Project title: Moving from Integration towards a New Social Contract for a truly multiethnic Kosovo – Year II
Duration: 18 months
Implementation period: September 1, 2025 – February 28, 2027
Implementing partner: NGO SPACES
Supported by: Embassy of Kingdom of Netherlands in Kosovo
Status: Ongoing
Project objectives:
“Moving from ‘Integration’ to(wards) a new social contract for a truly multiethnic Kosovo” is a civil society initiative, led by the Centre for Affirmative Social Actions (CASA), Mitrovica and Space/s for Societal Change, Gračanica, aimed at adding a social contract perspective to the political dialogue and making it the basis for an inner-Kosovo, Serb-Albanian dialogue on the joint future in a multiethnic Kosovo.
The Ahtisaari Proposal, that forms the core of Kosovo’s constitutional order, but till date remains largely unimplemented, thereby serves as a blueprint for a new social contract for a truly multiethnic Kosovo, based on the plan’s compelling rationale of linking strong ethnic protection mechanisms, collective rights, with strong local self-governance as a modern form of democratic decentralization.
The New Social Contract initiative pursues two main objectives:
- Initiating a dialogue on a new social contract for a multi-ethnic Kosovo: adding substance to the political dialogue through an inner-Kosovo Serb-Albanian (civil society) dialogue and CSO dialogue with the international community,
- Strengthening independent democratic voices within the Serb community in Kosovo in order to enable them for the Serb-Albanian dialogue & dialogue with the international community.
It thereby applies three unique, core approaches:
- A strategic, proactive approach: Shifting from a reactive, day-to-day political stance towards a proactive, strategic approach – from what is politically feasible toward whats is socio-politically needed.
- A grassroots approach: Approaching the core political issues, and transforming political narratives, from a citizens’ basic needs and interests perspective.
- Transforming the conflict discourse: Moving the Serb-Albanian conflict discourse from an “us vs. them” towards an “all of us” narrative, i.e., one on shared problems, needs and interests (rule of law, security, local democracy and service delivery etc.).
Activities:
Component I: Strengthening liberal Kosovo Serb voices & grassroot perspectives (Kosovo Serb civil society strategic coordination and capacity building component); this, Kosovo Serb element forms both an integral component of the overall initiative and a necessary precondition for the second, main component.
Component II: Serb-Albanian/all-Kosovo dialogue on a new social contract for a truly multi-ethnic, democratic Kosovo; this bottom-up dialogue focuses on two thematic elements – local self-governance dialogue and collective rights/human rights-rule of law dialogue.
Component III: Kosovo civil society- international community dialogue – adding the new social contract perspective to the political dialogue.
