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Surveys conducted by the youth group ‘Alter’, based in Bosanski Brod, show
that over 50 percent of citizens in the municipality think that volunteering
means working for free. Almost 90 percent of them do not know about the Freedom
of Access to Information Act.
That is why ‘Alter’ has implemented two projects in the municipality; one which
promotes the Freedom of Access to Information Act and a second, neighborhood
volunteerism.
“We have been conducting this campaign for almost two months, among representatives
of local authorities and citizens of Bosanski Brod. We wanted to show them what
they gain from the application of this law (FOIA), what their rights and their
responsibilities are. I think that the campaign was fruitful”, said Zorica Stjepanovic,
president of the youth organization ‘Alter’.
‘Alter’ was established four years ago and currently has around 70 members,
mostly young people from Bosanski Brod. They were involved in many activities.
One of the projects, named “Free Fall”, focuses on fighting drug addiction.
“Together with the pediatrician and the inspector for narcotics, we held a
series of lectures in primary and secondary schools” said Stjepanovic. “We wanted
to explain what young people do not know when they start using drugs”. In her
opinion, a lack of information often causes unwanted consequences.
“The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina in cooperation with ‘Alter’ implemented
those two campaigns in Bosanski Brod. We chose them for the interest they showed
in our contacts and concrete ideas they have. These young people want to improve
life in their local community and this was, I dare to say, the main reason,”
said Milana Memic, OSCE Democratization officer.
Bosanski Brod, situated in the northern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina has
15,000 inhabitants and is moderately a developed town. According to Stjepanovic,
young people do not have many choices and it is rather difficult to find a job
there. Because of poor media coverage, young people decided to start their own
information campaign.
“First of all, we wanted to find out what our citizens know about these projects
and whether they need more clarification,” continued Stjepanovic. “We conducted
a survey and came up with disturbing findings; namely, citizens did not know
much about the Freedom of Access to Information Act nor about volunteerism.
Supported by both the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina and local authorities,
we organized public debates, radio-shows at the local radio-station, set up
information stands in the town and surrounding communities, and distributed
information leaflets. In parallel to this, we asked citizens what were the biggest
problems they faced and how we could solve them jointly.”
An analysis of projects already implemented shows that senior citizens were
more interested in the Freedom of Access to Information Act and what this law
brings, said members of ‘Alter’. Young people wanted to learn more about volunteerism
and where and how to volunteer in Bosanski Brod.
‘Alter’ continues with its work. In the future, they want to focus more on
the promotion of youth policy. According to Memic, the OSCE will continue to
cooperate with the youth group. “OSCE plans to support efforts made by this
organization targeted at the promotion and implementation of youth policy in
the municipality and institutionalization of mechanisms which will support the
concrete involvement of youth into the decision-making processes at the local
level. The main goal is to strengthen the youth sector and make their activists
true partners with the authorities in the process of developing the implementation
of local policies.”
The overall goals of these projects are to encourage citizens’ involvement
in decision-making processes, increase transparency among the local authorities
and the improvement of administrative services delivered to the citizens of
Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the root of this is the belief that active citizens
and transparent and accountable government are pillars of any modern democratic
society.
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