An EU-funded project offers virtual reality for museum visitors in BiH
The Battle on the Neretva River was one of the most epic Second World War battles in Yugoslavia. In late 1942, the German high command became concerned about the possibility of an Allied landing in the Balkans. As a result, Adolf Hitler ordered an offensive to crush the central command of the Partisan movement positioned in central Bosnia and Herzegovina. The turning point of the battle was the destruction by Partisan forces of a highly guarded bridge over the Neretva River to slow the advance of the German army.
The battle was immortalised in the 1960s through the production of the Battle of Neretva movie which starred Yul Brynner and Orson Welles among other Hollywood actors. The film’s poster was designed by Pablo Picasso free of charge. Following the publication and success of the film, the state authorities opened a Battle of Neretva museum near the site of the battle, in the town of Jablanica in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The museum has been functioning for half a century, but has had very few visitors in the past 20 years.
Thanks to the initiative of an NGO from Bosnia and Herzegovina, audiences can now relive the battle throughmodernised content and 3D virtual reality, adding a new reason to visit the museum in Jablanica.
“We realised that the museum in Jablanica is very attractive in terms of location and narrative, but did not offer much in terms of content and was not engaging for the visitor, and we decided to do something about this.”
Turning the museum into an attraction Association Link, an NGO from Bosnia and Herzegovina, had implemented a project on promoting natural tourism around Jablanica. However, as the region is also rich in cultural heritage, they decided to launch an initiative with this focus. “We realised that the museum in Jablanica is very attractive in terms of location, but did not offer much in terms of content and was not engaging for the visitor, and we decided to do something about this,” says Rasim Tulumović from Association Link. In consultation with colleagues from the National Museum of Montenegro, on the Montenegrin side of the border, they learned that the museum in Nikšić was in a similar situation, and they saw that this would be a great opportunity for a cross-border initiative promoting cultural heritage as part of a tourism package. For this they needed help, and support came from the EU-funded Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) programme for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.
The main issues that museums on both sides of the border were facing were the presentation of content and promotion. Rasim explains that the use of modern equipment and techniques was almost non-existent in these museums, and as a result the number of visitors was low and those who came spent very little time in the museums. “In addition, there was no place to have a coffee or buy a souvenir, and in a way these museums were not serving tourism development,” says Rasim.
With the support of the EU, the partner organisations introduced an innovative way of presenting history by introducing modern equipment in museums and additionally developing a virtual reality presentation and an animated game which provides historical facts in a fun way. For example, if you now decide to experience the virtual reality tour for the Neretva Battle in the Jablanica museum, you will have to put on 3D glasses and will find yourself in the headquarters of the Partisan command, surrounded by animated actors. The commander will give you the task of saving wounded soldiers which will take you through the battle, and on the way you will face a number of obstacles that need to be overcome. “We believe that this approach is attractive in particular for young people who are bored of learning history in a traditional way,” says Rasim.
The virtual presentations were just a part of the project. The partner organisations also equipped the museums with 3D glasses, LED screens, tablets, e-guides and other virtual presentation equipment. In addition, they contributed training and certification of the tour guides in contemporary interpretation methodology, supported small businesses to produce souvenirs, and helped the museums in drafting business plans.
“As a result of the EU support now both museums can become fully financially viable, and other museums in the region have been in touch with them to learn how to implement their approach.”
About the project
The Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA) assistance II CBC Programme Bosnia and Herzegovina – Montenegro 2014–2020 has its overall programme objective the sustainable development of the cross-border area between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro which is promoted through the implementation of joint activities that maximise the comparative advantages of the area. The total IPA funding for the Bosnia and Herzegovina – Montenegro Programme 2014-2020 is €8,400,000.
The EU-funded “Amusing Museums” project had an important economic impact on both museums. Jablanica Museum, for example, doubled their entry fee and despite being a pandemic year – when the number of foreign visitors was expected to be low – it also doubled the number of individual visitors. “As a result of the EU support, now both museums can become fully financially viable, and other museums in the region have been in touch with them to learn how to implement their approach,” says Rasim.
What is more important, the project also had an important impact on cross-border cooperation among the museums and cultural institutions of both countries. The project enabled joint tour operator visits on both sides of the border, where tour operators were inspired to bring their visitors to the museums, and also included close cooperation on project implementation between cultural and local authority institutions.
CEFTAWeek 2021 took place 13-16 December in Skopje, North Macedonia. The annual event serves as an opportunity to take stock of the results and achievements from the year-long chairmanship of CEFTA (the Central European Free Trade Agreement), held by North Macedonia during 2021.
Over the four days, Skopje hosted high officials from the CEFTA parties, business representatives, diplomats, and representatives from the EU and other international organisations. Speakers at the flagshipCEFTA Week 2021 Conference “15 years making trade happen” held on the final day included, Kreshnik Bekteshi, North Macedonia Minister of Economy, Olivér Várhelyi, EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Marko Cadez, President of the Managing Board of the Western Balkans 6 Chamber Investment Forum (WB6 CIF), Majlinda Bregu, Secretary-General of the Regional Cooperation Council, and Emir Djikić, Director of the CEFTA Secretariat.
The 2021 CEFTA Week got underway with official CEFTA meetings and workshops organised in cooperation with partners from the European Union Intellectual Property Office, USAID North Macedonia and WB6 CIF and with the support of the European Commission. A series of events also covered specific trade-related topics stemming from the Common Regional Market Action Plan, such as e-commerce, recognition of certificates, qualifications, and licences, and intellectual property rights.
UN Women Serbia and the Fenomena non-governmental organisation teamed up to organise a national campaign, named “#SOSagainstViolence,” aimed at decreasing violence against women during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, within the “Implementing Norms, Changing Minds” regional programme funded by the European Union and focused on ending violence against women. The campaign, which ran for a year from November 2020, included an extensive media campaign, a mentorship programme for journalists and a course for high school girls on gender-based violence.
The 12-month long media campaign resulted in more than 250 minutes of TV programming and 150 printed articles related to the prevention of violence against women and the need to report violence, as well as issues of toxic masculinity and gender roles, which have a direct impact on rolling back women’s rights during the health crisis and isolation. The campaign reached over two million people in Serbia.
The “Implementing Norms, Changing Minds” regional programme, funded by the EU and implemented by UN Women, aims at ending gender-based discrimination and violence against women, with a particular focus on the most disadvantaged groups of women in the Western Balkans and Turkey.
The European Union, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and the European Investment Bank (EIB) – the lending arm of the EU – are financing a new wastewater treatment plant in northern Kosovo to improve sanitation standards and reduce wastewater pollution in South Mitrovica, Vushtrri/ Vučitrn and the surrounding areas.
The EU will provide a €5 million grant through theWestern Balkans Investment Framework(WBIF), The European Investment Bank will co-finance the project with a €13.5 million loan and the EBRD will extend another €13.5 million loan to Regional Water Company Mitrovica, a state-owned water utility company, to finance the construction of the new treatment plant, as well as the repair and extension of the wastewater network in South Mitrovica and Vushtrri/ Vučitrn. The plant will benefit more than 123,000 people living in the company’s service area.
The new treatment plant will significantly reduce pollution from wastewater flowing into four of the region’s rivers and will provide residents with access to cleaner water. It will also benefit neighbouring municipalities in Serbia.
The water quality of Kosovan rivers has deteriorated in recent decades due to a lack of proper treatment for wastewater and solid waste. The EU, EIB and EBRD are helping Kosovo to address these challenges and invest in modern environmental infrastructure with well-structured finance through the Western Balkans Investment Framework. This will be the second wastewater treatment plant that the EU and the EBRD have supported in Kosovo.
The European Union has made a donation to the BiH Border Police as part of their ongoing support to day-to-day operations in the field. The donation included five specialised vehicle trailers for transport with mobile homes for service dogs, 70 binoculars, 25 thermal cameras, 30 handheld night vision devices, one SUV vehicle and a shallow draft service vessel worth over €430,000.
The European Union continues to support Bosnia and Herzegovina with systems to manage migration and borders in the context of the increased number of refugees and migrants present in the country since the end of 2017. The EU has helped to establish temporary reception centres in BiH, including the recently opened Lipa reception centre. Assistance there includes the provision of basic accommodation, food and water, sanitation, clothing and psychological counselling services, as well as access to education and health services for migrants residing in BiH.
The “EU Support to Migration and Border Management in Bosnia and Herzegovina” project is funded through an Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) special measure and is implemented by the International Organisation for Migration in partnership with the Danish Refugee Council, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Unicef, and the United Nations Population Fund.
The European Union and the Council of Europe have launched a “Block the hatred. Share the love” campaign in Montenegro. The campaign aims to combat forms of hate speech targeting specific communities and individuals in Montenegrin society. It also aims to inform and educate society, and especially young people, about the role that everyone has in the fight against hate speech.
The campaign will be rolled out online through dedicated social media channels and in the media, as well as through public events. These activities will involve prominent public figures, institutions and activists, promoting diversity and equality in Montenegro and in the region through personal storytelling, testimonies and exchange of good practices.
The No-Hate-Speech Ambassadors include tennis player Danka Kovinić; the high jump Olympic Champion Marija Vuković; Paralympic table tennis bronze medal winner Filip Radović; opera singer Tamara Radjenović; and actress Dubravka Drakić. They are joined by Young European Ambassadors Bojana Lalatović, Stefan Vukmanović, Emina Balota and Dado Dervanović who responded to the call of this campaign to engage actively with counter-narratives and behaviours.
The campaign is being implemented within the “Promotion of diversity and equality in Montenegro” initiative, which is a part of the joint European Union and Council of Europe “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022” programme.
The European Union has published a new interactive guide that maps all funding available at EU level for the cultural and creative sectors. The CulturEU funding guide covers opportunities linked to the European Commission’s flagship programme Creative Europe, as well as a wide spectrum of around 20 other EU funding programmes, from Digital Europe to LIFE and EU Structural Funds.
These programmes fund projects with a cultural and creative dimension but sometimes such opportunities are overlooked and are not immediately associated with the cultural and creative sectors.
On the release of the guide, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel said, “The mapping of EU funds by CulturEU is unprecedented. I hope that this guide will further contribute to making our funds more accessible to all cultural organisations and help them on their way to a sustainable recovery.”
The CulturEU funding guide includes inspiring examples of projects that have already benefited from EU funding between 2014 and 2020, and is also available to download. CulturEU will be regularly updated and will be available in all EU languages in the first quarter of 2022.
An EU grant enables civil society to support legal infrastructure but also play an active role as a watchdog for implementation.
It’s common to see signs in Kosovan shops warning that purchased goods cannot be returned. Sellers use their judgement to come up with policies in cases of faulty products and such self-made rules can vary from credit notes obliging customers to spend the same amount on a different product, to offering return on purchased goods for a limited duration of 24 hours.
An unfair business environment like this can flourish mainly because of uninformed consumers who are not aware of the laws in place to protect them, or that there are mechanisms to implement them. This lack of information was confirmed in 2020 when an EU-funded survey found that 42% of consumers don’t know that the Law on Consumer Protection exists and are still unaware of their rights under the law and that they could return goods whether bought in shops or online.
“A year after our platform was operational, the number of complaints registered at the central Consumer Protection Department grew by a factor of eight.”
To fill the void, the Institute for Development Policy (INDEP) set up a platform with support from an EU grant using the power of social media to inform, educate and empower consumers in Kosovo. The Kosovo Consumer Watchdog (Mbrojtësit e Konsumatorëve) site explains the law in simple terms via posters and infographics and even interacts on specifics with individuals on the platform. The daily content is inspired by everyday issues that Kosovars encounter when purchasing goods or services. By speaking the language of those who needed access to this information, the platform reached an audience of 30,000 within its first year of operation. The increased level of awareness had an impact on official complaints submitted to the central authorities.
“A year after our platform was operational, the number of complaints registered at the Consumer Protection Department grew by a factor of eight,” says Fatbardha Restelica from INDEP. The total number of official complaints filed this year, up to the beginning of December, is a record 1,871 complaints. Mbrojtësit e Konsumatorëve advised consumers to file complaints related to food safety, violation of product warranty rights, and online shopping among others.
Pandemic inspired both e-commerce and unfair trading
Recognising the increase of e-commerce since the start of the pandemic, with online trading growing by 200 per cent in 2020, Mbrojtësit e Konsumatorëve stepped up their activity to protect consumers who were entering into this new relationship with sellers. “Consumers faced organised price increases, rights violations during online shopping, non-return of products and overall unfair trading practices,” says Restelica, who explains that awareness-raising was focused on checking sellers before purchases and on how to file complaints.
“Our next objective is to establish a mechanism to support consumers in resolving complaints through mediation and legal remedies.”
About the project
INDEP was supported by the European Union through a Framework Partnership Agreement to implement “Policy Advocacy and Coalition Building for Consumer Protection – PACT“ project in the field of consumer protection for 2019 to 2022. The project has put consumer protection at the centre of decision-making and the public policy cycle. Its main objectives were to empower consumers and increase awareness on consumer protection in Kosovo. In the implementation of these objectives, INDEP provided public policy recommendations and also led the “Mbrojtësit e Konsumatorëve” Consumer Protection Watchdog campaign.
Taking the next step to protect consumers
Consumer policy and protection is an important tool to increase consumer trust, to improve competition and to help the recovery of the economy. INDEP is therefore motivated to follow further reforms in the sector closely, including keeping an eye on amendments to align the current law with EU legislation. The organisation has submitted comments to Kosovo institutions based on their research.
Official data show that this multi-pronged activism has improved overall consumer protection, including the handling of complaints, as there has been an increase in positive case resolution. However, Restelica says that citizens who receive a negative response are discouraged and do not exercise their right to file a lawsuit. This mainly happens because of the costs of proceedings and the long time it takes for cases to be resolved. “That is why our next objective is to establish a mechanism to support consumers in resolving complaints through mediation and legal remedies,” she adds with determination.
By empowering consumers with information on basic rights, Mbrojtësit e Konsumatorëve have turned the Kosovo consumer into an important source of market discipline, encouraging traders to compete by offering useful products and services, and to disclose information more transparently. This is also reflected in consumer trust in an NGO being able to defend their rights – 68% of Kosovars believe that a civil society organisation is capable of doing so: a figure similar to the EU average. As the watchdog which has been actively involved in public awareness, advocacy and media presence over the past few years, INDEP has made a large contribution to this level of confidence.
This CulturEU funding guide was developed to support the culture and creative sectors to navigate the EU funding landscape. The guide covers opportunities linked to the European Commission’s flagship programme Creative Europe – which is open to Western Balkans partners – as well as a wide spectrum of around 20 other EU funding programmes, from Digital Europe to LIFE and EU Structural Funds.
The Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO) organised the conference titled “A Better Region Starts with Volunteering” in Tirana on 7 and 8 December with participation from the Young European Ambassadors (YEA) network. Giada Trucco (Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement) and Selena Tasic (WeBalkans, YEA) were featured as part of the programme on partner youth organisations, while Marko Lončar and Shpetim Ramadani – RYCO volunteers who are also Young European Ambassadors – took part in the living library activity.
The event was organised as part of the ROUTE WB6 project, which aims to promote regional volunteering as a tool that will contribute to reducing social and ethnic distance among young people in the region, strengthening their prosocial and European values, leading to reconciliation, stability and prosperity in the six Western Balkan partners.
The project is being implemented across the Western Balkans by a consortium led by the Regional Youth Cooperation Office in cooperation with Association for Democracy and Prosperity – Zid, Beyond Barriers, the Institute for Youth Development KULT, Lens, the Southeast European Youth Network, the Young Researchers of Serbia, and the Bitola Youth Cultural Centre.
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