At a time when official public communication between Pristina and Belgrade officials and political leaders from northern Kosovo and officials south of the river Ibar/Ibër is almost only held at a high political level, a successful attempt to involve Kosovo citizens in talks between these parties certainly is quite an achievement.

This is precisely what the civil society organization Srpsko Slovo succeeded to do, thanks to the production grant received from the USAID funded Community Action Initiative Program (CAIP). Through this grant, the Srpsko Slovo team was able to produce 17 TV shows entitled, ‘From A to Š’, airing for almost a year, every Thursday at 9 PM, on the local TV stations Hertz, Puls and Mir, and radio stations members of KOSMA network. This popular current affairs talk show was also available on the Radio KIM web page.

The TV show project manager, Predrag Radonjić, says that they succeeded in bringing politicians closer to ordinary people, and putting people at ease during the tense period of political dialogue held in Brussels: “At the time when official public communication between Belgrade and Pristina, and Mitrovica/ë and Pristina is almost nonexistent, or held on a very high political level, we managed to re-establish contacts in an indirect way. So, we had the situation when citizens from Pristina were asking political leaders from northern Kosovo questions, or Belgrade officials answering questions asked by Pristina officials, and vice versa.”

According to data which he received from TV Mreža and KOSMA network representatives, Predrag estimates that each show was seen and heard by more than 5,000 people, both Kosovo Serbs and Kosovo Albanians, adding that the show has had more than 5,000 views on Vimeo via Radio KIM web page.

TV Mreza and Radio KOSMA Networks are groups of Kosovo Serb speaking TV and Radio networks that create mutual shows and share programming for the benefit of the audience.

USAID Community Action Initiative Program started in July 2010 and ends July 2014, it supports community development and infrastructure rehabilitation in 40 Kosovo communities, builds strong civil society organizations, and improves economic and employment opportunities.