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How Serbia’s Youth is Making a Difference

Youth in Serbia
Serbia is a European country that was formerly a part of Yugoslavia. Located in the West-Central Balkans, it is surrounded by Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Croatia. The majority of the population is of South Slavic origin and they speak Serbo-Croatian, which is nearly the same language that the Croats, Bosniaks, and Montenegrins speak.

Over time, a majority of Serbia’s population migrated to the capital city Belgrade from more rural areas. As recently as 2018 however, 43.9% of the people in Serbia still lived in the countryside. In 1945, when the country was still part of the former Yugoslavia, Serbians were under a socialist economic system. Although some free-market characteristics were later adopted in 1948, there was still a large emphasis on socialist self-management.

Youth Unemployment

Today, the youth in Serbia have been consistently making efforts to promote and provide a platform for entrepreneurship among young citizens. Near Belgrade—which has been a center for innovation and entrepreneurship over recent years—is the Impact Hub Belgrade.

One problem affecting the economy in Serbia is related to job availability among young citizens. The unemployment rate among youth is 40%, so providing employment opportunities to these citizens would impact a large portion of the population that is struggling to enter the job market or start businesses.

As a result of poor job opportunities, large numbers of young Serbians leave Serbia in search of work elsewhere. If the youth had more accessible jobs and economic opportunities, it may be more compelling for them to stay and stimulate their own economy, as opposed to the economies of other countries.

Impact Hub

Impact Hub focuses on supporting young entrepreneurs by strengthening their networks with investors in order to attract their investments. This provides an economic foundation for businesses to operate and produce goods and services.

One of the programs initiated by Impact Hub was called the Launch Pad, which provided these young entrepreneurs not only with tools needed to create new products, but with training to broaden their business skills. In addition, the program helped the youth in Serbia develop business models and connect with investors at home and abroad. This program received grants from USAID to help with funding.

Even though the program has ended, it raised a total of $230,000 from the domestic public sector, as well as from the private sector both at the national and international levels. Investments continued, including a $100,000 fund from the Innovation Impact Grant Program in Dubai.

Continued Efforts and Progress

Serbia’s economic freedom score by 2020 has increased by 2.1 points, bumping it to 66.0, and it saw GDP growth as recently as 2018. Even though Serbia has faced numerous economic difficulties since its independence, there are efforts being taken by its citizens to drive and stimulate the economy. The youth in Serbia have especially taken notable actions and the country continues to be supported by the USAID and many other programs and countries domestically and internationally.

– Fahad Saad
Photo: Pixabay

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Improving Healthcare in Albania

Healthcare in Albania
Albania became highly secluded following Enver Hoxha’s communist reign from 1908-1985. Medical staff would often make house calls for patients that were severely ill because there was only one hospital per city. The paucity of the country’s healthcare offset the highly skilled and thoroughly trained professors at the Mother of Teresa School of Medicine. This school emerged in 1959 and was the first school of medicine in Tirana. The doctors had the skill, but they lacked the proper tools to go about daily operations. The lack of resources during this time had a damaging effect on healthcare in Albania.

The Concerns

While professors who were to teach at the Mother of Teresa School of Medicine received training in other European countries, Albania still gave little to no personal freedom regarding matters of end-of-life to its patients. Documentations have determined that the nutrition of Albania became scarce under Hoxha’s rule. In fact, infant mortality rates supposedly increased; they are currently at 10.83 per 1,000 births (9.49 for females per 1,000 and 12.08 for males per 1,000). While the population began to dwindle, the communist regime led a movement in which women received the promise of a cow in addition to the title of “heroic mother” if they had six or more children.

Birthing units would hold five to seven pregnant patients per room: no husbands or other family members could fit or enter. Albania currently meets compliance with global labor standards regarding maternity protection. Mothers in the country can enjoy the benefits of a full maternity leave duration, full amounts of maternity leave cash benefits and breastfeeding breaks with breastfeeding facilities. The country also established that the government was the source of the cash benefits and not individual employers.

Lack of Freedom

Not only could “heroic mothers” not have their husbands or other family members around as they gave birth, but Albanians are still unable to deny poor medical treatment from hospital doctors and medical staff. The coverage for healthcare in Albania for citizens during communism mimicked the Soviet-type Semashko model and was free of charge. The Albanian government owned and directed the healthcare plan.

Today a combination of healthcare contributions from the state, employees and employers pay for Albanian public healthcare spending. In fact, the employer and employee each contribute 3.4% with employees’ portion coming from their salaries. The state subsidizes and pays for the rest. The fact that Albanian healthcare does not address the withdrawal of treatment gives Albanians little power to make healthcare decisions.

The WHO

Despite Albanians’ lack of healthcare freedom, the country is doing much to raise the quality of healthcare in Albania. The World Health Organization (WHO) mentioned the 2013-2022 Albanian Plan for Mental Health Services Development. The WHO highlighted the plan to protect the rights of individuals with special needs and mental health problems. The 11th National Report on the Implementation of the European Social Charter for Albania stated that as a part of its 2013-2022 plan, it built nine community mental health centers and 13 supported homes.

The idea behind supported homes is to deinstitutionalize psychiatric wards with high populations and transition these patients back into society. The method before this was to simply hospitalize mentally ill citizens. Albania is also home to Different and Equal, an NGO that assists victims of human trafficking, domestic violence and sexual abuse.

Moving Forward

Albania is not only developing mental health centers or supported homes; the government has also promised to revolutionize and increase financial output towards the health sector. The government believes that the need for medical devices will increase. Increased spending will lead to new technology in hospitals. It also maintains the idea that increased spending on the health of its country will cause investments in public hospitals to rise. According to the Albanian Ministry of Health (MoH), public healthcare spending in 2018 reached 48.6 billion Leke ($450 million). Expectations determine that more recent spending statistics should be higher than reports state.

In 2018, the WHO reported that during visits, its team noticed that the healthcare buildings were old but that they had received good maintenance. Also, the MoH developed a general medical check-up for everyone between the ages of 40-65 in 2016. The idea behind this check-up was that it would give individuals the motivation to visit their family physician. Albanians enjoyed this innovative solution to healthcare advocacy for free.

The Albanian government has chosen a route of seclusion in the past. Communism allowed citizens to have free healthcare but at the cost of the freedom to choose the right health options for themselves. The citizens of Albania are now helping to fund their own healthcare. Nurturing mothers have become a larger focus, which will hopefully lower the infant mortality rate. Albania is also addressing mental illness and future government healthcare spending is set to increase.

– DeAndre’ Robinson
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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Pollution in the Western Balkans and the International Response

Pollution in the Western Balkans
Pollution in the Western Balkans is among the most pressing global crises today. The antiquated industrial technology and inadequate environmental legislation in Western Balkan countries (WBC) results in substandard soil, air and water quality. According to the UN Environment Programme, Bosnia and Herzegovina is now the second deadliest nation in the world in terms of air pollution. The U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo recorded the air quality index (AQI) of 383 in 2018 — nearly ten times the average and a level categorized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a threat to health. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that in 2018 two North Macedonian cities, Tetovo and Skopje, were identified by the European AQI as Europe’s most polluted cities. Kosovo’s capital, Pristina, topped the 2018 list of the world’s most polluted cities with an AQI of 415. Pristina is classified as having worse air quality than Beijing and New Delhi, and other towns throughout Kosovo are following suit.

The Cost of Coal

Pollution in the Western Balkans results from thermal power plants and open-cast lignite mines — lignite being the most toxic coal pollutant.

In Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina lies the country’s largest thermal power station. Burning lignite generates power, producing electricity. Tuzla’s plant, located across from a school, releases 51,000 tons of sulfur dioxide and other pollutants annually. This cheap electricity (run by a state-owned company) is seen by officials as an economic opportunity and is exported to neighboring countries, but residents know that the price is not worth the cost.

Each year Bosnia and Herzegovina loses the equivalent of 44,000 years of life from particulate matter (PM), nitrogen dioxide — like that produced in Tuzla — or ozone pollution. PM pollution in the Western Balkans causes respiratory and heart diseases, cancers, etc., and increases water acidity, soil depletion and crop damage.

Tuzla’s coal towers use filters that, when expired, are disposed of at designated sites. Winds blow the filters’ collected ash onto nearby homes. The power plant employs large amounts of water to pump waste ash and coal slag into huge landfill sites, resulting in swampy farmlands. Heavy metals from the waste discharge into nearby rivers, while anti-clogging chemicals added to pipes turn flooded areas a fluorescent blue color.

Tuzla, once Bosnia and Herzegovina’s largest producer of roses, is now a toxic swamp coated in ash. Reports state that pollution has reduced Tuzla’s population from 500 to approximately 30 residents.

Kosovo’s story is no better. A 2016 environmental study stated that impacts of Kosovo A and B lignite power plants total €352 million in health costs annually, with Kosovo A ranking as the biggest emitter of PM2.5 in the Western Balkan region. PM2.5 is small enough to enter the bloodstream and pulmonary alveoli.

In Bitola, North Macedonia, the area surrounding its thermal power plant and ash deposit are significant generators of PM10 and PM2.5. The European Environmental Agency’s air quality report states that North Macedonia has the highest annual mean value of PM2.5 in all of Europe — approximately three times more than the WHO’s recommendations. The World Bank estimates 1,350 North Macedonians die yearly from air pollution.

According to the WHO, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s air pollution costs the country more than one fifth its annual GDP yearly in lost work and school days, fuel costs, etc. In WBCs, school terms are shortened and many residents flee their homes, especially during winter when dense smog blankets cities and towns impairing visibility and worsening breathing. The World Bank reports that North Macedonia loses around 3.2 percent of its annual GDP to pollution.

Denials and Foreign Investments

The latest report on European air quality cites a steady improvement throughout Europe, except in WBCs where air quality steadily declines.

North Macedonian authorities claim the country’s extreme pollution results from the use of old vehicles and wood-burning stoves. Pristina’s officials claim heavy traffic as the main cause of its pollution and have imposed traffic restrictions. The North Macedonian government also claims chemical analyses and pollution studies are underway, but no reports have been published.

WBCs’ disregard for the UN’s and WHO’s warnings and EU regulations is reaching new heights via Chinese-backed investments in new coal-fired power plants throughout the region. These expansion plans, along with the refusal to admit responsibility and lack of emergency planning, are outraging citizens who have taken to the streets in protest.

International Response to Pollution in the Western Balkans

UN agencies are installing and refurbishing air quality monitoring stations equipped with real-time data throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. A WHO initiative is using software to provide data pertaining to air pollution types and their related health effects, hoping to drive government response policies. This transition will slash emissions by more than 90 percent, saving nearly €1 million in fuel costs annually.

The North Macedonian government launched an initiative to fight its air pollution and allocated €1.6 million for the program in its 2019 budget — aiming to reduce Skopje’s air pollution by 50 percent within two years through tax incentives for central heating and stricter industrial emissions controls. Activists say the government’s response and funding is inadequate and insufficient.

A joint effort by affected governments could combat pollution in the Western Balkans and aid in enacting stricter emissions control legislation of the Energy Community Treaty. There is hope on the horizon as Energy Community Contracting Parties, North Macedonia and Kosovo, have signed a 2019 Memorandum of Understanding on the Energy Sector. Their intention is to share developments, revive electricity interconnection lines and construct a gas interconnection between Skopje and Kosovo.

– Julianne Russo

Photo: Pixabay

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The Four Major Challenges Facing Refugees in Serbia

Challenges Facing Refugees in SerbiaIn 2016, 65.6 million people were forced to leave their homes, and these people are known as refugees. Refugees are usually forced to leave their countries for one of three reasons: victimization, violence or war. Refugees everywhere face immense hardships, and the challenges facing refugees in Serbia are widespread.

Serbia is mainly viewed as a stop along the way for refugees hoping to reach countries in central Europe. In 2015 and the first part of 2016, over 920,000 refugees traveled to Serbia. According to the European Commission, the shutting down of the Western Balkans migration route left 4,146 refugees stranded in Serbia.

Kimmie Whicher, a student at George Mason University, traveled to Serbia on scholarship from Boren. There, she worked with a small non-governmental organization (NGO) to provide food and clothes for hundreds of refugees in a camp in Belgrade, Serbia. In the nine months that Whicher was there, her NGO grew from feeding about 300 to upwards of 800 men.

Approximately 2.6 million refugees live in camps; many of these refugees are living in extremely harsh conditions. In Whicher’s experience, here are some of the challenges facing refugees in Serbia.

1. Poor Living Conditions

One of the challenges facing refugees in Serbia is poor living conditions. According to Caritas, eight out of 10 refugees in Serbia stay in government shelters, the rest must sleep outside in public parks. Among the hardships that come with living outside is the extremely cold weather. Whicher recalled the winter weather in Serbia: “The cold is absolutely ruthless. Our organization that cooked for these men would take hot kettles of boiling water and when we tried to clean up after cooking we would pour it on the table and it would freeze the second it would hit the table.”

Winter temperatures in Serbia are often below freezing. Many refugees are left no choice but to sleep in public parks where they risk getting frostbite, among other conditions due to prolonged exposure to the cold weather. According to The Independent, many children don’t even have gloves or shoes to keep them protected from the snow.

2. No Protection by the Government

A common hardship for many refugees is the lack of safety and protection provided by the government. According to Whicher, “It was a very miserable place. A harsh reality for many of these boys was that this is the border of Europe, so when you’re living here and you’re trying to get through, if you go to a camp you’re probably going to get deported or the police are going to break your phone or take your clothes.”

3. Hunger

Another one of the challenges facing refugees in Serbia is hunger. Refugees have to scrape by on whatever they can get to eat in a day. Small NGOs such as Whicher’s can provide some meals for the refugees, but the majority of those escaping their home countries are still underfed. According to Whicher, “One hot meal a day was our motto.” In this way, organizations can begin to help refugees by providing food and clothes, but they do not have the means necessary to help every refugee.

4. Worsening Physical and Mental Conditions

Due to these hardships, refugees struggle with new or worsening sickness. Due to the freezing temperatures in the winter, refugees in Serbia suffer from frostbite. According to The Independent, in order to escape the freezing temperatures, refugees light fires in their makeshift shelters, which further leads to respiratory problems from the smoke. However, physical sickness is not the only sickness refugees endure. Whicher recalled her experience: “You would literally watch them lose their minds… We saw this one man deteriorate to the point where if he were to go back to school, he would have to be in a special education classroom.”

Despite the harsh reality for many refugees in Serbia, organizations are making great strides to improve refugee conditions. Just by supplying food and clothes to these refugees, these organizations such as the one for which Whicher volunteered, are saving the lives of many.

– Olivia Booth
Photo: Flickr

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Poverty Rate in Bosnia and Herzegovina Affects Children Most

Poverty Rate in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Despite a slight drop in the national poverty rate over the last decade, Bosnia and Herzegovina continues to be a fragile and struggling European economy. According to the World Bank, the poverty rate in Bosnia and Herzegovina stood at 17.9 percent in 2011, a 0.3 percent decrease from 2007.

Annual GDP growth has fluctuated in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the global financial crisis of 2008. Additionally, at 28 percent in 2016, the country has one of the highest unemployment rates in Europe according to the CIA’s World Factbook.

Women and children are most vulnerable to an increasing poverty rate in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Families that are larger (with three children or more) are also more disenfranchised than smaller families. According to UNICEF, an estimated 170,000 children in Bosnia and Herzegovina are poor.

A 2015 study conducted by UNICEF found that the majority of children (75 percent) ages five to 15 are deprived of one or more basic life necessities, such as nutrition, educational resources and housing.

Children in rural areas are even more likely to be deprived. An urban/rural divide was evident in the UNICEF study as well. Children in the countryside are more likely to be deprived in more categories and have less access to medical facilities, adequate housing and primary schools.

According to the Brookings Institution, sustainable poverty reduction, especially for deprived children, will require increased labor market participation by women. According to the World Bank, 32 percent of women are employed in the top 60 percent of wealthy families in the country.

Increasing rates of preschool attendance and creating access to early childhood education, particularly in rural areas, is also vital to ending poverty cycles faced by children in the country.

In light of its recent data, UNICEF supported the Bosnian government’s efforts to “provide conditions for children to reach their full potential and address the causes of discrimination.” The “Country Program” took place between 2010 and 2014.

Significant efforts such as this one have been made in the attempt to reduce poverty in Bosnia and Herzegovina, specifically by supporting educational authorities and schools in the bid to guarantee access to a quality education and reduce the poverty rate in Bosnia and Herzegovina for children.

– Melanie Snyder

Photo: Flickr

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Modern Balkans: Hunger in Macedonia is Moving Out


Macedonia is a relatively small country north of Greece with a population of just over two million people. Since gaining its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, Macedonia has striven to improve its economic and democratic stability. As international aid and Macedonia’s own efforts to end food insecurity are at an all-time high, hunger in Macedonia has decreased drastically.

In accordance with the last set of Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations, only between 1.3 percent and 2.1 percent of children under the age of five are malnourished. A new set of goals strives to eradicate hunger completely by 2030.

Although this percentage seems small, Macedonia’s history and present state of political unrest have made it difficult to resolve issues of hunger entirely. According to a study completed this year, one-third of the country’s population remains in poverty. This rate is even higher for families with children, an issue explainable by the country’s unemployment rate, which is the highest in Europe. To tackle the looming issue of unemployment and its effect on hunger in Macedonia, the Ministry of Education and Science has worked to improve children’s access to and the quality of education.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has taken a firm stand behind this cause and worked during the past decade to institute programs that enrich student literacy and numerical competency, help disabled students and provide more opportunities for minority individuals. Furthermore, the Macedonian government is pushing its students to study abroad and also welcoming individuals from other countries to attend its universities.

Statistics at the end of 2016 indicate a strong response to this push for better education to eliminate unemployment and poverty in Macedonia. The country’s unemployment rate was reported to be 23.1 percent, compared to its high, in 2005, of 37.27 percent.

Programs put in place have already increased work readiness and lowered unemployment, which will cut off the cycle that has continued sustaining levels of hunger in Macedonia.

– Emily Trosclair

Photo: Flickr

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Instability and Poverty in the Balkans


Over the past 30 years, the Balkans have experienced levels of change and turmoil. The lack of stability in the region has resulted in high levels of poverty in the Balkans.

The Balkan Peninsula, or the Balkans, is a region in Eastern Europe with coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea, Adriatic Sea, Aegean Sea, and the Black Sea. The countries that make up the Balkans are Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania and Greece.

Not all of the countries in the peninsula are experiencing dramatic poverty problems. For instance, less than 10 percent of the population of Montenegro is in poverty. Overall, however, poverty in the Balkans expands to about one-fourth of the region’s population.

Albania has one of the lowest standards of living and the lowest per capita income in all of Europe. Twenty-five percent of its population lives on less than $2 per day.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, more than 15 percent of the population live in poverty. Croatia just broke through a recession that lasted until 2015. During the recession, the number of children in poverty rose by 50 percent. About one-fifth of Croatia’s population is considered poor.

Greece is in the middle of a longstanding economic crisis, on par with the Great Depression. During this time, jobs have dissipated and wages have decreased. Today, almost a quarter of Greece’s population is considered to be in conditions of severe deprivation.

Other regions experience their own financial difficulties. Kosovo was the poorest region of the former Yugoslavia, and declared its independence from Serbia in 2008. Years of political instability have left 30 percent of Kosovans in poverty. In addition, one-third of the population of Macedonia lives at or below the poverty line. The country faces high unemployment rates. In Serbia, one-fourth of the population is poor, and some of its southern regions lack basic infrastructures and public services.

Despite all of the economic issues in the Balkans, there are certainly signs of optimism, specifically the crime rate. Usually, high levels of poverty coincide with an increase in crime. However, this is not the case in the Balkans, which are regarded as some of the safest countries in all of Europe. Most of the countries are simply lacking the resources necessary to provide for their people. Assistance on an international level is imperative to lift these states out of poverty.

– Dustin Jayroe

Photo: Flickr