UMCOR Bosnia and Herzegovina

UMCOR completed four major relief and reconstruction programs in 2003:

UMCOR uses two methods of reconstruction, 'self-help' and the use of external contractors for beneficiaries not physically able to reconstruct their houses themselves, otherwise known as 'Extremely Vulnerable Cases'. With the 'self-help' method, beneficiaries receive building materials and partial payments for skilled labor. They organize the reconstruction of their housing units themselves with technical advice and supervision from UMCOR staff. The technique has proven highly successful as it involves beneficiary participation, self-reliance and personal accountability, which increase beneficiary 'ownership' of the return process. Beneficiaries are more likely to remain in their pre-war communities on a long-term basis if they feel a sense of 'ownership' of the project, developed through their efforts to rebuild their own homes.

As such relief programs target particularly vulnerable returnees in rural areas with little or no infrastructure, it is often necessary to provide road reconstruction to allow access to building sites. Many houses have no electricity or running water; where appropriate, UMCOR facilitated the connection of housing units to the water and electricity supplies.

In 2002, it became clear that support was needed for the growing movement of minority Bosniak households wishing to return to the Srebrenica, Bratunac and Milici Municipalities, as well as Bosnian Serbs wishing to vacate the property they had been occupying and return to pre-war residences within the Municipality. UMCOR's Dutch Government-funded relief program enabled 82 housing units to be rebuilt, all of which were subsequently occupied. In these Municipalities, there were disproportionately high numbers of female-headed households with no with no adult male family members to carry out building work. For this reason, external contractors were commonly employed. The program's success in an area with such a tragic history is extremely encouraging. Yet more people will be encouraged to return as a result of this and similar projects and further assistance will be necessary in 2004.

The 2002-3 Dutch Government/UMCOR Program in four Mostar Municipalities, Stolac, Capljina and Berkovici Municipalities provided much needed assistance in a region where returnee numbers remain high and the return dynamic is particularly complex. Bosniaks and Bosnian Serbs returning to the town of Stolac were assisted as this community continues to work towards reconciliation. The program also included the reconstruction of an apartment building on Mostar's Boulevard.

The 2002-3 BPRM/UMCOR program, implemented through five of UMCOR's field offices, focused on several areas in which returns are complicated. UMCOR sought to return minority Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats to urban areas of Banja Luka, while assisting those Bosnian Serbs who were willing to vacate property in these areas and return home to areas in the north-west of the Federation of BiH, for example Kupres, Glamoc and Bosanski Petrovac. Assistance in the Mostar region also focused on urban return. Here, UMCOR completed the reconstruction of a second apartment building on the former front-line Boulevard in partnership with the City of Mostar. The newly-opened Visegrad field office worked to assist both Bosniaks returning to the Municipality and Bosnian Serbs vacating property and returning to urban areas of Sarajevo. UMCOR also provided assistance to a community of Bosnian Croats returning to the Kraljeva Sutjeska area of Kakanj Municipality.

UMCOR continues to see a need for reconstruction programs for returnees in BiH and will be working in 2004 to design and implement new programs with greater involvement by the governments of BiH and Municipal Return Commission, which will take over following the close of the OHR and UNHCR-chaired Return and Reconstruction Taskforce (RRTF).

Updated May 2004