September 2016—At Lane kindergarten in Kosovo’s municipality of Zvečan/Zveçan, 330 children learn, play together, and explore their world with energy and curiosity. Despite an excellent learning environment, Lane faced threats of closure last year following a kitchen health inspection. The kitchen simply did not meet minimum food safety standards.

Improving the kindergarten’s hygiene practices became a top priority. Parents, the kindergarten’s management, and community and municipal representatives approached USAID for assistance in refurbishing the kitchen, and pledged that the municipality itself would contribute up to 20 percent of the project’s costs.

To the delight of the children, their parents, and 60 kindergarten employees, USAID and the municipality worked together to install new kitchen equipment in spring 2016.

“Now, the problem has been solved,” explains Zorica Keljanović, Lane’s principal, and parents can feel safe that their children will eat properly prepared food.

The kindergarten’s cooks are also very pleased with the improvements. “Everything is much better now,” says Vesna Vučković, who works at the Lane kitchen. “We have a brand new aspirator, kitchen tables, upper parts of the kitchen, and a refrigerator, which is an essential appliance during the summertime. Hygiene practices and working conditions improved greatly. My colleagues and I are very satisfied and I can only say ‘thank you.’”

USAID’s Advancing Kosovo Together program, which runs from 2014 to 2017, is designed to bring communities and local government together to work on priorities and increase the region’s security and stability. Under the program, USAID has reached over 50,000 people through similar projects that improve service delivery and meet citizens' needs.

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