” (GONGOs).

These GONGOs have ties to the ruling parties and government or support their agenda through their actions.

The financing of phantom organisations and GONGOs, a trend BIRN has been following for years, endangers the financial sustainability of legitimate organisations that are active in their communities and provide real services to citizens, often members of some of the most vulnerable groups, the report says.

Ministries, provincial secretariats and local governments are obliged to finance projects through public calls, in order to help local civic society or companies to implement tasks and activities in public interest that the state cannot implement on its own.

In addition to the media, civil society, culture, and youth, the state also finances many other fields, such as education or sports. There are no centralised data on the total amount that Serbia distributes annually through public calls.

Western Balkan Journalists trained for Engaging Citizens in Their Reporting

Eighteen journalists from eight different media outlets underwent training to learn innovative methods to engage women, youth and underrepresented demographics, including audiences aged 65 and older, in the creation of high-quality content.

As part of the Western Balkans Media for Change project a Learning Circle titled “Building Foundations for Engaging Citizens in Reporting” for media outlets from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Montenegro was organized.

Over the course of March 21 and 22, 18 journalists strengthened their understanding of community dynamics, engaging journalism principles, and the development of investigative stories based on community involvement.

On the first day, journalists received insights into editorial strategies and audience involvement best practices from facilitators such as Dzana Brkanic, Deputy Editor at BIRN BiH; Aleksandra Bogdani, Editor at BIRN Albania; Katarina Zrinjski from BIRN BiH; and Besar Likmeta, Editor-in-chief at BIRN Albania.

They shared experiences in implementing various approaches and methodologies to produce high-quality, investigative, fact-checked, gender-sensitive, appealing and innovative content.

The focus of the second day was on Engaged Citizens Reporting, ECR, tool, developed through the Media for All project. The tool enables users to crowdsource data and facilitate engagement with the community. Karla Junicic, BIRN’s ECR Coordinator, presented the tool and its potential for engaging audiences in content creation. Additionally, journalists had the opportunity to explore the BIRD Platform, an interactive resource desk designed for journalists seeking to stay updated on technological advancements while upholding ethical and professional standards in journalism.

The Learning Circle forms part of the editorial and mentoring support provided to journalists and media outlets as part of the project. The project provides financial support to media outlets and individual journalists to help them improve operational capacity, business sustainability and innovation potential, while aiming to better equip media professionals to produce more quality diverse, factchecked and gender-sensitive content that will reach and engage with wider audiences.

The Western Balkans Media for Change project is funded by the UK government and implemented by the British Council in partnership with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, Thomson Foundation and The International NGO Training and Research Centre, INTRAC. It supports the work of media outlets and individual journalists from the Western Balkan countries.

BIRN Kosovo Trains Members of the Referral Mechanism on Cybersecurity in Hani i Elezit

On March 21, BIRN Kosovo held a one-day training as part of the activity for organizing support days for members of the referral mechanism in the Municipality of Hani i Elezit.

The training session was specifically tailored to cybersecurity and the security of the internet so the members of the referral mechanism could gain a better understanding of the usage of the internet, its benefits, and its risks.

During the training session, the participants were given a detailed presentation that included the usage of the internet from the early stages of internet development until recent developments with the usage of artificial intelligence. The shared information will help the members to mitigate potential risks associated with internet browsing.

A total of 12 participants, three of them women, gathered for this training which started with an introduction to the basics of the Internet. The training was held by Arian Hyseni, IT Manager and Coordinator of the Technical Staff. Hyseni presented his experience in cybersecurity, including advice on how to effectively use the internet and ensure the safety of internet users.

Throughout the training session, the participants exhibited a notable level of interest, particularly in the topic of two-step verification. The trainer delivered valuable lessons on the significance of implementing two-step verification, with a specific emphasis on securing social media profiles with this feature.

This training was held as part of the “Resilient Community Programme” founded by GCERF.

Call for Applications: BIRN Training for Journalists on Reporting about the Missing Persons in Kosovo

In a landscape marked by monoethnic narratives, the issue of missing persons in Kosovo stands out as a crucial topic that requires immediate attention and response.

As of today, the fate of 1,617 individuals of all ethnic backgrounds remains unknown, a haunting fact that fuels a perpetual sense of loss, fear, and uncertainty among affected families and communities.

This also often includes bias or ethnic-centric reporting from the mainstream media. Therefore, the independent media must shed light on the profound impact this unresolved matter has, particularly on the families of the missing persons, and more broadly, on regional reconciliation.

To address these challenges and contribute to more credible and professional future generations of journalists in Kosovo, BIRN will organize a one-day training module with journalists on April 4, 2024 in Prishtina, Kosovo as part of the project “Uncovering the Truth: Combatting Monoethnic Journalism and Advocating for the Missing Persons in Kosovo” supported by the EU.

These trained professionals will develop a sensitivity to understanding the issues surrounding missing persons from multiple perspectives (such as humanitarian, forensic, right to truth, etc.,) and will spearhead the creation of compelling content based on factual reporting.

The one-day training module will bring together 20 young and mid-career journalists from different communities, who will have the opportunity to acquire knowledge and hands-on skills on the matter.

More specifically, the training focuses on the critical issue of reporting on missing persons, encompassing aspects from individual cases to court proceedings, social, political and legal contexts, forensics and medical expert analysis and the challenges faced by affected families. The technical expertise of journalists lies in their ability to research, document, and communicate stories effectively.

The training module will be delivered by BIRN’s regional and local team of award-winning journalists and editors, who have extensive experience in investigating, reporting on, and advocating for such issues.

Who can apply?

Young and mid-career journalists across different regions in Kosovo, who are interested in learning more about reporting on the topic of the missing persons, are eligible to apply for this call. Applicants from marginalized communities in Kosovo, including members of minority ethnic communities and women, that fulfill the above-mentioned criteria are encouraged to apply for this call.

To apply for the one-day training on fact-checking reporting click here.

Language: Simultaneous translation in Albanian, Serbian, and English will be provided.

Location: The training will take place in Prishtina, Kosovo. Details regarding the specific location and agenda will only be provided to selected participants.

Deadline for application: April 1, 2024

Date of the training course: April 4, 2024