TheIdeasPartnership.org - Buy a nice thing, do a nice thing

Buy a nice thing, do a nice thing…

In the part of Fushë Kosovë where The Ideas Partnership have been working, the vast majority of earnings come from men going through the city's rubbish bins for re-sellable scrap, and women begging. Children often have to work with their parents; this basic need for money for food is one of the reasons that school enrollment rates have been very low.

We've been running micro-finance projects with the community to try to change this, and you can buy some of the results. The money you spend goes straight back into the community, and helps keep children learning and not begging: we try to insist that those who participate in the projects send their children to school.

Here's the project on Klan Kosova (at minute 11:30). For any of these nice things, have a look at this dedicated site (or even here, wenn Sie Deutsch sprechen), or contact us via sapune.ks@gmail.com or 044429888. In a new development some of the women we work with are also running a stall in Prishtina's new 'Women's Market Centre' on Robert Doll Street. Have a look on facebook, too.

The five women of the Sa-Punë project hand-make these scented olive oil soaps. (Here's the story in Jeta në Kosovë/ Life in Kosovo newspaper.) It is a lot of work ("sa punë!"*), but the results, fragranced with essential oils and sold in cute cloth bags (the result of a separate micro-finance project) are attracting interest in Kosovo and beyond. Whether you're a hotel chain or just someone looking for a special little gift, there's a shape and size of soap for you. The mighty partnership of Hateme, Haxhere, Naxhie, Refiqe and Vjollca thanks you.

The idea for these pretty candle-jars came from our visitors from Port Isaac. In a variety of colours and each a unique design, they're a lovely way to decorate a room and warm an atmosphere.

We established some of the men of Fushë Kosovë as shoe-shiners. You'll see them in the centre of Prishtina, and you can arrange for them to come to your office.

One of the Fushë Kosovë re-cyclers, equipped by us, can come to your office to collect plastic and metal for recycling. This is employment for them, and a useful step in tackling one of the biggest environmental problems facing Kosovo today.

In a project supported by the British Embassy we trained and equipped a group from the Roma/Ashkali village of Srbobran to make environmentally-friendly cloth bags. More money in the village, less plastic in the fields, and we can arrange for the bags to be printed with the design of your company, project or message.

Don't forget: have a look here.

*If you're the sort of person who reads a site like this, you're probably the sort of person who's interested in a country's culture, in which case there's a good chance you'll have noticed that 'sapun' is also the word for soap. There's a bit of thought going into this, you know?