The Cloud Factory (Create a Climate for Peace)

The Cloud Factory raises awareness about climate justice and its relation to peace in Kosovo. It is part of the bigger “Create a Climate for Peace” campaign, which seeks to activate people, especially youth, to take concrete steps that create a climate for peace worldwide.

Fast facts:

75 families benefitted;
80% of the beneficiary families are on social welfare, and 20% are destitute.

The problem

Although Kosovo is in a good position for using sun and wind power, energy there is produced from the dirtiest of fossil resources – lignite – at power plants outside Pristina. These are called “cloud factories” for their high emission of polluting gases and dust. Families living in the outskirts of the city live in the dust and ashes emitted by the power plants – yet they suffer frequent electricity and water cuts, as well as pollution linked to sewage systems and waste disposal problems. Moreover, local communities living there belong to minority groups and face discrimination and exclusion. This results in people there deprioritizing environmental issues, although taking these on could help improve the situation.

The solution

This activity organizes various workshops for youth in Pristina communities on environment and sustainable living. Young people from various ethnic backgrounds, such as Roma, Ashkali, Egyptian, Serbian, and Albanian, are taught to use their creative and artistic talents to recycle waste, while providing people with useful, original, and beautiful products they can purchase locally.

Environmental education is provided by staff and volunteers, who also organize activities for the entire community about solar and other renewable energies. Small-scale projects implemented through such events are aimed at setting examples and inspiring others in communities in and around Pristina to rely more on renewable energy. In addition, schoolchildren and older youth plant trees in their communities, and work in communal gardens where they grow their own crops and learn how to farm.

Helping the planet

Planting trees and other plants is a natural method for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, creating long-term climate change mitigation while remediating soil and air contamination from the coal-fired power plants.

Helping people

The project connects young people from different ethnic groups and religions, while encouraging them to use their creativity to find solutions to problems in their communities. Educational activities, which also focus on human rights, promote a sense of awareness and self-esteem among the participants. The project thus helps empower these members of the community.

Scaling up

Activities have been expanding for two years through international work camps, where volunteers from neighboring countries are invited to spend several weeks in Pristina to work with the local youth groups and children on climate mitigation activities. There are now also plans to involve international volunteer groups. Project activities can be replicable in other communities in Kosovo or the Balkans, where similar problems exist. They can even be adapted to other conditions.