The Western Balkans Fund is being described as a key initiative to bring the region’s people closer together and support the integration of its countries into the European Union. This fund is an opportunity to finance projects that promote cooperation and development between the Western Balkan countries, contributing to regional stability and integration.
The program manager at the Western Balkans Fund, Dafina Beqiri, emphasized that this Fund was created to enable the financing of projects in partnership with organizations from various Balkan countries.
Beqiri said that this mechanism helps strengthen international cooperation and integration, contributing to the joint development of the region and raising standards related to European integration aspirations.
In an interview with KosovaPress, Beqiri said that so far the Fund has supported more than 100 projects over the last five years in the region, of which about 30 have been for Kosovo alone.
She added that the regional actors, which include authorities and organizations, are the ones who determine the needs and standards that must be achieved to enable integration into the European Union.
Beqiri also spoke about new projects that are under development, underlining the importance of continued support for the region’s development and advancement towards the EU.
“The Western Balkans Fund is like an initiative in itself, it was created to bring people closer together in the region where together we all aim for European integration. But the idea is that the fund as a fund, the name itself shows that it was created to finance various projects, which are usually financed in partnership with organizations from the region. For example, if a project that is financed in Kosovo, it must have two other partners in two other countries. So far, the Fund has financed over 100 projects over the last five years. We as a fund do not say that we have the expertise, we know what the region requires. We leave the region completely free to tell us what the need is….They tell us what standards need to be met (Actors like DhTIK, ESRA, Macedonia, experts). This makes the fund more special, because we do not take ownership of the project. We let the actors inform, first of all, the region, its government and society, the community, about what needs to be achieved to bring us as close as possible to the European Union”, he said Beqiri.
She said that the Fund offers opportunities for financing projects through several grant schemes, including support of up to 30 thousand euros for projects, having a strong partnership with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Western Balkans and the European Union.
Beqiri also mentioned that there are grant schemes for individual mobility, which can be supported up to five thousand euros by the Swiss Government.
“Every grant – scheme that we have, we do not give projects to one country more or less. If we have funds for five projects per country, we give five projects per country. That is, Kosovo’s projects compete with Kosovo, they do not compete with the region. And this makes the fund special, because it does not create a regional imbalance, but it gives those actors who really want regional cooperation the opportunity to be closer to the region. If approximately 100 projects, because the exact figure is higher, it should be proportional somewhere. If it is 120, Kosovo alone has had somewhere around 30 projects in the last five years… The fund has different grant schemes. One of the schemes with which the fund started, entered the grant market is the 15 thousand euro grant scheme, where in fact that grant scheme has been financed and continues to be financed by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Western Balkans. Then, the European Union has joined us, where we “The value of funding has increased and we have given grants of up to 30 thousand euros, and we also have the Swiss Government, which helps us with individual mobility projects of up to 5 thousand euros,” said Beqiri.
She emphasized that the Fund does not aim to impose projects, but rather to propose solutions, cooperating closely with partners in the region to achieve common goals. As she said, this cooperation has brought visible progress, such as the awareness of the Government of Kosovo of the standards that need to be met to get closer to the EU.
“We know that the project as a project does not find solutions, but proposes solutions. We know that not the entire region is equally ready to adopt those solutions, but by continuously cooperating with different actors, we have seen how in this case the Chamber of Commerce has managed to raise awareness of the Government of Kosovo for some standards that are not in line with the European Union, or are not in line with human rights. I. m. th. has managed to raise awareness not only of the community with which it cooperates, but also of the decision-making itself. Thus, by continuously cooperating with partners like DhTIK, with different partners from Kosovo, not only them, but they have also raised awareness of us. Where we also, through the Ministries of Foreign Affairs from which we were founded, have raised issues, a kind of partnership relationship. We never treat our beneficiaries as if we are donors and you have to implement the project. No, we learn together and walk together on this path and this “It allowed us to create a much closer relationship and create a kind of sustainability to see how much impact the project had going forward,” she said.
Beqiri praised the Fund’s strong cooperation with the governments of the region and aims to continue support for new projects, addressing urgent issues and needs that arise during the project implementation process, with a particular focus on improving conditions for the citizens of the Western Balkans.
Another objective of the Fund is to foster cooperation between members, strengthen regional relations and cohesion, and encourage and promote integration into the European Union.
The fund is also an example of the European Union’s commitment to helping the Western Balkans region meet the conditions for integration and realize its potential.
The countries participating in this fund are Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. /KSP
