• City, country: Istok. Kosovo
• Beneficiaries: 2,075 directly
• Total cost: 183,782 euro
• Sport Network Funding: Madrid City Council 145,759 euro
• Duration: 10 months
BRIEF SUMMARY: The aim of this project was to foster the inter-ethnic co-existence among the population of Istok though the development of an educational program that included sports and raising awareness activities in four learning centers with a multi-ethnic population. With the exception of the school of Osojane, that hosted boys and girls of Serbian origin only) the other three centers in Dobrusa, Durakovac and Banja welcomed students of different origins: Alban Kosovo, Bosnian, Gypsies and Romani. Sport Network fitted all of them with sports facilities. In total, we built the following: eight of basketball courts, seven soccer fields and five of volleyball courts, all of them with bleachers that contributed to create a festive environment during the sporting events. The staff of Sport Network organized many workshops for the peaceful co-existence among the youth in the centers. The expatriate staff and volunteers from Sport Network played a crucial role in all stages of the project.
We relied on the support of the KFOR Spanish contingent from the NATO peacekeeping force. On September 21, 2008, we held a 13-km, 5km and 1km race for children and youth. Despite some initial drawbacks, all ethnic groups took part in this event, which ended successfully.
STATE: Completed in 2008.