At the end of October, Citizens’ Initiative Mostar, with the help of PRO-Future’s small grants programs, successfully completed their project “Better Together”. The project brought together women from Mostar, Široki Brijeg and Nevesinje, to promote bonding as an important aspect of peacebuilding.

“We wanted to help connect women from these communities that are so similar yet so separate. I’m happy to see that some rigid stances changed, some ideas about others re-evaluated - that’s the main idea in our project, I think”, said Hikmeta Rizvanović from the Citizens’ Initiative Mostar.

The project began in September and included workshops on reconciliation and diversity, mental health and the importance of raising awareness of breast cancer and the importance of prevention.

“All these women will go back to their communities and share this experience with others. These meetings that we have, like the one today, are like a pebble you throw in the water - the pebble sinks and leaves ever-expanding ripples. This makes me very happy”, said Hikmeta.

The participants visited Mostar’s historical sites and talked about cultural heritage as a reconciliation factor.

“PRO-Future projects are great because they let you meet new people and experience something new”, said Aleksandra Kravić from the Association “Hercegovka” from Nevesinje.

Aleksandra met Antoniju Banožić from Široki Brije, who, like her friends, was a bit skeptical about this visit. But now she’s already planning another visit to Nevesinje and her new friends.

“When we were on our way to Nevesinje, I was wondering what the visit would look like. After the first half-hour, I asked them: “So, what do you think?” and they all said: “We’ll definitely do this again!” The women were happy to spend time together, talk and make new friends. It made us see that we all have the same problems and goals in our different communities, and in those respects, we’re no different from each other”, said Antonija.

The projects “Better Together” was funded by USAID through the PRO-Future peacebuilding project implemented by CRS with partners in 75 local communities.

As a part of USAID’s PRO-Future project, an informal youth group with members from 5 cities in BiH organized an event called “Peace Caravan”. During the Peace Caravan, 15 young people from Doboj, Žepče and nearby areas visited places of worship and memorials for civilian victims of war in these two towns. During the visits, they talked to religious officials and learned more about various religious customs. They also had a chance to talk to representatives of the local administrations to learn what the local community is doing when it comes to peacebuilding.

PRO-Future is a USAID project for building peace and reconciliation among members of all ethnic and religious groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The project is implemented by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in cooperation with Caritas BiH, the Institute for Youth Development KULT, Forum of Citizens of Tuzla (FGT), Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly (hCA) and the Interreligious Council in BiH (MRV BiH).

While they were in Žepče, they visited the Ferhat Pasha Mosque where they learned about the Mosque’s history, and about this religious community in Žepče and their relationship with other religious communities. After a meeting with representatives of the Žepče Islamic Community Majlis, the caravan visited the Orthodox Christian church of St. Paraskeva.

The goal of this project is to create a better atmosphere conducive to coexistence and honoring all civilian victims of war. Žepče municipality is one of the few municipalities with one common memorial for all victims of war, regardless of their religion or nationality. During the visit to the memorial, the delegation of Žepče Municipality laid flowers along with the Peace Caravan. The delegation consisted of the Mayor Mato Zovko, Council Chairman Muhamed Jusufović and a representative of the Žepče Association of civilian victims of war Kenan Kahriman.

The Peace Caravan ended its journey in the Church of St. Anthony of Padua, by talking to representatives of the Žepa parish.

All three religious communities that work together through the Interreligious Council sent a message of peace and tolerance, in a fitting example of cooperation and coexistence in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Long-term peacebuilding in the region is the only way forward.

During the visit to the Grapska memorial, Aljo Hasanović, a local from Grapska who maintains the memorial and lived through the horror of the war talked to the young participants about his experience.

Just like Žepče, Doboj offered the participants a rich display of diversity resulting from the coexistence of four major religions.

Tinjak Mosque, Sacred Heart of Jesus Church and the Temple of the Holy Virgin were some of the stops on the participants’ peace journey. After a conversation with Deputy Mayor of Doboj, Vlado Blagojević, the participants laid flowers on the memorials to civilian victims of war in Doboj, located in the city park.

The long-term goal of this project is to foster cooperation among organizations and participation of young people in socially beneficial projects that build trust and promote reconciliation.

Building bridges is the only way forward.

More information about USAID’s PRO-Future project is available on the www.probuducnost.ba website.

Through the project PRO-Future, USAID and the Institute for Youth Development KULT are issuing a public call for awarding small grants.

The Pro-Future project has been continuously providing grants for initiatives that contribute to the process of reconciliation and trust building in BiH, advocate for peace, work on the collective vision of a stable future and connect local communities.

The Call is open to youth associations, informal youth groups and CSOs in local communities participating in the PRO-Future project.  

The applicants are required to shape their ideas and proposals in accordance with the Platform for Peace, which is a result of years of intensive work within the PRO-Future project in local communities across BiH.

Applicants are required to submit their application online (link HERE) with all the required forms (listed below) by November 16, 2020, 3:00 p.m.

Areas of interest and forms

The project proposals must concern peacebuilding and building trust in BiH.

Funds, i.e. small grants will be available for activities/initiatives in the areas listed below.
Click on the document name listed for each area to open the set of forms for applying:

Small grants for supporting youth (Links: PUBLIC CALL and FORM for the project proposal)
Small grants for CSOs (Links: PUBLIC CALL and FORM  for the project proposal)

The form for the budget is identical for all applicants and available HERE.

USAID’s project PRO-Future is implemented by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in cooperation with Caritas BiH, the Institute for Youth Development KULT, Forum of Citizens of Tuzla (FGT), Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly (hCA) and the Interreligious Council in BiH (MRV BiH).

USAID’s peace project, PRO-Future, awarded 80 grants, providing over 400,000 BAM for the implementation of activities promoting peacebuilding. Grantees are municipalities and cities, churches and religious communities, NGOs, informal youth groups and associations of war victims from more than 40 local communities in BiH.

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