RRTF: Report April 1997
Annex 7
“Summary Report of the Working Group on Non-clustered Areas”
April 1997
Repatriation and the re-displacement of already displaced persons will bring about movements also into areas not included into prioritised cluster areas. The integration of these persons requires an approach more appropriate to these areas.
Loan facilities and mechanisms will, in general, be more suitable for these situations than the grant aid expected to be concentrated in the cluster areas. They should be made available to returnees to rural areas to allow them to repair their houses, invest in agricultural equipment or agriculture related industries as well as into job creation in other than the agriculture sector. This is expected to free some dwellings in the urban areas for refugees to return to.
Loan and other facilities and mechanisms should be created to allow regional and local government authorities and utility companies to invest into the repair of bridges, roads and transport systems, electrical and water supplies.
In currently over-crowded areas, such facilities should be made available to allow the conversion of flat-roofs and loft spaces in existing social housing, mainly to be found in city areas, in order to create new housing space. Beneficiaries should in particular be returnees with skills considered important for the economy.
The restoration of old trading links and creation of new ones would also contribute to an auto-generated revival of such non-clustered areas.
Potential donors are advised to carry out their own researches to find the most appropriate approach to the specific area. Quick acting programmes are recommended. Such programmes should be developed to allow adjustment as return patterns become clear.
The working group suggests a methodology to conduct such research. The working group received illustrative comments on various areas characteristic of the situation in non-cluster areas (specifically Tuzla, Banja Luka and Mostar) and supplied them to the RRTF.
Finally, the working group expects that economic regeneration in prioritised cluster areas as well as non-cluster areas will create trends of convergence of these areas and suggests to re-evaluate the impacts of return and rehabilitation in these areas at appropriate intervals.
Source: RRTF Working Group on Non-Cluster Areas
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