Country Directors
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Country Director Seida Saric’s Journal January 2005
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Country Director Seida Saric’s Journal March 2004
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Country Director Seida Saric’s Journal January 2005
This last year in Bosnia and Herzegovina, we at Women for Women International witnessed something very special and very important to our country – an increased interaction among women of different ethnic backgrounds. We were very pleased to see that in Busovaca, a town in the center of Bosnia and Herzegovina and deeply divided by the war, the women are beginning to work together.
Before the war, Busovaca had a mixed population of roughly equal numbers of Catholic and Muslim residents, with a small Serbian Orthodox population. But like so many towns in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the war separated the people, and many Muslims fled. And because of the serious crimes against humanity that were committed in the area, there was a greater separation among religions in Busovaca than in some other parts of the country.
Recently, Muslims have been returning, but the town has remained deeply divided. Muslims and Catholicsgo to different medical clinics, and Muslims have to go to a different town for medical attention. Muslim children must also go to the neighboring town to attend school, while the Catholics from that town come to Busovaca to go to school.These great divisions are preventing the community and the country from moving forward and developing a democratic civil society. Moreover, the municipality of Busovaca is also one of the poorest in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina; the industry that existed before the war is now gone and unemployment is very high.
Women for Women International opened an office in Busovaca in 2000 to begin its Sponsorship and Renewing Women’s Life Skills (ReneWLS) programs of rights awareness, leadership education and vocational and technical skills training. Returnees faced the difficulties of harsh economic conditions and social reintegration. Women of different ethnic backgrounds didn’t greet each on the street, even those who had been close friends before the war. Eight years had passed since the war ended, but the distrust was as strong as ever.
When we arrived in Busovaca, however, all the women were invited to take part in our program together, regardless of their religion. Muslims, Catholics and Orthodox Serb women all participated, and together had the opportunity to learn about and discuss women’s rights -- a topic which had previously been completely foreign to them — and acquire new skills. They saw that with the organization they had a place where they could be together and talk freely without fear of being judged or criticized for being friends with or talking with someone from another religion.Now, more than 200 women in Busovaca have participated in the Sponsorship and ReneWLS Programs, and things are changing. The women have more initiative, are stronger, more open, more active, and have ideas for projects in the community. They have recognized opportunities and worked together, not as a group of Muslim women or Catholic women, simply as women. Some women have started their own income-generating activities, such as making and selling handicrafts, and joined the organization’s microcredit lending program. One woman who recently completed the Sponsorship and ReneWLS Program told us that she had just earned 25 KM (approximately $17 USD) selling her handicrafts, the first income she had ever received. Another woman, who had worked before the war but who had been unemployed for several years, learned embroidery through the ReneWLS Program. Now she is selling some of her embroidery work, thereby increasing her family’s income, and is planning to take a loan to expand her business. To see women taking charge of their lives in this way also provides other women in the community with examples of what they are capable of accomplishing.
One woman approached Razija, our Program Manager and thanked us for “uniting women from the town, city and village, bringing together women of various religious backgrounds and nationalities, urban and rural women, women of differing educational backgrounds, and women from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the U.S.” She said, “These things have brought changes into my life, and given me hope that we will have a better future in Bosnia.” It has been very rewarding for us to see the women becoming more active, more involved in women’s issues together.
After introducing our program to Busovaca, we had the impression that the women there had been waiting for something, or someone, to bring them together – they needed someone to unite them and to remind them that they had once been great neighbors. We reminded them that they were all women and they needed to help each other, and that by thinking this way their lives could be changed. As a result, they began to approach us and tell us that it was very painful for them to be separated, that they had needed an organization such as ours to arrive. After some time, we even had some women of one religion bring women of a different religion to the program.
We also recently completed a project in Busovaca that trained women to be leaders in their communities and to promote women’s rights and issues. The project, which included women from all three ethnicities, encouraged women to take a more active part in society and play a greater leadership role in their communities. As a result, they are able to use their new skills to identify the problems that exist in their communities and take the initiative to solve such problems through the democratic process, which is crucial in rebuilding civil society in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Some of the main goals were for women to be more active in the local community, to have more women in politics and public life, and for them to have better chances in either finding employment or beginning their own income-generating activities.
This leadership training project also involved the formation of a Coordinating Board, consisting of 15 women, some of whom are our participants but also including other women from the community, to represent women's rights and interests in the municipal government. The Coordinating Board in Busovaca includes women from the three major religions. Although we were a little concerned about the women working well together, this concern proved unnecessary -- the women are working very effectively and have united to promote women’s issues and rights, to help themselves and others.
One Coordinating Board member, Sanja Glavurda, does legal work to help poor women in Busovaca. Sanja told us about how difficult it is for a woman to show her strengths and abilities in the traditional environment of Busovaca. And for many women with only a primary school education, life is even more difficult. Many of these women stay in violent marriages solely to receive food and shelter.
One young Board member, Nermena, who was only a teenager during the war, told us that the real value of the leadership training project was that all three nationalities showed interest in women’s issues together, not just the issues of their ethnic group. They have realized that their problems are the same. She also said that before joining the program she was closed and shy, and that because of the organization she has become more assertive and ready to fight for women’s issues. She also began working as a volunteer to teach illiterate women how to read and write, and says that without participating in the program, she would never have thought of doing such a thing.
Sanja also told us that the town’s women were so enthusiastic about the project because something like it had been desperately needed there, and once it began everyone knew how important it was for all of them to come together. She said that it was her great wish for such a project to take place in all communities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, adding that if it could work in Busovaca, it could work anywhere.
The spirit of unity did not come to an end when the leadership project was complete. Now, women of all ethnicities are working together on projects to assist others in need. For example, the women are currently organizing a fundraiser for a child needing an operation. Zeljka Bosnjak, a member of the Coordinating Board, told us that one year ago this would not have happened in Busovaca, that only the Catholic women or Muslim women would have organized such an activity, but not all of them together. She also said that now the women are also meeting socially, and that this has happened only since Women for Women International began working there. In her words, “Ethnicity has been thrown away.”
The town’s women are also working together on another project – this one to improve the economic situation of women. They are organizing a bazaar to exhibit their handicrafts and other products, through which they expect to sell their products as well as promote their skills. Also to promote local handicrafts, the Coordinating Board is planning to have a shop opened for the women’s crafts, which would not only give them a place to sell their products and create greater visibility for their handicrafts, but also provide employment for some women in the community.
One of the most important results of our work in Busovaca has been the change in the attitude of the local government towards women’s issues -- officials are showing more respect towards women’s issues and taking them more seriously. Municipal leaders have promised to provide space for the women to hold meetings, to provide financial support, and to recognize the Coordinating Board once it has been registered legally. They have also committed to providing assistance in finding a greater market for women’s handicrafts.
Because our programs have been so successful in Busovaca, there is now a long list of women awaiting sponsorship. Family, friends and neighbors of participants have come to us after seeing the benefits of the organization’s programs and projects not only on individual women but in the community as a whole. They have seen women working together, beginning their own income-generating activities with their newly acquired skills, and the local community showing greater respect towards them.
Busovaca is a success story for our organization; however, there remains a great need to offer our programs and projects such as leadership training in other parts of the country. While much of the world is focused on other parts of the globe, Bosnia and Herzegovina remains a very poor country where women, unless they are educated, continue to play traditional roles. It is only with the assistance of our sponsors that we are able to grow and expand into new regions of the country and reach more women. We continue to be deeply grateful for every sponsor who provides a woman in Bosnia and Herzegovina with opportunities and hope for the future.
Thank you for all that you do.
Sincerely,
Seida Saric
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Country Director Seida Saric’s Journal March 2004
In Bosnia, 2004 has the potential to be the year that the greatest steps yet are ta ken towards advancing women’s status in civil society. There have been developments through new projects at Women for Women International, as well as developments in the government of Bosnia. We would like to share this exciting progress with our sponsors, without whom our work in Bosnia would not be possible.
First, Women for Women International – Bosnia and Herzegovina has been working on a new project that complements our core program of sponsorship, rights awareness education and vocational skills training. This project, called Women’s Rights and Leadership Training in Rural Areas of BiH (Bosnia-i-Herzegovina), helps Bosnian women become leaders in their community and therefore become more active in making the decisions that affect women.
One hundred and twenty women who have shown interest in and potential for becoming community leaders were selected from our program to participate in the project. The women receive training to become trainers, leaders and promoters of women’s human rights in their communities by taking part in seminars such as “ How to Lead a Group,” “Public Advocacy of Women’s Human Rights,” and “Recognition of Needs in the Community.”
After participating in these seminars, the women use their new skills to identify problems that exist in their communities and to discuss what action is necessary to solve these problems. There have been concrete results from women who have received similar training in the past: one group of participantsused their leadership skills to work together and approach their local government to acquire a new bus line. They were successful and have since petitioned their local government for other community improvements. The women clearly learned how to identify problems and how to take the initiative to solve them. This is crucial to rebuilding civil society in Bosnia.
As part of this project, we are also forming Coordinating Boards to represent women's rights and interests at the municipal level. These boards will address needs that arise affecting women in the community and they will initiate new activities and programs in support of women. In one community, the Coordinating Board worked with another local women’s group to provide health education and prenatal care for women in the community. In addition to participants taking part in the Boards, local government counselors will also be lobbied to become members of the Coordinating Boards. The hope is that by including government representatives the Boards will increase the promotion of women’s issues within. This law is necessary if women in Bosnia are to make the decisions that affect their lives. There still exist great challenges for women as we move towards equality in Bosnia, and one of the greatest challenges is the lack of women in public life. In a country where politics are completely dominated by men, men are making all of the decisions that affect women. Although this will not change over night, this new law aids in making it easier for women to take on roles traditionally held by men.
After each group of participants or Coorrdinating Boards completes a project Women for Women International – Bosnia and Herzegovina along with the women will hold public meetings with representatives of the local government, other NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations), the media and local citizens in order to inform them about the project and its results. In this way, the project's goal of creating awareness of women's rights and interests is spread within the local population.
A second development this year has been the beginning of the implementation of the Law on Gender Equality. In many Western countries it is ta ken for granted that discrimination against women is illegal but in Bosnia, a country in transition, the introduction of such a law is a great step forward for women’s rights. Our hope and expectation is that the law, which was enacted in June 2003, will aid in the advancement of Bosnian women’s rights.
The law promotes and protects real gender equality and guarantees equal possibilities in private and public spheres of life. It forbids discrimination based on gender in all segments of society and especially in education and employment. The law is considered one of the most comprehensive gender equality laws in the region.
Unfortunately, the implementation of this law has been slow. However, through a project entitled Equality through the Law Women for Women International – Bosnia and Herzegovina is working with the Gender Equality Coalition, a group of women’s NGOs in Bosnia, to advocate for faster implementation as well as to raise awareness among citizens, government officials and the media about the mandates of the new law.
For example, it is important for women in Bosnia that violence of all kinds has been made illegal through this law. Domestic violence has long been an issue that is kept hidden within the family. By making domestic violence illegal, this law helps raise public awareness of the problem. Many women in our program knew nothing about this law before participating in Women for Women International’s education classes.
Overall, these new developments mean that there is greater hope in Bosnia for the future of women in this country. We would like to thank our sponsors for their active participation in helping these developments take place. Without our sponsors, the participants would not be learning how to promote women’s rights, nor about the new law that could affect them so greatly. Bosnia needs its sponsoring sisters in America to help them continue to grow and learn about such vital issues.
Seida Saric , Country Director
Women for Women International – Bosnia and Herzegovina
