When Foreign Aid Works
I remember my first trip to the Presevo Valley in March, 2001. We drove down from Belgrade (Serbia) to Bujanovac in the Valley. Just to the south of Bujanovac, we passed through the VJ (Yugoslavian armed forces) armed checkpoint and passed through a no-man's-land to the next checkpoint manned by ethnic Albanian separatists, past a bend in the road, to the town of Veliki Trnovac.
The ethnic Albanian insurgents, dressed in pressed black fatigues, were well-armed and obviously in control. They escorted us to a meeting place with the town leaders, who were clearly under their sway. Much of the meeting was taken up with the presentation of grievances against 'the Serbs.' The village leader took pains to show us his photo album of ethnic Albanian victims of murder and torture. It was little different than what I had seen in El Salvador and Southern Lebanon . This is going to take years, I thought.
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| James "Spike" Stephenson at the Embassy in Belgrade |
The Presevo Valley is a remote finger of Serbia located between Bulgaria to the east, Macedonia to the south, and Kosovo to the west. With a large ethnic Albanian population, it was particularly affected by the Kosovo crisis and the ethnic, political and economic instability of the 1990s, all of which contributed to igniting tensions in the area in 1999 and 2000.
At the end of the Kosovo campaign in 1999, a buffer area called the "Ground Safety Zone" (GSZ) was created within Serbia along the entire administrative boundary with Kosovo. This demilitarized zone was designed to separate the Yugoslav military and police forces from the NATO forces in Kosovo (KFOR). Unfortunately, an ethnic Albanian secessionist group known as the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac (UCPMB) exploited the eastern section of this safety zone, abutting the Presevo Valley , to use as a base for launching attacks on the police and other targets, thus igniting an armed conflict.
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| USAID's Deputy Administrator, Frederick Schieck and James Stephenson, Mission Director, USAID/SAM at ribbon-cutting for water supply project completed under the Community Initiatives Development Project funded by USAID |
The U.S. government, represented by U.S. Ambassador William Montgomery, worked closely with Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic to develop a comprehensive plan, bringing together the government of Serbia , the Yugoslav military and police forces, local leaders, NATO and international humanitarian and development agencies to deal with this outbreak of violence.
In support of the "Covic Plan," the U.S. government pledged up to $15 million in February 2001. Within days of approval of this aid package, projects were underway. The high-impact, quick-response programs spearheaded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) did much more than deliver immediate, tangible results to defuse conflict. They bestowed political credibility on the continuing diplomatic negotiations and paved the way for the longer-term dialogue, development and integration necessary for political stability to take root.
According to the directly elected ethnic Albanian Mayor of Presevo, Riza Halimi, "USAID projects created a parallel effort in support of peace, during the initial negotiations..These projects were highly visible, producing quick results, and sent a clear signal to the UCPMB, the Serbs and ethnic Albanians in the region, that the Serbian government and international community were committed to peace in Southern Serbia."
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| James Stephenson, Mission Director, USAID/SAM, D.A. Frederick Schieck and Mayor Arsic of Bujanovac at ribbon-cutting for water supply project completed under USAID's CIDP project |
Given the importance and success of these initial projects in the Presevo Valley , we expanded USAID activities with the Community Revitalization through Democratic Action (CRDA) program, a five-year, $200 million program working in over 347 communities throughout Serbia, including the Presevo Valley. CRDA is a citizen-driven program in which local communities organize themselves to prioritize, plan and implement projects. Today, we have assisted communities throughout Serbia to develop 2,180 projects that revitalize essential infrastructure, create jobs, address critical environmental problems, and promote civic participation. The CRDA program is engaging the citizens of these communities in a new development and decision-making process that has changed the dynamic of how they run their lives. By getting people to work together towards a common goal, the program is building a sense of trust and cooperation between different ethnic and religious groups. More notably, the program gives people hope and allows them to see that progress is being made, and that things are going to get better.
Today, almost two years after the Peace Agreement with the UCPMB was signed, the municipalities of the Presevo Valley continue to work toward political stability through elected representative and multi-ethnic local governments. Tensions in neighboring regions have renewed tensions in the Presevo Valley, but local leaders are now concentrating on working with republic-level officials and the international community on revamping their local economies - a challenge for all of Serbia.
When asked if this new trust and peace could last, Shaip Kamberi, Director of the Center for Human Rights, responded "little by little, the cause of the problems is disappearing, which gives us hope that we are truly building a multiethnic society."
The success in the Presevo Valley was a clear demonstration of focused and intense political, military and donor cooperation brought to bear to achieve a successful outcome that paved the way for longer-term political, social and economic revitalization. The hope expressed by the people with whom we work with on CRDA and successes such as the one achieved in the Presevo Valley and other Serbian communities is emblematic of what keeps me committed. With the financial support, and most importantly, the skills-transfer provided by U.S. citizens, these changes in attitudes and improvements in the quality of life might never have been realized. The changes in attitudes and behavior taking place signal a decisive break with the past and movement towards a democratic future. Since USAID started work in the Presevo Valley , I have often visited the village leader in Veliki Trnovac. Now, he points to the school and the clinic that we renovated together, and the 'torture album' has been put away.
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James Stephenson was sworn in February 8, 2001, as Mission Director for USAID Serbia and Montenegro Mission . The USAID Mission in Serbia and Montenegro includes discrete programs for the Republics of Serbia and Montenegro.
Mr. Stephenson previously served two tours as Mission Director for the USAID program in Lebanon . A member of the Senior Foreign Service, during his 23 years with USAID, he also served in a variety of positions in Egypt, Barbados, Grenada, El Salvador, the Philippines and Washington.
Before joining USAID, Mr. Stephenson practiced law, in Columbia, South Carolina . He holds a bachelor's honors degree in English literature and a Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina. A former army officer, he is a decorated veteran. Mr. Stephenson is married and has two sons.
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