As long as he can remember, he was compassionate towards vulnerable persons, especially children. As soon as he graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy - Department of Social Work at University of Prishtina, Tahir started working as a volunteer, an experience that exposed him to how vulnerable children cope in their daily lives. Although rewarding, he struggled at times to handle the emotional stress from the work. But, with persistence and a true vision of wanting to make a difference, he persisted and kept working with and support vulnerable children, and that – in turn - made him understand the transformational power of being listened to, loved and valued. And so for Tahir, communication was key!   “This part of the community is in need for attention, and I needed to do my part!”. Right after graduation, given that his major was on a very specific field, he was skeptical about employment prospects. Yet, his ambition to find a job that would allow him to contribute to the society kept his hopes up. After a few attempts, he came across an advertisement published by UNDP and he decided to apply. The project ‘Response to COVID-19 Emergency and Early Recovery Support’ was looking for 40 UN volunteers to work in centers for social work across Kosovo. The aim of the project is to assist the most vulnerable by improving socio-economic support systems, including delivery of social services and enhancing access to equitable, qualitative, integrated social protection for the most vulnerable groups including women and girls. ’Today, thanks to this project I’m able to do what I loved doing since I was a kid’, says Tahir.  After a few months into the job, Tahir is thrilled and excited about the prospects of the change he, with his colleagues in the center, can make. This includes his involvement in 6 cases where he’s supported the reconciliation and rebuilding the trust within families, 8 cases with children that were left on the streets, 1 case with a child without parental care, 2 child adoption procedures, and lots of counseling sessions with families who have asked help on how to solve different family problems.   “Tahir is hardworking, energetic, passionate, and ambitious. He brought so much energy and professionalism with the work that he does with us, that I would easily compare him with other members of the staff that have professional experience” – notes Dervish Tahir, director of Center for Social Work in Gjakovë/Djakovica. As far as his career ambitions go, Tahir considers that he will continue in this line of work. In face, if you ask him, he would not change it for anything in the world, because he knows the impact his work has, and that this is what he wants to pursue. Even when asked about the difficult cases that he must face on daily basis, Tahir says: “Cases vary. I had cases of children abandoned by their families, children of whose caretakers were elderly grandparents who themselves are in need of support and therefore struggle to take care of children, and cases of street children that does not want to go home because of the domestic neglect and abuse - these cases have significantly increased during the pandemic. You hear so many different stories from these children, it sometimes affects you psychologically and creates problems on carrying with my daily activities. But, the good thing is that now, I have learned to better manage my work and private life and mental health, so I can go to the gym, hang out with my friends, attend courses - to live life, really. After working with children for a while, I see progress - they are happier, they grow, they are full of love! This gives me so much joy! I continue to keep contact with them, so they understand that people care about them, that I CARE, and I WORK HARD to support them live better lives”. Tahir shares one particular difficult case. This involved an 8 year-old boy from the roman community. When we first got in touch with him, he was clearly neglected, malnourished, hungry, barefoot, and very aggressive as a result of the violence he had experienced in his family. His parents got divorced, the mother did not want him since she got remarried, his father was unemployed and living in very poor conditions, and they had a really hard time convincing him to agree on living with a foster family. “This was the case that made me understand that communication, affection, empathy is what these children need. This was the case that moved me to the core and it also made me realize that this boy is not the only one, there are a lot of vulnerable children out there and needed the most basic care, food, clothes, a roof on their heads and on top they need to be loved and taken care of”. Tahir shared how the wellbeing, attitude and mental health of the boy has drastically changed. “Even today, I still go and check on him to see how he is doing. I had an extraordinary experience with him, and through this experience I followed up the progress and understood how important my work and the work of our center is” - said Tahir. The engagement of the 40 UN Volunteers work in all Centers for Social Work (CSWs) across Kosovo continues to provide an immediate capacity boost of human capacities and innovative energy for the Centers, while, at the same time, provide professional experience for young social workers. This activity is part of the Response to CODID-19 Emergency and Early Recovery Support Project, which is funded by the European Union and implemented by UNDP in Kosovo. 

Gjakova, 6 July 2021 – We are at the beautiful Qabrat in the city of Gjakova. Meriton Binakaj and his mother Ajnishahja, are waiting for us at the usual spot, a café overlooking the city of Gjakova, which has access for people using wheelchairs.    Meriton seems excited - he is waiting for important news. “Today I get my results! -  Meriton says, while informing us that he is waiting for the results of the achievement test for graduates of high schools in Kosovo. This test will determine which students can apply for university studies. For the 26-year old Meriton Binakaj this means a lot. Particularly since in 2011 Meriton had dropped out of high-school – the reason being an accident that has rendered him immobile ever since.  Sadness, phases of depression and isolation had accompanied him during that time, until 2019 when Meriton for the first time became part of the UPSHIFT program that was designed and implemented by UNICEF Kosovo. “UPSHIFT was the first time when I met, if I may say so, with UNICEF, and from that moment everything changed for me”, said Meriton. “It was a dark period in my life, until I started going out and participating in UNICEF activities, where I met with Murat [Head of UNICEF Office in Kosovo], and the entire team of Innovation Lab, who encouraged me to think more about myself, particularly about my education” – he continues. In 2019, Meriton was part of the team of young people in Gjakova, that participated at the UPSHIFT workshop and designed the project “Per ty” (meaning from Albanian “For you”). Meriton and his friends created small handmade gifts and sold them in order to collect funds for Handikos in Gjakova, with the aim to support services for children living with disabilities. The purpose of the UPSHIFT program – empowering young people to fulfil their potential. In 2020 Meriton has joined UNICEF Kosovo as a UN volunteer in projects for empowering young people. His engagement is mainly related to mentoring youngsters, supporting UNICEF staff in the field of communication, and implementing activities. He describes this opportunity as an extraordinary, and at the same time surreal one. “It’s surreal for me because thinking back two years ago I was learning on my own, and a few years before I was isolated. Sometimes it feels like a dream, because after the accident I never thought that I will be able to engage in activities and work. It was a very difficult period, but UNICEF and people working there – now my colleagues – have helped me a lot. I have learned a lot and I said to myself “Ok, Meriton, there is a solution for you”, he says smilingly. Meriton is also engaged in order to reach out to young people in Gjakova for their participation at U – Report, an online platform which was created by UNICEF in order to collect the young people’s opinion on different issues related to their environment, living conditions and rights. “I am going from one school to another in order to explain to young people how important it is to share their views and show them how they can be a U-reporter”, Meriton explains. Which for him is very important, especially when it comes to the point of view of children with disabilities. Meriton was injured on a summer's day in July 2011. He jumped into the water of the Erenik River to swim with his family and hit his head diving into the water which left him paralyzed. Ever since, he has been faced with many challenges, and most of them are mainly related to the lack of access to public spaces, including schools. According to the Situation of Women and Children report, published in 2019, most children with disabilities and their families face difficulties to finance treatment, physiotherapy, access to education, school assistance, medical services, etc., Meanwhile many public institutions and places, including streets, bathrooms and toilets, schools, restaurants are not accessible. With certain small moves in this direction for accessibility. "I want to be part of the change, because I have seen for myself that if I did not have the support of the people around me, the people at UNCEF, I would have remained in the dark where I was after the accident, and if I was able to come out of it, so can everyone. But we must work together, and we have to work hard", says Meriton while being silent for a moment. In 2019, Meriton was invited at the Activate Talks event, an event that gathers more than 600 people including young people, stakeholders, donors, etc., to share his story. He inspired the audience, by sharing for the first time publicly the story of his accident and how he came back to reality and decided to go back to school. "Do you see me in a wheelchair, I have not always been like that. I used to walk just like you. I used to play ball just like you. But one day, an accident, changed my whole life. So when you think of people with disabilities do not think of someone as a stranger, because you can be in that position one day, so the least we can do together is certainly make sure there’s basic access, for example in bathrooms, on the street and at school." - he then said, touching the hearts and captivating the attention of the audience. Going back to school, after a certain period of time and age has not been easy for him at all. But he made it. We are on the way back to Prishtina, Meriton calls us on the phone. 'I passed the test! ", he informs us. Meriton has decided to study social work and is now getting ready for his new journey, as a United Nations volunteer and now a young student in Kosovo. "I want to do it for other children, like UNICEF did it for me," he says while smiling. The UPSHIFT programme was initially developed and launched in Kosovo and has as of now expanded to a total of 34 counties where UNICEF works.

Meet the Kadrija family from the village Tërstenik/Trstenik, Peja/Peć municipality, maintaining their lives in poor conditions, still happy despite countless challenges they do face every day, and much of headwind to establish a legal identity for Ana so that she could complete the civil registration for their lovely daughters. Life was quite merciless on Ana already at her childhood times. In the aftermath of the 1999 conflict in Kosovo, she was found wandering on the streets desperately looking for protection, without personal documentation, alone and frightened. Since the early childhood, Ana had to deal with illness, lack of parental care and spending a part of her childhood in the dismal atmosphere of special institute for abandoned children focusing on those who show signs of mental health disorders. At the age of 34, Ana came to Kosovo joining the flaw of refugees from Croatia, where she found shelter. Yet again, destiny played hard on her, she falls in-between of the cracks of the system back then, without any protection. Only when her current common law husband provided her with a shelter and family warmth, her good life clock started ticking. Sadly, Ana has no memory of her past and does not have any information about her real name, nor of that of her parents. In 2000 and 2003 she progressed in establishing her own family when she gave birth to two daughters, however, not able to register them at birth as Ana did not possess any civil registration documents. Despite numerous interventions to grant Ana and her daughters with personal documentation, it was “a mission impossible” to legalize their civil registration status. Even the local and appeal courts have refused to provide solution through a late birth registration procedure to her children due to lack of Ana’s identity. Lacking any identity document, Ana could not undertake any medical check and eventually obtain the appropriate treatment. Ana’s fate also affected one of her daughters, which by mischance has inherited Ana’s mental health condition and remains untreated due to the lack of birth registration. When our UNHCR team visited Kadrija family, Bajram, her spouse, expressed his gratitude to UNHCR for the continuous support and help the organization has provided to the family. Bajram went on and remarked: “Now that Ana has an ID card it will make our lives easier, first she will have access to health services, then we will be able to register our daughters” The family lives with a minimal income, mainly ensured by Bajram, the head of the family, who collects used raw material and sell it to the recycling companies. In the past, without documents, Ana and her family could not apply for social assistance and obtain more inclusive health care. But this will change soon: “One thing that will make us very happy after the registration of our children is that our eldest daughter Lauresa, who is recently married, will have the opportunity to formalize her marriage and become a mother, so Ana and I will have the opportunity to become grandparents.” Said Bajram. With the well-judged legal interventions and advocacy of the UNHCR, Office of the Chief of Mission in Pristina and its legal partner, the Civil Rights Program Kosovo, in January 2021, a request for recognition of stateless status was filed. Finally, at the age of 50, in June 2021, Ana received a positive decision and has now a legal identity card of a person with stateless status with a prospect in five years to regularize her legal status further. The granting of the legal status will also conclude the late birth registration of her children and nieces and nephews in the future. The possession of a personal civil status document will enable, both, Ana and Laureta, to access free health care services, as well as all other services available to documented persons. Ana has regained her smile and looks ahead to a better Future!

Can you picture 23 million fully loaded 40-tonne trucks - enough to circle the Earth seven times? That’s how much food meant for human consumption is getting wasted. As the global demand for food is expected to increase significantly, this will continue to create an enormous strain on the environment. Estimates in the UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2021 suggest that 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions are associated with unconsumed food. There is no doubt why UN’s 2021 climate report highlights food waste reduction as one of the key climate measures. Food waste happens at the retail, food service and consumption levels. But the scope of the problem is not as hopeless as it sounds. Rather, we need to tap deeper into it; especially in a post-pandemic Kosovo where the food-service industry is arguably the hardest hit in terms of revenue reduction. Based on 2020 reports by the Gastronomy Association in Kosovo, COVID19 restrictions led to 89% of gastronomy businesses suffering huge losses, 13% of which is on the edge of bankruptcy. Such results signalize an urgent need for harmonizing the economic sustainability of gastronomy businesses with climate change mitigation efforts that help in significantly reducing further financial losses. Exploring possible solutions towards circular economy, UNDP Kosovo tied bonds with the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO), Kosovo’s Gastronomy Association and Innovation Centre Kosovo (ICK). Having multiple field-specific perspectives on the table, encouraged us to explore opportunities for opening up a dialogue on one of the biggest challenges in gastronomy: food waste reduction. A brief desk research on the problem of food waste in Kosovo conducted by NIBIO has shown that 2 to 20% of food served is left on the plates depending on the restaurant’s style of service. But it was impossible to make sense of the amplitude of wasting uncontrolled and large amounts of food, since a piece of puzzle was missing: DATA. The lack of data regarding food loss and waste inspired the piloting of the first-ever Food Waste Challenge in Kosovo. The Challenge mobilized 18 gastronomy businesses to join a 3-week journey of food waste management, with seven of them completing it successfully. Apart from collecting first-hand data, some restaurants and cafes started identifying previously unnoticed patterns in their food management and even started designing new solutions to reduce their food waste and thus, financial losses. “We didn’t think about the financial aspect of food waste until the Challenge was introduced. Tracking our waste made us look deeper and try to pinpoint where exactly is that food getting wasted in the chain of production.” – said Edi Zhugolli, Chef at Bagolina Eatery.   No surprise that ANISE Restaurant found out that coffee grounds make up their largest amount of food waste and has started building connections to sell their coffee grounds to mushroom cultivators. We all love a cup of coffee, but according to the founder of the first for-purpose urban farming company in Kosovo, Landër Kurti, 99% of every coffee ground that comprises a cup goes to waste. A café bar in Prishtinë/Priština serves on average 300 to 400 coffee cups per day. If unmanaged, tons of coffee waste are sent to landfill or dumped into Kosovo’s rivers thus emitting a dangerous amount of methane over a year. “What is considered waste by the majority of society, is very valuable for us”, says Mr. Kurti, while pointing out that in fact, all that coffee waste is the perfect substrate for the cultivation of Oyster mushroom. The mission of his urban farm, AgroVictus, is to cut on our shared environmental footprint by upcycling and reusing waste as raw material. One effective way to do this is food composting and Hotel Gracanica, one of the Food Waste Challenge Champions, is already practicing this to grow its crops. To compost means to recycle organic waste into a nutritive material for the soil, but the Challenge made apparent that many other gastronomy businesses face obstacles implementing such solutions due to lack of proper space, or even human and financial capacities.  What is considered waste by the majority of society, is very valuable for us.  Landër Kurti, AgroVictus On the other hand, the data collected in the Food Waste Challenge showed that many businesses were able to successfully reduce their waste in 21 days. By the third week, Renaissance Restaurant reduced its amount of waste per guest to 92 grams less. Similarly, Bagolina Eatery demonstrated positive consistency by being able to reduce its waste per guest to 3 grams each week. The waiters at Bagolina encourage guests to package their leftovers and use those for later meals. Rightly stated by the Deputy Manager of Hotel Gracanica, Lidija Tokić: “When we talk about managing food waste, the communication between the waiter and the guest is an under-estimated, yet significant part of it”. The waiters should be trained and encouraged to support the decision-making processes of guests when ordering food, in order to avoid excessive amounts of food left on plates. However, when leftovers are unavoidable, some of the restaurants regularly feed stray dogs and cats in their surroundings, or in case of Lura Agrotourism, the touristic complex in Novobërdë/Novo Brdo, they feed Lura’s chickens. Furthermore, the Challenge directed Tartine Deli’s attention more towards shelf life, so they started planning and recording stock products in a newly-created database. Others were inspired to rethink the menu and portion sizes.    Kosovo's Food Waste Champions (Lura Agrotourism, Reneissance Restaurant, Hotel Gracanica, Tartine Deli) As Enisa Serhati, Portfolio Manager for Inclusive Growth and Climate Resilience at UNDP Kosovo, rightly states: Solving food waste issues is not only key for preserving the climate, but also, key for tackling hunger and social challenges. There is an entire community who can benefit from lower food prices, re-served food, food banks, and other countless offers – so we are happy to have kickstarted action on this already. Indeed, apart from increasing economic sustainability and environmental protection, there are ways to tackle social vulnerabilities through a leaner management of food waste by the businesses. Arian Vranica, General Secretary of Kosovo’s Gastronomy Association with a background in law, informs about legislative possibilities of symbiotic benefits from giving away unconsumed food: “If a gastronomy business buys food products and doesn’t manage to sell all of it, it can earn a discount of 10% on profits tax by donating food to partner NGOs that target vulnerable groups and social issues”. Based on the food recovery hierarchy, donating excess food is one of the prioritized actions to prevent and divert wasted food. This becomes especially prevalent in Kosovo’s context, where 21% of the population still lived with under US$5.5 per person per day in 2019, and this share is expected to have increased in 2020 by 4-5 percentage points. With the Food Waste Challenge, we hope to have brought attention and initiated discussion on the importance of food waste reduction in Kosovo. The overarching goal of maximizing economic and environmental benefits goes hand-in-hand with creating new business opportunities, increasing the knowledge and awareness of the people regarding food waste, as well as continuing data collection for scientific research, future planning and policy-making in Kosovo.  Food Waste Managers (Aida Rexhepi/ANISE Restaurant, Genc Buca/Lura Agrotourism, Lidija Tokic/Hotel Gracanica)