Community Development Program

About the program

With a goal of breaking down the still prevalent racial prejudices left in the wake of the Bosnian War of 1992-95, this wonderfully unique social development project was established with the sole purpose of creating and improving relationships between the young people of historically conflicting ethnic groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Through a combination of youth-focused education and arts projects based in Brcko in Bosnia’s North West, a region where unemployment figures are as high as 40%, this multi-ethnic ‘anti-segregation’ project aims to create and foster connections between young people from the area as well as increase their self-confidence to create opportunities for them to work toward a united and stable nation. Dissolving generations of inherited, deep-seated racial prejudices can be a long and arduous task, and international volunteers, themselves from a diverse range of ethnic backgrounds, demonstrating compassion and indiscriminate empathy to the children, play an important role in achieving the desired outcomes of this ambitious project.

Goals of this Project:

• Provide support for at-risk children in Bosnian and Herzegovina
• Foster positive relationships and understanding between peoples
• Promote anti-segregation and build at risk youth’s confidence and self-worth
• Provide an opportunity for cross cultural exchange between volunteers and locals

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Volunteer's role

To achieve the ambitious and courageous goals of this program, the program works on several areas of focus which volunteers will assist with:

• Deliver team building activities and work on projects with youth
• Support and encourage youth through various discussions and activities
• Organize other activities, games and mentoring as required
• Assist program staff with organization and other task as required

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Requirements

Love Volunteers welcomes all those 18 years and over who wish to help create a brighter future for people living in marginalized communities of Bosnia. While this project is best suited to those pursuing a career in the fields of anthropology, social work, social entrepreneurship and/or economics, volunteers who simply wish to be involved in a more ‘varied’ project are also welcomed as there are many ways you can assist and individual projects can often be tailored to suit the particular skills and interests or each participant. As volunteers on this program will be working with young people of mixed language ability, with only some of whom speaking English (or German), each volunteer is expected to study the local language/s (Serbian/Bosnian/Croatian) during their time in Brcko and to this end they will each be provided with a short language course as part of the program.

Additionally, volunteers applying to join this program will be required to supply to following documentation:

• Emergency contact
• Police check
• Resume