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AbstractBuilding on the example of Kosovo, the author explores the fluctuating boundaries between voluntary associations and the political realm. She is inspired by recent scholarship on voluntary associations in Southeastern Europe, which highlights the political aspects of associational volunteering. After the mass dismissals of Kosovo-Albanians in the health sector during the 1990s, the Mother Teresa Society, one of the largest Kosovar associations at the time, set up alternative healthcare centres throughout Kosovo, relying on the involvement of reportedly more than 7,000 volunteers. However, the Society and its volunteers did not merely fill the gap in medical care, but also participated in political decision-making through their close relationship with actors in the Kosovo-Albanian 'parallel structures'.