Cash for shelter programme speeds up in Kosovo

Switzerland’s “cash for shelter” aid programme, which is designed to give shelter to people left homeless in the recent Balkan war, is getting off the ground in Kosovo and will be stepped up in the coming months.

Switzerland’s “cash for shelter” aid programme, which is designed to give shelter to people left homeless in the recent Balkan war, is getting off the ground in Kosovo and will be stepped up in the coming months.

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation said Thursday that 50,000 ethnic Albanians who had fled the armed conflict to Albania and Macedonia had already profited from the aid in the past three months.

Since many of the Kosovar refugees had now returned to their home region, the cash for shelter programme was now being stepped up, the agency said.

Armin Ullmann, the head of the shelter programme, said the first payments in Kosovo were made ten days ago in order to help speed up the intake of refugees who would otherwise be left without a roof over their heads before the cold winter weather sets in.

Much of the money will go toward repairing the houses of those families willing to put up returning refugees, Ullmann said, adding that maximum handouts totalled SFr8,000 ($5,333).

The agency says it wants to put up 2,800 Kosovars in the near term but hopes that many more can be helped by focussing support efforts on Kosovo now.

Aid officials say the cash for shelter programme, which is expected to run in Kosovo until next April, may also be extended to Serbia. There, it might mostly benefit the Roma, many of whom have lost their homes in the conflict.

Apart from the cash for shelter programme, Switzerland is also providing reconstruction and home repair kits for Kosovar refugees returning from Switzerland to Kosovo, as well as agricultural support – for instance cows, tractors and plant seeds.

The cash for shelter programme draws on a fund of about $12 million. Ten million were provided by the Swiss government and Liechtenstein joined the project with a financial contribution of two million.

From staff and wire reports.