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: [email protected]