Peace Office Outpost is close to the end of it's working period. At the start, in November 197, it was said that POO will start for a period of two years with the option for one more year. Now two years almost passed.

Before we get to the subject of the yearreport 1999, it must be said that POO works in an area in which the situation can change very quickly. The war in Kosovo had a strong influence on the life in Bosnia Hercegovina and therefor also on POO. For example several activities were cancelled, several visits did not happen, many got lost in a political discussion and, a little later, many got confrontated with the changing situation in their own organization because the main board wants to go to the new crisisareas.
Besides that, of course man can not just keep on working with a war on just a few kilometers distance, often reaching the territory of BiH.

In the yearplan of 1999 there were the following points mentioned with the highest priority:

1. Financial future policy
In the second year POO must develop a financial vision that can last for more years. This item is also connected with the fact that Bosnian people will take over the organisation in time.
2. Organisation; vision and continuation
3. Activities.

There are three ways on which POO receives income. Through donations, through work and through exploitation of facilities.

Donations

Besides a modest donation of the Peace Office Eindhoven, the Motherorganization in Holland, POO did not receive any donation this year. The reason for this is that most funds do not support existing projects or organizations. Costs for accommodation, local labor and current affairs are not supported.
Donations that are given are completely used by the projects who received these donations.
Examples:
2800$ for Soros Open Society Foundation for Batleika.
5000 DM from War Child for Sarajevo Drum Orchestra.
5200 DM from SOS Rommelmarkten for Zelenkovac CWON 04 (start in Mai 2000).
8000 NLG from Milieu Contact East Europe for Zelenkovac CWON 04 (Start Mai 2000).
2000 $ from APEX for St Petersburg CWON 02 (start March 2000)

The result is that POO had to deal with a large amount of pressure to receive money through other channels in order to have enough money to maintain the complete overall project.

Income generated through work

During the first year POO generated a conciderable amount of money through work. Also in 1999 POO has generated some income through work.
Examples are:
Troitsa in Feb / June / August 3500 DM.
SDO in May 700 DM for organization costs.
Bart Lodewijks en Gerard Hulsendbeck 1300 NLG for production work for their film.
Still these income were lower as in 1998. One of the reasons is that POO has been on tour many times with several groups so POO was not availlable for this work. Also many of these income actually are not income but declaration of costs that were made.
Besides that quite some income from work for radio and TV was given directly to the artists that POO supported at that very moment.

Exploitation of facilities

POO had about 45 guests in 1999. Sometimes we only offered a sleepingplace. In other occasions guests got support and help. Sometimes their complete program was prepared by POO.
The total income of the guestroom was approximately 1000 DM.
Since February POO has a small van to transport people, groups and musicians. This van is used to the maximum. In 10 month we drove about 40.000 km. The income was a little dissappointment. At first the engime blow up which costed 2000 DM. Also deduction were given to musicians so they could come home with a little money (or without debts).
The van is bought with private money. Costs for use and income are on the account of POO. In fact POO lends the van.

All together you cannot say that through these channels a future policy is developed.
Also because of that reason POO has been looking for possibilities to enlarge it's activities to Serbia. Through this a second international worker could be obtained and it would give a 'new' idea and therefor new donations could become possible. Through cooperation costs could be reduced and more income generated. But the situation in Serbia is not yet on such way that POO could start with this. We should not forget that POO is a second generation aidorganisation. Which means; an organization that support civil development and not aims at emergency aid. In the yearplan of 1999 it was mentioned that extra generated income sould be a completion of the budget, better that than filling up the gaps. From this point of view it could be said that POO had a difficult year.

To make a strong vision for the future a strong financial position is needed. Even if POO has the possibility to work with a very modest budget.

POO realizes that it must focus more often on the Netherlands and the region of Eindhoven. This has two reasons. The office it created for information exchange and that should work into two directions. It remain most important that the Dutch society is aware of the development in BiH and former Yugoslavia, and those who are interested in this relation must be able the find POO. Besides that the Netherlands are the roots of POO and POO will remain to depend on the Netherlands (also financially). To generate income through the Bosnian society in fact means that we must enter into competition and this must be succesfull with the result that money generated through this is not to be used by others inside the Bosnian society.
POO will, even more than before, work on the exchange of information; readings, publications, be present at seminars, radio programs, cultural programs and so on. These programs will focus more on the Netherlands but also more attention will be given to completecountry of Bosnia Hercegovina.

POO will work less with donation projects and education projects. Donationorganizations now, logically, focus more to other parts of former Yugoslavia. Educationprojects need a long preparation time. Also it is not a 'speciality of the house' of POO and POO has already done it's share in the past.
On the other hand, POO will spend more time and energy in guidening local initiatives. To provide information, alternatives and umbrella-constructions, long term guidance of preparation and implementing projects is very stimulating, it is close to the people and has enough space for local people to work on their own initiatives.
For this the CWON program is developed. Information about CWON can be found in the appendix.

POO will open a new office in Banja Luka. There are a few reasons for this decision.
At first Sarajevo is a town that is overwelmed by international organizations and so civilians in Sarajevo only want 'the best' of it. This is very difficult for POO with it's very modest budget. Seconly the relation Sarajevo - Banja Luka is of great importance for the future of BiH. POO could stimulate this relation through it's contacts in both cities. Banja Luka is a town where not much is going on for young people. While Sarajevo had a metamorfosis during the time POO was active in this country, Banja Luka looks still the same (only the amount of garbage increased). Also POO received better reactions from people in Banja Luka than from Sarajevo about it's work.
Another reason is that POO must move anyway (the rent of the office in the center of Sarajevo is too expansive) and most of it's acivities are not dictated to be on one place deu to the use of computer-communication and car.
While a new office in Banja Luka will be established, the POO cooperator is Sarajevo will maintain to work for POO. This cooperator, Darko Kujundzic, wants to focus more on the town where he lives. Also he has started a cultural youth organisation together with others and he wants to continue working journalistic work. POO can help him with this and provide a part time salary in the same time.
POO will maintain to have a small office and a guestroom in Sarajevo.

Also this year POO organized, supported or stimulated a large number of projects and activities. Here you will find an overview of these activities with some comments;

Cultural Activities: Troitsa (Februar, June en August) Three times a tour for the group Troitsa was organized. Once in Holland during a cultural exchange program in Eindhoven inwhich the Eindhoven Peace Office was a partner. In this occasion Troitsa played on national TV and radio. A second tour happened during the Oerol festival on the Dutch Island of Terschelling. During this occasion the museum and info shop of Troitsa also was used as info shop for POO activities. A third tour was organized on the Balkans, where Troitsa, as one of the very few foreign groups, is able to play independently and without donators. Batleika (March) The puppettheater of Ivan Kirchuk, called Batleika, played a tour in Bosnian schools and healthcare institutes. This tour was supported by the New York office of the Soros Open Society Institute. Twenty concerts were played in all parts of the country. The reactions were very positive and the tour was, above all, a big pleasure. Batleika has it's own projectreport on aproval. The Sarajevo Drum Orchestra (Mai) After POO had organized several concerts for the SDO during the Forbidden Fruits of Civil Society Festival last year, this time POO arranged a complete independent tour for this group. The tour was financially supported by War Child Amsterdam. The group played at VPRO radio and at the Hague Appeal for Peace, a big peace conference in The Hague. Unfortunately the group had the idea after 6 days that they had most of the money they could earn in their pockets. They made default at 8 concerts and went home without any reason. They left POO to explain the organizers of these concerts to come and did not meet financial agreements. What eventualy seemed to be the best tour ever organized by POO, ended with a cold shower. The reasons, after intensive analyzes, partly with local SDO members, were the inexperienceness of the music group and the arrogant and paranoia attitude of the English members of the group. Later on POO had often contact with local SDO members and worked on several different projects, in order to have time to forget this desillusion and in order to maintain a normal relation with these members. Vorsicht Bissiger Hund (Mai) POO did a lot of preparations for VBH, a multi cultural preforming group from Eindhoven and Den Bosch, two Dutch towns. This group visited Sarajevo in Mai. Unfortunalety the dates of different projects changed so POO was active in the Netherlands (SDO) and in Sarajevo (VBH) in the same time. Seen from reactions of all VBH members their visit was very positive allthough everybody also agreed it was not a alarming succes. Pink Noise Quartet & Blisters (Mai) Two concerts were organized in Sarajevo for these two Dutch groups who mainly contain of Croatian refugees. Not much audience but great music. Ljubljana - Sarajevo (September) In September POO organized a big cultural exchange festival with many Slovene artists. This festival took place in several places in town. POO was supported by the Ambrosia Art Organization. This time there was a lot of audience and local media which made it all very succesful. This festival was the first part of the exchangeprogram that will have it's counter part in February 2000 when Sarajevo artists will go to Slovenia. Pessimistic Lines (November) This young punkrock band played several concerts in Slovenia, Netherlands and Germany, acompanied by POO. Dispite some bad luck arranging concerts the tour was quite a succes deu to personal approach of all members during this trip.

Information program Newsletters and Internetmagazine The montly reports about the peaceproces in BiH got roughly disturbed by the war in Kosovo. POO tried to show differences and similarities between Bosnia and Kosovo through analyzes and reports. The number of newlettersubscribers raised extremely during this period (would it be the same for the New York Times?) The internetmagazine now is more focussed on the general presentation while in the beginning it was only information. A much better design, more pictures and graphics makes the magazine more attractive. Also the number of tags raised accoordingly. Radio Programs POO appeared three times on national radio with it's own program. besides that POO got asked frewuently to do interviews (Vara, VPRO en IKON). In BiH POO was regularly on the radion in both entities. Also in Croatia and Slovenia POO could be heard. Informaton program & HAP POO visited several informationprograms and had several speeches. With the use of a labtop interactive presentations were organized and they can adapt itself easily to the level of the audience. Readings like this were given at the 1st of Mai declaration in Autonomous Republic of 2B, during the Oerol festival, during the Hague Appeal for Peace, during the Peace Week in Eindhoven and during the tour with Pessimistic Lines. The Ease of Mind We are preparing a book with personal impressions, political analyzes, poetry and much much more. This book is focussed on the psycho-social differences and similaritis of pre-war, after-war and non-war experiences. In preparation of this book POO discusses the subject inside the Bosnian society with psycologists and analysts and reactions will be taken into the book. POO also have poetry reading (translated into Bosnian) and uses this to get the reactions from the audience. Also these reactions will be published in the book. Donation projecs At first there was the winter in which POO had to apply for new registrationpapers. Not long after the war in Kosovo started and many donationorganizations did not go to Bonsia anymore. Now most POO contacts mainly go to Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo. Some still have regular destinations in Bosnia. One of these destinations is Tinja where is a school with an overwelming amount of refugees from the Srebrenica area. POO in this case only works as translator and 'middleman on request'. Zelenkovac This year this ecological village got supported with car parts, music-installation, artists for their cultural program, road maps and ideas. In the upcomming year an CWON project is planned. Refugees in NL and BiH Because POO is close to the fire, it is also close to the refugees. Several refugees, or their families, were visited. Often materials were exchanged. More often practical advise was asked. POO considers the refugee problem as a universal political problem and therefor it must be solved by politicians. POO can only pay attention to refugees on private level. A thing that happened frequently this year. Connecting With Our Neighbors programma. In the appendix you can find information about the CWON program

5. The relevancy of this project

A few words about the relevancy of these cultural and information programs.
At first it is of great importance that the outside world, the Netherlands and other places, stay informed about the development in BiH and former Yugoslavia. While people of thirty years old went to former Yugoslavia as tourists, people of twenty five years know nothing besides the fact there was a war.
This enormous difference, within one generation, could lead to a situation where, after future generations grew up, there is no contact at all anymore between Europe (Netherlands) and former Yugoslavia. This while Yugoslavia was a holiday paradise, as mentioned before.
The result of this could be far-reaching for people in former Yugoslavia and for the people in general. You could use the metaphore of a scary basement in the house; You do not go in but problems still come out. Besides that it makes the complete house a ghosthouse.
Through the work of POO, among others, interhuman contacts start to grow and people start working on a new and complete integration of former Yugoslavia with the rest of Europe.
Before there was an iron curtain which was established and maintained by the politics of two sides. Now there is a vague curtain that becomes thicker as people turn away from it and becomes thinner as people interst themselves into it. In fact there is a possibility for the people to solve this European problem, on the contrarary to the old European partition which was maintained through the politics of power.
In this sense you could see the work of POO as a modest amplification to the proces of re-integration of Europe with itself. Above this, through the use of modesty, a realistic opportunity is offered in which people can find themselves. The relevancy of this is only at present at people who can see this. The conciousness about these insights is one of the main point of focus of the policy of POO.

Costs		Total	Budgets 	Difference
			gebased 
			on income 
		
1. accomodation	  5139.40    5469.31	+    329.91
2. organization	  5516.85    6027.-	+    510.15
3. registration		-	-	-
4. travelcosts	  3345.28    3397.-	+     51.72
5. cooperators	  5164.50    3925.-	-   1239.-

6. projectcosts   351.94	-	-    351.94
    a Isuzu	   334.-      350.-	+     16.-
    b Transport	   710.60    1000.-	+    289.40
    c Troitsa	  3268.05    4251.-	+    982.95
    d Batleika	  5433.44    5513.42	+     79.98
    e SDO	  4799.33    5500.-	+    700.67
    f CWON 04		   14.000.-	+ 14.000.-


Total		 34063.39   49432.84       15369.84

(0.39 ct verschil)

The first conclusion is that it is possible to organize an extended program with a very limited budget. This year POO only got supported by Peace Office Eindhoven for it's organization costs. Other donations were completely used by the projects that genarated the donations.
However, in case POO does not get it's funds for organization costs directly, these funds must be earned by work or obtained through budgets of the different projects POO initiates or supports (as often suggested by funders). POO will then come in an entire different situation. Or POO will not be able to focus and concentrate on it's aims in the target area's (because it's out in the world working to earn money for it's organization) or POO has to use preremptory sentences to every organization or group it is cooperating with in order to receive enough income for the overall organization.

In our point of view both solutions are expressions of feebleness. Such a way of working supports confusion inside the situation it has to work, which is already instable. Considering the modest budget POO is able to work with, it seems to us that it is most important that implementing organization with extreme low overhead costs and great experience on the ground, like POO, must get support from bigger donators and funds, so they can continue their work with full spirit and attention.

It must be mentioned that many organizations are leaving BiH. There are other problems in former Yugoslavia and other parts of the world. The effect of the departure of many organizations will be very big in BiH. Therefor it is very important that supporting organizations who's aim is self-initiative and selfdeployment, will get the possibility to continue. In case this will not be possible, only a very small and egocentric minded part of the population will be able to profit from the efforts and investments the international community has done in the past four years in BiH.

A second conclusion is that POO, and other supporting organizations, should have the time to focus on other parts as Sarajevo. Now, still, the bulk of the aid goes to Sarajevo. This town has 'came over the war'. Only local politicians, designated as 'frustrating' by the spokesman of the chief of the OHR, still remind on the war of four years ago. But the rest of the country is still in a very bad condition. Ordinary people speak less and less about nationalism and problems that match wih it. They all are dramatically looking for posibilities to build up their life, they look for work and for respect for the work they do. Only that can give a vision of the future for which they would like to work. POO has the intention to take this task on it's shoulders and asks direct, practical and strong support from the world among us to fullfil this task.

For this reason POO has decided to open an office in Banja Luka. Activities as organized the last years got a limited feedback in Sarajevo, because of the enormous amount of other activities in town, and because of the great expectations of Sarajevo people that came with it. In Banja Luka POO activities will have a more direct impact to the community and therefor will get more support from the community. POO can do this while it will maintain a small office in Sarajevo and without raising it's own budget.

The recommendation to funds and donors is to stimulate developments as mentioned above and support the small organization that use a little imput while creating a big output in cooperation with the local community.
So the work of humanitairian organisations will have the same impact on the local situation as is has to have on the home situation of the donors.

We whish you all the best,