A thriving relationship between AECOM and The Ideas Partnership (TIP) was built from the humble beginnings of the Ethical Gift Bag Initiative in 2017(an initiative where AECOM supported charities around the works and in return they produced ethical gifts) . After receiving donations via the initiative, the founder of One Kosovo & UK registered charity, TIP, reached out to us and the conversation about future aid blossomed into a potential project. We were asked to design and fundraise for a new sustainable community centre for a group of vulnerable women and children in Kosovo.

 

After being rewarded with a 2019 Blueprint Travel Grant, I assembled a team of 10and we flew to Kosovo to conduct site-selection review and an initial feasibility study for the centre. During the excursion, the team performed public engagement sessions with the local community identifying their real needs from the proposed centre.

 

With an emphasis on sustainability, the team presented innovative solutions for the centre to the community such as solar power, which would reduce the overall cost to operate. Bringing in a sense of local personalisation to the centre, community discussions led to the idea of using recycled bottles as a symbol of the community where livelihoods largely revolve around litter picking.

​

The team fundraised over £33,000 via The AECOM Foundation, AECOM’s registered Charity, and developed the conceptual design pro-bono in collaboration with ourpartner Western Williamson Architects. Despite working and adapting through the uncertainty and unease of COVID-19 lockdown, the expanded team of 20 specialists persevered by volunteering outside contracted hours in their evenings and weekends to construct the final design deliverable successfully on schedule in July. Their drive to deliver on both social value commitment and high-quality output is commendable, particularly during a global pandemic and its associated challenges.

 

The final conceptual design is another step closer to bringing providing access for local women and children to benefit from a safe, sustainable community centre that focuses on education and environment, with a specific

focus on the poor and excluded Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities of Kosovo. 96% of the Roma, Ashkali & Egyptian communities in Kosovo do not complete compulsory education – a cause and effect of poverty, exclusion and poor health. Education provides means to break the vicious cycle for families and communities. Access to education and drop-out rates among Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities mean that the parents of today’s children in the neighbourhood of Fushe Kosove are likely to be illiterate. We are so pleased to work with our fantastic partners, The Ideas Partnership and Western Williamson Architects, who helped pave the way for collaborative social value and local community inspiration. The tender process is now live. Once a contractor has been appointed and the technical design is completed, construction is due to start in early Autumn and the centre estimates completion is by Christmas 2020.