CHURCH WORLD SERVICE: EMERGENCY RESPONSE PROGRAM
EMERGENCY APPEAL: MACEDONIA REHABILITATION
#6619 for $90,000
July 30, 2002


SITUATION:  Last year, fighting between ethnic Albanian rebels and
Macedonian security forces displaced more than 140,000 persons internally
and throughout the region.  Some 81,000 fled to Kosovo, approximately
12,000 fled to the south in Serbia, and more than 50,000 were internally
displaced, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
reports.

Although parties agreed to a cease-fire agreement last August, the complex
interethnic relations, combined with the physical damage caused by the
conflict poses many obstacles for returnees and the internally displaced.
Some 57,000 refugees have returned to Macedonia from neighboring
countries, but according to the Macedonian Center for International
Co-operation (MCIC), a CWS partner and Action By Churches Together (ACT)
member, the damage to the country's infrastructure remains a major
obstacle in rebuilding the lives of returnees.  The Macedonian government
estimates $350 million in damages to both private and public
infrastructure, including water and sanitation systems, schools and
hospitals, and agricultural production.


RESPONSE: The Macedonian Center for International Co-operation (MCIC)
reacted immediately to the emergency in 2001 by assessing needs in the
most affected areas and responding with relief inputs.  Since then, MCIC
has launched projects supporting citizens' peace initiatives, distributing
food and non-food items, and repairing more than 600 homes.

Based on further assessments as the number of returnees has grown, MCIC
and its implementing partners are now seeking financial support to provide
assistance in the following areas:

- Water supply and sanitation in rural areas
- Reconstruction of public infrastructure (schools and clinics)
- Revitalization of agriculture
- Distribution of food and non-food items
- Inter-ethnic confidence building initiatives.


The work will focus on crisis areas in Skopje, Tetovo, Kumanovo regions,
or the northwestern part of Macedonia.  The target beneficiaries are in
rural or marginalized villages in and around conflict areas, as well as
collective centers that host many of the internally displaced.


ESTIMATED EXPENDITURE for this project includes $1,189,590 in direct
assistance:  $361,800 for Water and Sanitation, $294,180 in Reconstruction
of Public Infrastructures, 499,600 for agricultural inputs and food items,
and $34,010 in Confidence Building Activities.

CWS-ERP is seeking $90,000 from its denominational members for this appeal
(in support of ACT appeal EUMC21).  For more details, including budget
information, contact CWS ERP or visit the ACT web site: www.act-intl.org

Macedonia Rehabilitation
Account #6619
Church World Service
P.O. Box 968
Elkhart, Indiana   46515


Call the CWS HOTLINE for updates: (800) 297-1516.

For further information about disasters to which Church World Service is
responding, contact CWS Emergency Response.

Telephone: (212) 870-3151 or visit the web site: www.cwserp.org


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