Category: News Organizations: New Social Initiative Tags:
Dear trustbuilders, It is my great honor to announce the official launch of the Kosovo Trustbuilding Platform—a virtual space dedicated to building trust in Kosovo, developed by New Social Initiative, with the invaluable support of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo. As many of you know, we had planned to celebrate together in-person the launch of the platform, which represents the culmination of more than a year of collaboration with hundreds of committed partners, contributors and champions. Like many of you, evolving public health concerns forced us to quickly adapt to new realities and change our plans. Yet, precisely because of the challenges posed by the current COVID-19 pandemic, trustbuilding and the Kosovo Trustbuilding Platform have taken on new importance. Trust in one another has never been more critical to our collective well-being. This is why today we are virtually launching the Kosovo Trustbuilding Platform. Physical distancing does not need to mean isolation. The Kosovo Trusbuilding Platform can help digitally ease the burden by bringing you positive stories of people working together across communities, inspiration from champions forging trust in new and innovative ways, and the ability to connect and exercise solidarity with others at a time when our normal daily routines and social ties have been disrupted. The Kosovo Trustbuilding Platform gathers information on initiatives, achievements, opportunities and champions with an aim to foster trustbuilding in Kosovo, promote positive stories and track the implementation of the recommendations developed during the United Nations Kosovo Trustbuilding Forum held in Ljubljana, Slovenia in May 2018. Managed by New Social Initiative, this now-active platform is a continuation of the Forum’s discussions on actions needed to build a more peaceful and inclusive society and seeks to promote grassroots and civil society initiatives and efforts by international organizations, as well as institutional policies and actions to advance trustbuilding in Kosovo. Available in Albanian, Serbian and English languages, the Kosovo Trustbuilding Platform has been tracking the implementation of 135 recommendations developed by the Trustbuilding Forum participants and, along with it, 300+ initiatives and 240+ actors. Either manually or through a search function you can easily search trustbuilding initiatives by actor, theme, location, status or by the SDG they are contributing to. All of these data are also visualized and easily navigable in our interactive infographics. Our Resources page features useful information on open calls on funding and employment, as well as the relevant reports. Our Calendar features Kosovo-wide upcoming events, and the Your Stories section features news, video and blog content. Furthermore, next to an easy-to-use initiative search tool and other features, this platform presents trustbuilding champions who have been recognized for their efforts in building trust in Kosovo. More than 100 inspiring individuals from diverse backgrounds, divergent in age, ethnicity, gender, and the sector they work in, are part of the Voices of the Champions campaign that can be followed on the @trustbuildingks social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter). Additionally, some of the prominent figures, including Adrijana Hodžić, Njomza Emini, Anđelka Ćup, Shpresa Agushi, Jeta Xharra, Tatjana Lazarević, Leonora Shabanaj Niksic, Ambassador Jean-Hubert Lebet, and Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of UNMIK, Zahir Tanin, have contributed to the trustbuilding campaign with their opinion pieces. The idea of this trustbuilding platform was indeed developed at the Trustbuilding Forum in Ljubljana and brought to life by the diligent work of NSI, UNMIK, Fundacion Ciudadania Inteligente and Mint22, but the idea is that this platform continues to grow with your invaluable inputs. Therefore, I invite you to not only use this platform, but to help us further enrich its content. On the home page there is a ‘How can I contribute’ section where you can share with us project information, open calls, events, reports, trustbuilding stories and nominate champions you think deserve recognition for their work. I sincerely hope you will find the Kosovo Trustbuilding Platform useful in your worthy work, and in moments when you need inspiration to move forward. In these difficult times for our society, and our world, we need trustbuilding more than ever. Sincerely, Jovana Radosavljevic Executive Director New Social Initiative
