I have been sitting on the bus from Sarajevo for nearly 8 hours and as I look out of the window I still have not seen a single sign to Novi Pazar, my final destination. It strikes me as odd that for a town of 100,000 (pretty large in this country), the first sign post does not appear until only 12km away. This is especially bizarre since the nearby town of Raska with a mere 10,000 inhabitants is clearly marked for miles. Moreover, our progress into Novi Pazar is hampered by the severely potholed road causing the bus to jerk awkwardly back and forth. 

Novi Pazar (meaning “new market”, derived from the Turkish) is a dusty market town in the south-west of Serbia. It is filled with haphazard buildings (many in an advanced state of disrepair) with varying styles of architecture. Noisy traffic clogs up the streets and litter lines the pavements. Yet this is a town that used to be a main trading route carrying Balkan silver to the Adriatic coast and was an important transit point for goods heading to the rest of the Ottoman Empire. The number of mosques and an old caravanserai (han) that line the once famous “Emperor’s Way” attest to its former importance. 

With all this history and heritage, it seems odd that so much of this town’s infrastructure should be in such a dismal state of repair. Indeed one gets the impression that the government in Belgrade has all but forgotten this town and the surrounding 9,000 km² of the Sandzak region. In some places, the wages per capita fall to just 17% of those in Belgrade and unemployment in the region is high. A series of regional political and religious squabbles have left many uncertain as to the future of this province sandwiched between the Bosnian, Monetnegrin and Kosovan borders. 

The area is also particularly volatile, and while it is currently stable, ethnic tensions could erupt at any moment. The trade network that used to exist has evidently left an impressionable mix of cultures that remains even to this day despite the Milosevic regime’s attempts at ethnic cleansing. This combination has produced a town with a wonderful mix of architecture, shops and restaurants, but has also recently left if with smouldering tensions. As I begin to wonder why this region, set in the beautiful Pester mountain plateau, should be suffering such neglect, Aleksandar Olenik, Mercy Corps’ Local Economic Development Advisor, answers my question. He explains that it is a region where many Bosniak Muslims live and in some places form the majority of the population. They feel part of Serbia rather than Bosnia and their presence is felt as an embarrassment in Belgrade. It is far easier to ignore the region’s problems of living in a multi-ethnic community than to address them and harness its resources and see the potential of a thriving, yet diverse, place. 

My first meeting is with Ahmet Halilagic who is the Novi Pazar office’s head. The Mercy Corps work in Serbia is principally funded by $41 million of USAID money – an attempt to show that the 1999 NATO bombings were against the Milosevic regime rather than the Serbian people. Mercy Corps is one of 5 implementing partners in Serbia for USAID in the Community Revitalisation through Democratic Action (CRDA) programme. Ahmet shows me the figures for the NP office (one of 3 Mercy Corps offices in Serbia). They have 31 major projects at a cost of $940,000 and will implement another $2 million before their mission finishes in July 2007. They are all impressive projects and having an immense impact on the region. 

Ahmet is keen to point out that Mercy Corps is no longer just involved in humanitarian aid. They are not simply donors throwing money at the Sandzak region in the hope that this will solve its problems. Rather Mercy Corps is providing a real model and methodology for sustainability and trust and ensuring that the local communities are involved at every step. They are engaging all the stakeholders and ensuring that both the local government and the local people find ways to go forward on their own strengths. In a region where the National government has neglected them for over 15 years it is a daunting prospect and this disregard has left the region with a rebellious attitude. Recently, for example, the black market has been increasingly active, meaning that taxes remain uncollected and there is no money to re-invest in the region’s infrastructure. But Mercy Corps is trying, slowly, to change this mentality. It is building trust with local businesses and attempting to show them that they must consider both individual and community needs. In this way they can be the catalyst that can help provide good conditions, allowing the whole region to prosper once again. 

Mercy Corps justify investment in projects through two main indicators: those of job creation and income generation. And these are implemented within Mercy Corps’ model of sustainability. Mercy Corps is there to help improve the economic environment, not fund it. Therefore all projects are initiated under local expertise and with local investment to some degree. Through this Mercy Corps forms a 50:50 partnership rather than being the 100% donor. Ahmet believes that this model is what has ensured the organisation has built such a good reputation and solid foundations for trust with the local community.

One of the key success stories of the work Mercy Corps has been doing in the region are the smaller financial contributions that it has made to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) start up or expand. These projects often work with those who are particularly vulnerable members of the community. It donates relatively small sums of money from $3,000-$6,000 to individuals who have successfully run businesses before the war and who the charity sees have the potential to do so again. Because the cost of borrowing money is prohibitive, they just require a financial springboard to help them get started. Competition for funding is fierce, but Mercy Corps insists that this provides the best projects for funding and ensures that almost 100% of projects have so far been successful; something that the charity is rightly proud of. 

Edis Mekic takes me round some of the SME projects he has helped implement in Novi Pazar. Our first stop is a small fast food outlet. In a country that seems to live almost entirely on fast food, such projects are understandably popular submissions. Having already run such an outlet in Kosovo before the war the owner is no fool when it comes to running a business and he has successfully carved out a living for himself through hard work in what might otherwise be regarded as an economic dead zone away from the town centre. He has been in business almost a year and when I ask him if he would return home, he explains that he is settled now in Novi Pazar and there is therefore no reason, currently, to return.

 Our next visit is to a small, but already existing carpentry buisiness. They needed equipment to allow them to finish products rather than half-make them and then send them away which is both a costly and time-consuming process. Again the cost of acquiring such machinery was prohibitive, but with $6,000 donated by Mercy Corps the acquisition was made possible just last month and has meant that he is now able to provide jobs for two more people. The proprietor is also keen to expand in the near future meaning a knock-on effect of further sustainable job creation. We stop by two tailors who also received $3,000 Mercy Corps grants and whose businesses are also now rapidly expanding now that they have the necessary equipment to ply their trade. Both projects are actively hiring staff and have a real conviction and resilience to succeed.

Perhaps the most touching project I visited was to a coffee roasting business run by a man who sadly suffers from multiple sclerosis. Despite this a $3,000 grant has enabled him and his wife to purchase the equipment needed and turn this into a thriving small business. I ask about their future plans for the business and his wife smiles warmly explaining that they have two healthy sons and that all they ask is to have enough to support them. Their children are the most important things to them and it reminds me that in a town with a baby boom, it is projects such as these that are really helping to provide the economic environment for these children to succeed in. And maybe if the economics of the region can get back on its feet, then the tensions may also begin to subside, meaning the region can prosper in peace once again. 

So what of the future for Sandzak, this still forgotten region? With an 80% Muslim population it is not an easy one in a country mainly comprised of Orthodox Serbs. It remains to be seen what the effect of the pending decision on Kosovo will have. Will this cause a domino effect onto Sandzak creating a demand for autonomy? Ahmet doesn’t think so, but it will mean Belgrade has to convince the Bosniaks in this region that they have a place in Serbia and that it will listen to their needs. The communities need to be ready to react properly to the situations and any decisions made. Mercy Corps’ USAID funded CRDA programme is due to end in the next year, but it is certain that the charity must remain longer and continue to provide this model for Sandzak’s improvement. Furthermore many refugees are yet to return home following the Milosevic regime’s  ethnic cleansing, and provisions must be made for this. Whilst in many ways Sandzak is a microcosm of Serbia’s bigger problems of corruption, official incompetence and dysfunctional state structure, it has older and longer festering grievances which need addressing. With Serbia having been largely ignored by the outside world during the Milosevic era, it is vitally important that Mercy Corps is able to continue to build the trust and give hope to such communities in Serbia. In this way all Serbians, be they Muslim, Orthodox Christians or whatever religion or race, can live peacefully together, harness their differences positively and begin to re-build their country together. The Serbian people have the ability to do this, of that there is no doubt, but it will need time, sensible discussion and real actions.

Nick Rowan 2006

There are 3 Mercy Corps Offices in Serbia based in Novi Pazar, Belgrade and Krusevac employing about 45 ermanent staff. For more informtation or to make a donation, please visit the mercy corps website for Serbia.

Further details regarding this article can be obtained from Nick Rowan at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .

The public relations manager for Serbia is Radosh Kandic and he can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .