Slobodan Stankovic

Arbeiter Samariter Bund e.V. in South Eastern Europe

The Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund, Deutschland e.V, in South Eastern Europe, has its regional main office in Sarajevo which is also the country office for Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Belgrade for Serbia and Prizren for Kosovo. This regional setting has provided ASB with the capacity to implement large-scale actions throughout the region concerning relief reconstruction and development. First humanitarian convoys entering the besieged city of Mostar in the war-year of 1992 in BiH, were marked with the logo of the Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund (ASB). Since then, our organisation implemented over 350 humanitarian and developmental projects in the Balkans (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, Monte Negro and Albania) totalling over € 165 million and assisted more than 60.000 persons in need for reconstructed homes, economic sustainability, technical and social infrastructure and other types of socio-economic assistance. ASB has also been dedicated to linking and capacity building of public, private and civil sectors with the aim of empowering structures which supports after-conflict recovery and development of countries in the region. More specifically, ASB is continuously engaged in the implementation of projects falling under intervention sub-sectors of Return and reintegration, Socio-economic inclusion of marginalised groups, Support to the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015, strengthening of the Civil Society in South East Europe and Fostering Samaritan Cooperation between ASB – established Samaritan organisations in South East Europe at the local level. Since 1992 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1994 in Croatia and Macedonia, 1997 in Albania, 1998 in Serbia and Kosovo, ASB has been implementing relief, reconstruction and developmental projects by linking the three into the integrated concept of holistic approach to helping those in ultimate need, mainly form the most vulnerable and marginalised population groups within Balkan countries' societies.