ERIK's Page

What motivated you to become involved in peace and conflict resolution?

Living and working in Kosovo, apparently a "no hope" zone with two parallel realities on the ground, betw. Serbs and Albanians. I am looking for shared experiences of people who had to deal with this kind of issues.

Please feel free to provide a short bio about yourself (no more than 3 paragraphs)

My first experience as a civil servant in the french Embassy in Sarajevo was one of these personnal and pro-fessional challenges which build someone’s future dedication: I learned to deal with internal administration reforms (strategic planning & budgetting) while participating very modestly to a nation building process in a city which recent history demands a responsible european citizenship.

As a matter of fact, I cannot imagine the Balkan region turning into Europe’s blackhole and I am convinced to be part of the generation that will see Serbia and Kosovo in the European Union. Since my european studies in governance and administration I got a better knowledge of the EU Institutions and I got more familiar with negociation processes and techniques. I also learned how deep public administration reforms depend on windows of opportunities that politics may help to create... or close.
Even if I am an optimistic person, I am very confused about the current situation prevailing in Kosovo, as I experience daily two totaly different realitieson the ground, working during the day in the Serb populated north and living in the Albanian and international community workers populated Pristina...!

Please list the countries and/or regions in which you have direct and significant expertise

Balkan region, i.e. Bosnia and Herzegovine, Kosovo, Serbia

What is your current country of residence?

KOSOVO

What is your current job (and organization) and/or where and what field are you studying?

Civil Affairs Officer (UNMIK)

What is your personal or organizational website?

http://www.unmikonline.org

What is one of your favorite websites in the field? (please provide one answer per box)

http://www.icg.org

Which are your primary sectoral areas of expertise?

Peacebuilding, Democratization, Development, Humanitarian Relief, Education, Civil Society, Organizational Development

Which are your primary skills areas?

Program Administration

What are some of your current areas of research (if any)?

capacity building