Dielli | The Sun

Albanian American Newspaper Devoted to the Intellectual and Cultural Advancement of the Albanians in America | Since 1909

SECOND GROUP OF PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS BEGIN SERVICE IN KOSOVO

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Thirty Six Volunteers Take Oath at a Ceremony in Pristina/
August 22, 2015/
PRISTINA, Kosovo – On August 22, the second group of U.S. Peace Corps Volunteers in Kosovo completed its pre-service training in the communities of Kamenica, Koretin, Topanic and Hodanoc, as they now begin their two-year Volunteer service.
Peace Corps has set up its program in Kosovo since September 9, 2013 when the Country Agreement was signed between the Peace Corps and the Republic of Kosovo. Peace Corps looks forward to a long and fruitful relationship with the people and the government of Kosovo. In 2016 the third groups of 40 Volunteers are scheduled to arrive.
The Peace Corps traces its roots and mission to 1960, when then-Sen. John F. Kennedy challenged students at the University of Michigan to serve their country in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries. From that inspiration grew a federal government agency devoted to world peace and friendship.
To this day, the three original goals of the Peace Corps remain the same: 1) to help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women; 2) to help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the people served; and 3) to help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.
The new group of Volunteers was sworn in by U.S. Ambassador Greg Delawie in a ceremony attended by the President Atifete Jahjaga, Minister of Education, Science and Technology Arsim Bajrami, Minister of Labor and Social Welfare Arban Abrashi, former Kosovo Ambassador to the U.S. Akan Ismaili along with numerous distinguished guests, friends of Peace Corps, the host families, training staff and Peace Corps Kosovo staff.
With the swearing-in ceremony, the new Volunteers officially begin their two-year service assignments which will take place in thirty six communities throughout the Republic of Kosovo.
Peace Corps Kosovo Director Stephen Kutzy said, “The communities of Kamenica, Koretin, Topanic and Hodanoc, which hosted the Volunteers during training, have been wonderfully hospitable in welcoming the Volunteers into their homes and assisting them with learning local languages. It is an excellent example of the cooperation between our two countries for the benefit of everyone.”
As part of the pre-service training, Volunteers received intensive language training. The Volunteers also received information about the Kosovo educational system. Each Peace Corps Volunteer lived with a host family to gain better understanding of the community and culture in Kosovo, and to facilitate the development of their language skills.
The Volunteers will move to their assignments throughout Kosovo this week. All thirty six will work in English language education.
For more information about the Peace Corps program, please contact the office at
Mujo Ulqinaku str. No. 3, 10000 Pristina, telephone +381 (0) 38 712 770

Promoting Entrepreneurship and Innovations in Kosovo

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By: Valon Xoxa/
In honor of Global Entrepreneurship Week Kosovo Diaspora organized on 20 November 2014 the first video conferencing via Google Hangout connecting Kosovo’s government with the Albanian diaspora. Global Entrepreneurship Week is the largest celebration of the innovators and job creators. The forum brought together leading representatives from Kosovo and abroad who promoted a culture of entrepreneurship and encouraged economic development.
The Google Hangout forum was the first all-virtual interview connecting people from all over the world, with live A&Q session. The topic was “Diaspora Virtual Initiatives: From A Concept To Success. Ideas, Challenges, Possibilities”. The participants included: LorikPustina (Prishtina), Head of Public Affairs at the Kosovo Ministry of Diaspora; ErmiraBabamusta, Ph.D. (London/New York), international relations expert; FlamurMavraj(Oslo), creative designer/web developer; Alban Nevzati (Zurich), Managing Partner of ODA Lab; KosovareKrasniqi, Project Manager at Balkanspring; Mark Kosmo Ph.D., Director of the MAASBEA (Massachusets Albanian American Society) and Behar Xharra (Dhaka), founder of Kosovodiaspora.org.
The Google Hangout forum was organized by Liza Gashi, QëndresaKrasniqi, Albion Curri and Behar Xharra. QëndresaKrasniqi served as the moderator of the live video-conference, and Albion Curri managed the technical aspects.
“This virtual forum was put together in an effort to organize and shed light to the ideas proposed by the Diaspora and ways in which they could be promoted. The message sent through this hangout by Kosovo Diaspora is that such meetings are an effective way of creating a communication culture between Kosovar businesses, Kosovo Government and the Diaspora,” stated QëndresaKrasniqi, manager of the Kosovodiaspora.org platform.
LorikPustinapresented the Ministry of Diaspora initiative “The Diaspora Registry” which seeks to collect demographic data pertaining to the number of people of Kosovar origin, the number of people who have emigrated from Kosovo and businesses owned by Kosovars. This project is intended to be completed by 2016 andit will continue to be active afterwards. Every individual, born or whose origin traces back to Kosovo can register through the official page http://rdks.info. Lorik Cana is one of the supporters of the Kosovo Registry Initiative.
For this project, the ministry of Diaspora has been cooperating closely with KosovoDiaspora.org and Economic Inclusion of Kosovar Diaspora in an attempt to gather large data. “The impact of our Diaspora will be tenfold once we realize their true numbers,” stated LorikPustina, Head of Public Affairs at the Ministry of Diaspora.
Alban Nevzatiintroduced the first Albanian interactive application “Hirushja”, an App that seeks to help Diaspora young children learn Albanian. This is the first ever-interactive application with Albanian fairytales where children (age 3-8) can learn the alphabet. The application is a project of Oda Lab and Lepuroshi Learning Center and it will be available on iOS and Android on 15 of February 2015. For more information visit www.Oda-Lab.com.
“Hirushja” is yet another educational tool for the Albanian children, especially for the Diaspora children who seek to learn the language. Hirushja will be one of the fairytales that will be launched under the educational center “Lepuroshi”, a collection of interactive activities for children. This is a fun way for them to learn, read stories and play,” said Alban Nevzati, Managing Partner at Oda Lab, Zurich, Switzerland.
KosovareKrasniqidiscussed female entrepreneurship, the ICK Business Development Centre in Kosovo and its cooperation with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the project initiative “Balkanspring” (Balkanspring.com). This initiative enables domestic products from Kosovo to reach global markets. Until now, this initiative has reached 50 domestic producers including minorities and an estimate of 2000 domestic products from Kosovo.”Beside the existing businesses, Balkanspring has managed to register an additional 19 new businesses that will contribute for Kosovo’s economy,” said Krenare Krasniqi, Project Manager at Balkan Spring in Norway.
Mark Kosmo of the Massachusetts Albanian American Society (www.maasbesa.org) talked about a proposal for promoting professional exchange between members of the Diaspora and their professional counterparts in Albania and Kosova. He is also in contact with Harvard University about their Albania Project and how to promote the role of the Albanian Diaspora in Albania’s economic development. The Harvard project is supported by the Open Society Foundation of Albania (Soros).For more information visit http://projects.iq.harvard.edu/albaniagrowthlab/overview.
ErmiraBabamusta spoke about the contribution given towards strengthening diplomatic ties between the United States, Albania, Kosovo and UK, by emphasizing a great historical friendship and cooperation with the Albanian Diaspora. Also, Babamusta mentioned her initiative, the petition to protect human rights of Albanians, and her collaboration with Albanian Roots, Kosovo Consulate in New York, VATRA, important meetings with US officials to lobby for Kosovo’s independence, and other success stories of community engagement.
“The Diaspora is always ready to engage in issues concerning the wellbeing of Albanians. I am very thankful to the US and UK for being such strong supporters and the voice of the Albanians in the international arena. I value the great friendships we have between our countries,” stated ErmiraBabamusta, co-founder of Democracy and Unity Foundation (www.DemocracyandUnity.org).
Flamur Mavraj concluded with suggestions on the aforementioned projects, from the technical and developing point of view. Mavraj proposed a closer collaboration between Open Data Kosovo and Kosovo Statistics Agency in utilizing statistical data. He also discussed the idea of outsourcing, a business strategy through which many companies could overcome difficulties and lack of staff in Kosovo.
This event highlighted the importance of leadership programs, innovative ideas, female entrepreneurship, small business, job-creation and other causes that shape the entrepreneurship spirit to build a better future for Kosovo.