EconomicEmpowerment and

Fight againstPoverty of Women

in BosniaHerzegovina

Program ''Economic Progream

‘’Economic Empowerment and Poverty

Reduction of Women in Bosnia

Herzegovina targets vulnerable

chatgeories of women who do not have

access to other sources of ffinancing.

Women single heads of households –

sinlge mothers or widows, women over

45 years of age who lost jobs as a

consequence of the war, women with

special needs, victims of domestic

violence, women at the most risk of

becoming victims of trafficking, users of

social beefits displaced and minority

women, especially Roma.Wehther they live in urban or rural areaswomen face same disadvatagesand obstacles – e.g. discrimation onthe base of age.

Maksuma Šuvalić

Re-fiiling of printer cartridges

When she approached BHWI FoundationMaksuma Šuvalić was displaced womanleft without employment as aconsequence of the war. At the age of50, she found herself in the urban setting and at the age that was not ‘’attractive’’to newly emerged employers. Being capable of wokring but not findingemployment, Maksuma deeveloped idea of starting own business. That is how Amsi d.o.o started, with thefinancial support from BHWI for machines, repro material and registrationcosts . In consecutive year, with technicallsupport of BHWI, Amsi d.o.o. applied forand received additional funding forexpansion from the Ministry forEntrepreneurship and Crafts. Currently,Amsi d.o.o employs three workers.

Slobodanka Ćorluka

Sheep breeing

Slobodanka Ćorluka, minority returnee, wasemployed in industry before the war. Whenshe approached BHWI she was unemployedand not yet eligible for retierment. Living inisolation in rural areas around Mostar she had literaly none chances for securingmeans of living. Isolation and the absence of running water inher village determine sheep breeding as the only effective income generatingactivity for this middle-aged women. Today she has byers coming to herdoorstep, which is an additional advantagenot having to invest in trasport anddistribuition.

Women form rural areas are in aespecially difficult position to findemployment. They have limited access tofunding and credits, partly because of theirisolation and partly due to the fact that theyin most cases do not own any property as aguarantee for bank credit.

Even though agricultural activity requiresparticipation of entire family , women areprimary applicants with BHWI Foundation –they sign contracts, need to open bankaccount for the purpose of projectimplementation and are responsible formanaging own project. We believe by that

thisfact alone we improve position of ruralwomen. Funding they receive becomes

visiblecontribution to their families which results intheir better standing and recognition from the

family and the community as whole.

Investments into development of small familyfarms, offers durable solutions for rural families. It presents transfer from agriculture as a way of life intoagriculture as a profession.Only from the sale of flowers seedlings inspring and flowers for All Saints day inautumn these three women earn over 12,000BAM a year.

Greenhouse vegetable productionSolidarity group of women, Srebrenica

Greenhouse flower productionSolidarity group of women, Čelebići

Cheeken breeding Solidarity group of women, Ljubinje

Only two years after the start ofproduction, beneficiary registeredcooperative. The current number ofmembers of cooperative is over 80women who produce milk and halfproducts. After becoming membersof cooperative each of these women wasable to receive incentive from theMinistry for Agriculture to enlarge numberof cows. Today, company 'Dedić‘had contracts for distribution of theirproducts in all big supermarketchains throughout the country.

One such example is project ''Cheese production'' whose aim was to expand and improve already established home production of cheese. Production was based on buying off milk from small localfarms (one to two cows per farm)and production of cheese followingtraditional recipe of the region.

Mirsada DedićCheese Production

One woman, dental nurse by profession who, at the age of 42,was left without any means of income, had a vision and BHWI Foundation was able to providesupport. The initial and consecutive fund received from BHWI Foundation allowed purchase of modern machinery for packaging and production and expansion in quantity and assortment of final products.

BHWI gives priority to projects whoseimplementation includes differentstakeholders in the community or projectsthat fit within local development plan, thussecuring long-term sustainability of theproject. In this way, project beneficiariesare able to access additional sources offinancing especially incentives from thestate for business development

Minority returnee women from suburban areas around Mostar who were mostly employed in the town before the war but were left without employment upon their return, turned towards resources at hand for securing means of living. They re-established their pre-war vineyards from the fund received by BHWI Foundation. Consequently they gained right to access incentives from the Ministry of Agriculture and to receive an additional 0,50 BAM for each 1 BAM received by BHWI Foundation.

Re-establishment of vineyardsSolidarity group of women,Hodbina

This project is one of the most successfully examples of very good co-operation of three sectors (state, non governmental and private) working together. Besides the initial fund for education of 5 young women received from BHWI Foundation, additional funding was received from Municipality for their travel costs exam fees, exam without which they cannot get employment in own profession. The certificates received after the exam are entered into individual employment books issued by the employment centre. Education was taking place at the private physiotherapy salon as well as public hospital where beneficiaries were given chance to practice under supervision of professionals. All five women have passed the exam. One of them stayed to work in the private salon and one in the hospital. The remaining three beneficiaries have very good chances to start work upon the call, visiting potential patients at home and thus earning income.

Education of physical therapistZenica

The advantage of the local grant makeris a great knowledge of local needs andconditions.In that sense BHWI Foundation canprovide targeted support where needed,supporting both traditional and nontraditional activities. This is especially important in urban ormore populated areas where smallbusiness, besides favourable cost ofservice/goods has to offer something new to stand out in order to find its way towardscustomers.

Mobile hairdressers, Banjaluka

Project’’ Mobile hairdressers was atraditional activity ‘with a twist’. It aim wasto bring the hairdressers to the doorstep insuburban areas of Banjaluka. Besidesobvious economic gain for the group ofyoung hairdressers, project also providedvaluable service for the community,especially for very young and veryold persons . BHWI Foundation funded bicycles andhairdressing equipment.

Pasta production, Zavidovići

Production of lamps and other items

of iron, Zenica

Production of patchwork clothing,

Fashion Show, Sarajevo

Production of

unique woollen

clothes,

Group of

Asylum

seekers,

Rakovica

BHWI believes in principle of EqualOpportunities. Some groups of women arediscriminated on several accounts – aswomen, as Romas, as persons withdisabilities. BHWI Foundations believethat all of us are entrepreneurs.

Young Roma women, asylum seeker ,with

completed 4 grades of primary school. She

was a victim of arranged marriage and

domestic violence. After being rescues from

that environment, she joined group for

crocheting in Asylum centre in Rakovica

and started earning income from own work.

All clothing items are produced under the

supervision of designer who distributes

products in one boutique in Sarajevo.

Production of plastic items

Široki Brijeg

Young woman with disabilities

started own business producing

plastic household items and

packaging

Association of parents of children

with special needs established

Laundry service which employs three

young women, two of whom are

persons with special needs.

BHWI strongly supports projects of

education believing that only through

constant improvement of own skills and

abilities women can become competitive

on the job market.

Depending on the actual needs of the

beneficiary group as well as the demands for

certain types of work, training are

tailored to suit beneficiary group. They vary

from tailoring courses , internships, specific

types of training such as greenhouse

production, accounting etc.

Depending on the type of training, in principal

most training are group training , followed,

were necessary, by individual consultations in

the field.

Training for women who receivedgreenhouse from BHWI fund

Group of asylum seekers at theBAGAT school of tailoring , Sarajevo

Group of asylum seekers at theWorkshop Silk painting, Salakovac

Women in business, training team

Besides education targeting women, BHWI

supports projects for changes of gender

policies in economic sector targeting

governmental and public representatives

as well as gender oriented NGOs.

BHWI supported series of workshop

‘’Gender sensitive budgeting’’ at

The municipality level in Sarajevo. The

aim of the workshops was to sensitise

municipal representatives (120

participants) to consider interest of

women in planning and budgeting.

The workshops resulted in

development of the criteria for equal

opportunities, and as a first step

municipality Novi Grad, separated

approx. 30.000,00 KM for gender

related projects from budget for the

next year. Further to that , the

municipality has formed the

Commission for gender equality that

monitors gender component. It

consists of the representatives of

the department for displaced and

refugees and the Department for

economy.

Job seeking skills

This training focus is on the improvement

of life and job seeking skills. Young women,

first time job seekers, were theoretically and

practically educated in the areas of computing,

Business administration, communication ,

working rights, gender rights etc. Through

simulation of job interviews , writing of CVs,

internet job seeking etc. they were provided

with skills but also introduced to the potential

dangers that might be hidden behind the job

advertisements, all with the aim of making safe

life decisions about own job and carrier.

Offering tailored specialised training for improvement of  job seeking skills, in the case of Roma minorities means offering Basic literacy training.

Gender sensitive budgeting, Sarajevo

Basic literacy skills

Fondacija BH inicijativa žena BHWI Foundation Sarajevo, Fra Anđela Zvizdovića 1B/7, UNITIC TowerTel: ++ 387 33 295 416Fax: ++ 387 33 295 418E-mail: sekretarijat@bhwifoundation.com.ba