By Jaldeep Katwala, Trainer, Belgrade, 30 March 2004

Belgrade’s a city which definitely grows on you. First impressions are deceptive. A city still scarred with the shells of government and military buildings destroyed during the Nato bombing nearly five years ago has clearly got a bit of an image problem.

The guide to Belgrade I first saw, only half in jest referred to the reconstruction sites around the city as tourist attractions.

Ten months on and it’s a city I’ve come to appreciate and know. Winter is drawing to a close, and the pavement cafes and bars are emerging from hibernation. Today it’s 20 degrees Celsius and spring is in the air.

The city feels alive again. Belgrade’s young set will be out in my street again soon. Strahanica Bana is famous for its 40 cafes and restaurants.

As low as minus 11 C during the day

Just a few short weeks ago, though, the pavements were covered in ice, the trees laced with snow and the winds were sweeping off the Carpathian mountains.

It got as low as minus 11 C during the day, odd when you realise we’re on about the same latitude as Toulouse. You can see the change in climate on people’s faces. They are happier now.

I’ve learnt enough Serbian to order a drink, get home in a cab without getting lost, and to buy cheese in the deli. The cyrillic is less baffling now too. It took a long time to work out that what looks like pectopah is actually restaurant.

It has taken longer to understand the culture in the hinterland of the language. In the office, what would appear to the British to be a heated argument between colleagues, in Serbian is merely an exchange of pleasantries.

I run a journalism training school here, funded by the Dutch government and run by the BBC World Service Trust.

From capacity building to sustainability

I work with four staff, all Serbian. They’ve developed an expertise in administering and running journalism courses over the last three years, and part of my job has involved making sure that the Trust leaves footprints in the sand.

In the jargon, what we’re attempting to do is move from capacity building to sustainability.

In plain English how do we make sure the expertise of the Trust and the experience of the local staff isn’t allowed to evaporate when our funding ends in June this year?

The answer lies in going back to the basics. If students came out of universities with decent training in practical journalism behind them, why spend so much time and energy providing training when they’re already working?

With this in mind, my deputy, Jovana Mehandzic, and I have been working on a strategy to do just that. And, fingers crossed, it looks like we are about to pull it off.

We’ve written a plan to reform postgraduate media education in Serbia, working with two universities in Belgrade. The European Union will back us in principle over three years and the Dutch have agreed that some of the savings made by my staff and all the equipment can be carried forward to the next project.

As for the sustainability strategy, in the future my staff here will make their own.

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