“WOMEN’S POLITICAL LOBBY”

supported by Kvinna till Kvinna

The main goal of the project is an equal distribution of power among men and women or the implementation of the Law on gender equality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The implementation of this Law provides an essential change in the BH society brought about through legal changes and amendments, gender budgets, programmatic changes in the literature, schoolbooks and the media, various processes that will have a gender sensitive and equal treatment of all activities, programmes, appearances and provide in this way an equal distribution of power among men and women in BH.

The project included activities that had following objectives:

1. To contribute to the creation of a unique women’s political lobby in the Republic of Srpska.
2. To contribute to the resolution of the financing status for Safe houses in the Republic of Srpska.
3. To empower and to encourage women-politicians from the Election unit 6.

During the reporting period we have organised four round tables in RS and two in FBH for women-parliamentarians, ministers, representatives of various institutions, media and NGO representatives, two campaigns and six round tables in each municipality of Eastern Herzegovina on the subject of the systematic solution of the financing issue of Safe houses in RS as well as in our region/Eastern Herzegovina. This project also included the education for women from political actives in the Election unit 6 in order to give them support and help. The result of these activities was the establishment of the women’s lobby.

The activities that have been carried out through the year 2007 are:

1. Round tables for women-parliamentarians and ministers and representatives of women’s NGOs
2. Campaigns
3. Education for women-politicians from actives of the Election unit 6
4. Panel discussions in municipalities of Eastern Herzegovina as additional project activities

Round tables for women-parliamentarians and ministers and representatives of women’s NGOs

In 2007 we have organised 6 Round tables as it was planned in the project and as follows:

26. February 2007 – Round table in Banja Luka with 19 participants. The introductory part on this Round table has been done by Lana Jajčević. This Round table showed all deficiencies and rivalry within the sector of women’s NGO and we did not have, unfortunately, the understanding and support of other members of the KTK network in RS. However, this Round table was successful because it gathered women from the media and women-ministers as well as representatives of those organisations that already have a Safe house (Udružene žene from Banja Luka, Budućnost from Modriča and Lara from Bijeljina). Representatives of the Gender centre were also invited but they did not respond on the invitation. The Round table had an informative character for nearly all women-ministers and media representatives. According to them, they did not have any insight into this issue. At that point, we could see the development of solidarity among them. That was the beginning of the creation of an informal core of a women’s lobby in RS. Then we were the first in Bosnia and Herzegovina who required a systematic solution for the financing of Safe houses in RS and we explained why it is important to provide such financing for Safe houses intended for victims of domestic violence. We made an action plan that was later modified according to the situational development (from the model that we have offered up o the ways of lobbying and selection of target groups).

30. May 2007 – Second Round table in Banja Luka with 12 participants. The introductory part on this Round table was done by Mira Lolić Močević – the director of the RT RS program. Each Round table had very strong media coverage and reports in the main news, Srpska danas and in the morning programme of RT RS. Thus, women in media were very important and they are mainly responsible for a great media coverage and success of these activities (particularly Mira Lolić Močević). Participants on this Round table were media representatives, women-politicians (parliamentarians), representatives of women’s NGOs, representatives of those ministries that we have invited because they work, directly or indirectly, with this issue. We sent an invitation to the Ministry of justice, the Ministry for family, youth and sport, the Ministry of health and social protection, the Ministry of local administration and self-management, the Ministry of finances, the Ministry of education and culture, the Gender centre as well as to other representatives that work within other ministries that are important because the possibility of lobbying and their position/as a support to our activities and lobbying within governmental bodies. From all above mentioned ministries only representatives of the Ministry of local administration and self-management and the Ministry of education and culture participated while all others did not appear. Representatives of the evaluation team, engaged by Ktk for this activity, have been present on this Round table.

We came up on this Round table with a concrete proposal of a possible financing model that we modified on this meeting together with the rest of the group. On the same day was the meeting of the Council for equal possibilities within the RS National Assembly. We used the position of one of our participants, the minister Ms. Gordana Dukić and participated on that meeting where this topic was named on our insisting and the financing issue of Safe houses was delegated by the Council. The public hearing by this important governmental body on the subject “Financing of Safe houses in the Republic of Srpska” was appointed for the 18^th of June in Banja Luka. Representative of our organisation was also invited. Our model offered a financing possibility that includes four parallel financial resources, which enable an absolute safety for the work of safe houses. These resources include:

• Two resources from the Government budget and through the Ministry for family, youth and sport and the Ministry of health and social protection
• Third resource includes those municipalities whose region is covered by the Safe house. Each municipality participates in that budget based on the number of inhabitants.
• The fourth resource is provided by the management team of the Safe house. In this way the Safe house cannot become ballast that has stable financial resources and stops to be operational.

26. June 2007 – Third Round table in Sarajevo whereon the introductory part was done by the professor Nada Ler Sofrontić, the president of the organisation “Žena i društvo (Woman and society)”. There were 20 participants on this Round table: women-parliamentarians from the Representation House and the FBH House of Nations, representatives of the organisation Medika from Zenica, the Local democracy from Sarajevo, the Committee of blind women from Sarajevo, Most from Višegrad, Duvanjke from Tomislavgrad, BH Žena, Gender centre of Federation of BH, Budućnost from Modriča and numerous media. All members of the KtK network in BH have been invited to this Round table as well as those organisations that already have a safe house. In our efforts to inform our colleagues from the Federation and their women-politicians, we presented our planned and achieved results directed towards the systematic solution of the financing issue for Safe houses in RS. Fortunately, we were welcomed and all participants were grateful because we initiated and started these activities and invited them to do the same in the Federation. We then made an agreement what needs to be done to initiate this issue in the Federation. Our colleagues from Medika announced that the next meeting regarding this issue will be organised in Zenica for the FBH.

12. December 2007 – Fourth Round table in Banja Luka where the introductory part was done by the journalist and activist in women’s issues Anđa Ilić. Each of our round tables was practically a meeting whereon we informed each other about our activities and results achieved as well as about our future plans. In this way we knew that the changes and amendments of the Law on protection from domestic violence were proposed for the agenda and that we had to wait when they will be finally on the National Assembly. It was extremely important to have the right information in the right time, to contact and lobby for the adoption of appropriate proposals.

18. December 2007 – Fifth Round table in Sarajevo. This Round table was the second in Sarajevo and we wanted to inform our colleagues about our activities and results and to see what they have achieved in the Federation since the previous Round table. The introductory part on this Round table was done by Dubravka Kovačević. There were 29 participants, most of them were women-politicians and NGOs that are not members of the KtK network and the Gender centre of the Federation of BH. It was great to find out how the colleagues organized themselves and successfully provided 200 000 KM in the budget for safe house for the year 2008. Even though this was only a one-off support, it is important to mention it because the initiative came from our previous Round table.

27. December 2007 – Sixth and final Round table in Banja Luka, with 20 participants. The introductory part was done by Gordana Dukić, member of the RS National Assembly and member of the Council for equal possibilities. Representatives of the RS Gender centre participated for the first time. We then discussed the current situation, proposals within the amendments and changes of the Law on protection from domestic violence that is, unfortunately, not in that form that we have suggested. According to them the financing of safe house should be the responsibility of municipalities and towns even though the Council for equal possibilities has sent to the National Assembly the conclusions from the 18^th of June wherein they practically delegate our model. Unfortunately, the main difficulty are the Ministry of health and social protection, the Ministry for family, youth and sport and the Gender centre that acts more like a governmental body that a body established to provide gender equality.

All participants on our round tables were a qualitative group for “pressure” that completely fulfilled our expectations and even more that that.

Campaigns

During the reporting period we were leading two campaigns as a support to the realization of a systematic solution for the financing of Safe houses. The campaigns included two TV emissions that were directed on activities towards finding a systematic solution for Safe houses (26. June and 12. December 2007). In the first emission was only our representative and the leader of the emission and the second emission was a live show together with Anđa Ilić and containing many reports and surveys from the Centre for public security Trebinje, the Centre for social work Trebinje and the prosecutor’s office with the aim to provide a clear picture about the needs for placement in safe houses. These campaigns included surveying, public appearances, leaflets and a street manifestation where the activists dressed in T-shirts with a clear message “Say “yes” to the systematic financing of safe houses”, were handing out leaflets to the citizens supported by the local media. As this issue was delegated to the National Assembly, the framework of our activities was directed to the “pressure” of the public on governmental structures in order to show that these are not only our opinions but the opinions of the RS citizens where the majority of the voting population is women who are mainly victims of domestic violence. We had several appearances on the local radio stations and TV emissions, which certainly contributed to the establishment of the public opinion on this subject.

Education for women from political actives in the Election unit 6

We have organised within this activity 8 one-day seminars, two in each municipality: Trebinje, Foča, Ljubinje and Bileća. The Election unit 6 has 12 municipalities: Trebinje, Ljubinje, Berkovići, Kalinovnik, Čajniče, Rudo, Višegrad, Nevesinje, Gacko, Bileća, Foča and Novo Goražde. We decided to invite in one municipality women from political actives from different municipalities in order to have an appropriate number for the organisation of focus groups, which is in average 25 participants. All political parties have been invited to participate on these activities and the activists from the Election unit 6 that has 18 political parties. As some of the planned participants are board members in Municipalities in Eastern Herzegovina, we made use of it and initiated some small actions in local communities identified by the women themselves. In some municipalities the establishment of municipal commissions for gender equality was initiated as a result of these seminars (i.e. in Trebinje). Our organisation will support these initiatives within local communities and help them in the lobbying of municipal authorities but also provide appropriate materials and other documents that are important for the members of the commissions. It became clear that women have very little possibilities to educate themselves regarding public appearances because their male colleagues are the ones who usually go on every meeting, particularly in other, bigger municipalities. That means that women in small municipalities, such as the municipalities of the Election unit 6 are in an unequal position in any sense including the presence in the media. But, they are aware of their lack of experience and they are trying to avoid public appearances. Our work with them on following topics:

• “Woman in politics”
• “Lobbying, advocacy and development pf own campaigns”
• “Public appearance and relations with media”
• “Practical part, preparation and organisation of concrete actions”

was therefore very important for them. It is particularly important to say that the educator on the first two topics was Mrs. Dušanka Majkić who is on the highest political position in RS that a woman-politician has. She is a very experienced and capable woman-politician who shared her practical good and bad experiences on the defined subjects. The third subject was prepared by the clinical psychologist, an activist of a political party and of the Women’s centre Ljiljana Špuran-Knežević who was bringing closer the media to the women-politicians in a very eloquent way, freeing them from their fear, shame, stage fright and resistance. The fourth and final topic about joint actions and planning in the local community was led by the project coordinator Ljiljana Čičković. This was mainly about the reel and practical actions named by the women themselves.

10. February 2007 – first one-day seminar in Trebinje with 33 participants and the second was organised on the 03. March with 33 participants.

17. February 2007 – first one-day seminar in Ljubinje with 18 participants and the second was organised on the 04. March with 21 participants.

01. April 2007 – first one-day seminar in Bileća with 28 participants and the second was organised on the 02. April with 28 participants.

19. May 2007 – first one-day seminar in Foča with 25 participants and the second was organised on the 20. May with the same group.

Panel discussions

The SIDA representative Mr. Joakim Molander and the representative of the KtK office in Sarajevo visited us on the 02^nd of May and on that occasion we had a meeting with the mayor of the Municipality Trebinje, Mr. Dobroslav Ćuk. SIDA representatives expressed their interest to finance the construction of the building of the Safe house in Trebinje if the Municipality Trebinje is ready to take the responsibility for ongoing costs for this Safe house. On the insisting of our Mayor, a justification study has been prepared to show the need for a Safe house. This study was prepared by the Centre for social work Trebinje and it showed that there is a need for a Safe house but it is not priority. Regardless of our efforts, there were no important steps forward in this direction. For the adoption of the study of justification on the 05. and 06. January 2007 on the Assembly of the Municipality Trebinje our representative was invited to participate in the work of the Assembly. She has spoken to the board members of the municipality Trebinje with a clear request to adopt it as a priority and to reject the proposal of a Study for usage of a flat as a placement for victims of domestic violence. These were the reasons why we applied in your organisation for an additional project to go through all municipalities of Eastern Herzegovina. The goal of all these panel discussions is to lobby representatives of local communities in Eastern Herzegovina (mayors, board members, municipal commissions for gender equality, centres for social work, police, prosecutor’s office, media) in order to create a positive policy towards the establishment of a regional Safe house for victims of domestic violence in the municipality Trebinje. Panel discussions provoked a high interest and attention of all above mentioned representatives in each municipality in Eastern Herzegovina: 10. December 2007 in Trebinje (36 participants), 26. December 2007 in Gacko (15 participants), 25. December 2007 in Bileća (27 participants), 28. December 2007 in Ljubinje (17 participants), 29. December 2007 in Berkovići (20 participants) and 31. December 2007 in Nevesinje (15 participants). One thing that became obvious for all participants are opinions that encouraged our organisation to continue in this way and that we have their full support. Their opinion is that a Safe house is necessary and that it should be of regional character and that all of them will do anything possible to enable its realisation in accordance with their professions. The Mayor of the Municipality Berkovići suggested to delegate this issue to the Association of municipalities of Eastern Herzegovina with the goal to obtain financial resources for its construction. During this reporting period we participated on the seminar Outcome mapping, organised by KtK from the 04. to 06. March this year in Sarajevo. In this reporting period we had a visit from Tanja Ignjatović who was preparing the evaluation of our organisation.

„CREATIVE CENTRE FOR CHILDREN“

supported by CNF-CEE andHungarian Embassy in BH

First of all the adaptation of the premises is to be done by this project. These premises were given to us by Trebinje Municipality for use over the period of 10 years. These will be used for the Children’s creative center, age group from 6 to 15, with different sections. It is necessary to adopt the place inside completely and it is necessary to replace the roof construction. The creative center will have five sectors: acting, journalist, music, photo, and art sector. It will also organize different exhibitions, fashion shows, knowledge quizzes, concerts and performances in Eastern Herzegovina. All activities are free of charge for children and youth. Beside these sectors there will be distribution of promotional materials and children newspaper, the project will have interactive workshops which include education on the problems of the young, TV and media shows, promotion and development of voluntary work in the local community.

1. Aim of the project:

The main goal of the Project is to enable a positive growing up for children aged from 6 to 18 and the building of their sensibilisation for socially vulnerable categories (victims of domestic violence, trafficking, poor, minorities etc.) as well as the development of their creativity and their critical responsibility on democratic principles in the region of Eastern Herzegovina.

2. Target group (brief description):

The Creative centre for children gathers primary children victims of domestic violence but it is open for all other children aged from 6 to 15 with the goal of their socialisation. This Centre enables children victims of domestic violence to direct their interests towards creative activities strengthening at the same time their personalities In this way they are getting rid of the label “problematic” children and we can show them that they are worth of respect and that life has another beautiful side and not only the dark one that is part of their every-day life. This new method of work proved to be as very successful because we are fulfilling their needs for company and the escape from the terrible reality. We want to transfer this wider on the local community as an example of good practice.

3. Specific objectives:

• Bringing into functional condition the building intended for the work of the Creative centre for children
• Strengthening and development of personality capacities of children victims of domestic violence through the development of their creativity in order to overcome personal traumas and socialise with other children within the Creative centre for children.
• To form responsible, democratic and open generations that think critically taking on the full responsibility for their actions and their lives.
• To remove the children from the street and to provide access to information with the goal to fight against addiction diseases, trafficking and other occurrences.

„SUPPORT TO WOMEN VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE“

supported by WWDP

The project has been implemented in duration of 12 months, from the 01^st of January to 31^st of December 2007. The goal of the project was primary, secondary and tertian prevention of domestic violence through counselling work with women victims of domestic violence, training for women, work on emancipation of girls and young women and public work, lobbying and awareness raising on those issues that are important for women.

The majority ofproject activities was relating to direct support to women victims of domestic violence through offering support on the SOS help line, individual and group counselling work and involvement in groups for support. Beside the direct counselling support for victims of domestic violence, it is important to mention the activities aimed at the emancipation of girls and young women as well as the work in the community aimed at further development of sensibility and responsiveness in the local community.

1.1 The SOS help line worked every day from 17:00 to 21:00. We choose this time because after 17:00, there are no state institutions, except the police and the health institutions that are open and where women could ask for support. But, according to our experience, it is this time period when the violence often happens. During the project there were 87 women who asked for help on the SOS help line, 27 of them called twice or more. Help was requested also by 18 children and 11 men (in one case the violator on a man was his wife and in 10 cases the violators were grown-up children). A total number of 272 interventions were provided on the SOS help line. This is a relatively small number of services offered, but it is significant because in all these cases we are talking about people who were never asking for support in the past. The anonymity of the SOS help line encouraged them to begin to talk about their problems. In our contacts with representatives of other institutions, first of all the police, we found out that in the reporting period the number of requested help in their institutions was three times as high as it was in the last few years. It is indisputable that the work on the SOS help line and the public work on awareness raising on domestic violence, which has been done by our project team certainly contributed to this high number.

Support on the SOS help line was provided by 4 professionals (doctor-gynaecologist, psychologist, lawyer and social worker) who are additionally educated to provide support for victims of domestic violence. This sort of practice proved to be very good according to the beneficiaries themselves. As a result, the beneficiaries had trust in us and they participated often in our counselling activities and became involved in individual and group counselling work.

1.2 Throughout the project duration we provided individual counselling support each Tuesday from 16:00 to 18:00. Individual counselling treatments were provided for 87 people, from this number 67 are women, 15 children and 5 men, 22 clients required support several times, which makes a total number of 154 treatments that have been provided.

1.3 Group counselling support has been provided once a month. The groups were consisting of 7 to 10 women victims of domestic violence. This project activity was led by 2 female professionals. We organised 12 group counselling treatments.

Although the project did not foresee it, there was a need for work with the children of those women who participated in our treatments so that one of the forms of help was group counselling work with these children. We organised 6 workshops with children. The resources for this activity were not foreseen in the project and the leaders did it on a voluntary basis.

1.4 The meeting of the supportive group with 6 to 8 participants was organised once a month. The supportive groups were led-moderated in couples – one professional and one member of the group of clients. The leaders-moderators of these activities were four female professionals and four clients (each of them was leading three workshops) who, in a great extent, overcame the difficulties caused by domestic violence to which they have been exposed and who wanted to share their experience with the group by using their knowledge and skills gained in the education. This activity was very well accepted and the group members organised meetings on their own initiative.

2. The education for 15 members and associates of the NGO Women’s centre to offer initial support to victims of domestic violence was intended to improve the organisational capacity and to provide conditions to offer more appropriate and qualitative help. The five-day education has been organised from 11th to 15th of June 2007. The educators were three persons highly educated in this field, the Director of the NGO Women’s centre, a professional associate from the police and a judge. The education was organised on the subject: Primary, secondary and tertian prevention from domestic violence.

The participants of the education will use the gained knowledge and skills to offer initial support to the victim and to educate others to offer support to victims of violence. It will also contribute to the breaking of barriers in the community and to awareness change regarding this issue.

3. Throughout the project period we have organised 12 workshops with girls and young women. Workshops were organised once a month in duration of 4 hours with 15 to 22 participants. The workshops leaders were female professionals, specially educated for work with girls and young women. The aim of these workshops was to influence their emancipation, strengthen their personalities, capacity development, development of skills for overcoming of conflicts, non-violent communication and preparation for qualitative partnership and responsible parenthood as well as the protection of physical and mental health, handling with stress, adoption of healthy ways of living and all this as a primary prevention. This activity was highly marked by the participants and they expressed their wish to continue these and similar activities.

Throughout the project period many other younger people came and expressed their wish to become involved in these and similar activities.

4. The goal of the project was also to provoke changes in the local community. Through radio emissions and round tables we tried to promote the so far achieved results of the NGO Women’s centre, to encourage the public to start to do more in the domestic violence issue, to encourage victims to denounce the violence and to continue the process of sensibilisation in the community and to advocate for a persistent appliance of positive legal regulations, establishment of alimony funds for women victims of domestic violence, establishment of a safe house, creation of privileges for the employment of victims etc.

The round tables were also very important for the deepening of partnership among the actors in the community that work in this field.

We have organised 4 round tables with 15 participants on each. The introduction part and the moderation on round tables were done by 2 members of the NGO Women’s centre. They were also participants in radio emissions.

Round tables have been organised on the following dates:

• 1^st Round table – 16^th of March 2007
• 2^nd Round table – 16^th of June 2007
• 3^rd Round table – 14^th of September 2007
• 4^th Round table – 14^th of December 2007

Radio emissions were broadcasted on the local radio station in the rented times on the following dates:

• 2^nd of March 2007
• 1^st of June 2007
• 7^th of September 2007
• 6^th of December 2007

The radio emissions provoked a lot of interest and while they were broadcasted a number of listeners called to ask questions or to give their comment.

Beside the above described activities, we also organised joint activities with children and celebrations. In three cases it was necessary to work with the complete family. These activities were identified as necessary by the women victims of domestic violence who were using individual and group project activities. The idea was to influence, through joint celebrations and picnics, better integration of our beneficiaries in the social environment.

All proposed activities have been completely implemented.

Support on the SOS help line was requested by 87 women, for 27 of them help was required twice or more. Support was also requested by 18 children and 11 men, a total number of 116 people.

Individual counselling support was requested by 87 people, 67 of them were women, 5 men and 15 children. Ten women are involved in group activities.

A total number of 213 people used the direct counselling support.

The listed information show that ninety percent of the beneficiaries are women.

The five-day education encompassed 15 people.

The workshops for girls and young women included 20 people.

There were 15 participants on each round table. An equal number of women and men were participating on our round tables.

The total number of direct beneficiaries of the above mentioned activities is 263.

From 263 direct beneficiaries, 90% of beneficiaries are women, 4% are men and 6% are children.

It is very difficult to assess how many listeners followed the radio emissions but it is indisputable that it was a high number of people, which was confirmed in the survey undertaken among the citizens.

The project goals and the project purposewere completely fulfilled. The goal of this project was to provide direct support for women victims of domestic violence and their children, secondary and tertian prevention of domestic violence but also to have a long term impact on the reduction of this phenomenon.

Positive changes are particularly noticeable in those people who were involved in individual and group counselling work for a longer time period. They were going through all four phases of therapeutic work: the security establishment phase, the stabilisation phase, the phase to overcome the trauma, memories and regret and the phase to integrate the trauma and re-establish relations. This helped them to become stable in all parts of their life. Their positive changes also reflected on their parental capabilities.

The overall improvement on the level of a family system was also reinforced through the work with children and in three cases with the whole family.

The five-day education in primary, secondary and tertian prevention for 15 members and associates of the NGO Women’s centre improved the capacity of our organisation and created preconditions for provision of better and more qualitative support.

Work with girls and young women is part of the primary prevention, which is considered as the queen of all battles.

Through the round tables and radio emissions we continued the process of sensibilisation within the local community and to advocate for a persistent appliance of positive legal regulations, initiation of innovations to protect the victim – establishment of alimony funds, privileges in the employment procedure, foundation of a safe house etc.

We also want to stress that the project team gained new experiences during the implementation of this project, which will be useful in our future work.

There were no serious obstacles or difficulties during the project implementation. Some obstacles caused through the traditional attitudes and occasional technical difficulties on the SOS help line have been understood as a challenge and they were successfully overcome.

We want to mention as a specific success of this project work in supportive groups, joint celebrations, picnics etc. because these activities showed the real results of our work and made the recovery of women victims of domestic violence visible. The involvement of children in various activities is also of great importance.

The education for 15 members and associates of the NGO Women’s centre will provide the possibility to use the gained knowledge and skills for offering of initial support and to educate others. Beside the direct support and benefit for the project beneficiaries, they were also involved in the project implementation. We are repeating that the beneficiaries of services of the Women’s centre were participating in the initiation and preparation of this project; four female clients were leading the supportive groups and in the group work with girls and young women, we consulted the participants regarding the subjects for the workshops.

„EUROPE DAY-TREBINJE 2007.“

supported by EU in BH, Ministry of Civil Affairs BH and Ministry of Education andCulture in the RS

The NGO Women’s Centre Trebinje organised, traditionally, a two-day manifestation in Trebinje with the support from the Commission of the European Union to BH and the Ministry of education and culture in the RS Government. The main manifestation was on the first day, the 10^th of May 2007. The manifestation was opened by the Deputy Chief of the Delegation of the European Commission to BH, Mr. Marc Van Brabant and after that welcoming speeches were held by the Bishop Zahumsko Hercegovački and Primorski, Mr. Grigorije, the Vice-President of the RS Government and the Minister of education and culture in the RS Government, Mr. Anton Kasipović, the Mayor of Municipality Trebinje, Mr. Dobroslav Ćuk and the Director of the NGO “Women’s Centre” Trebinje, Mrs. Ljiljana Čičković. The Europe’s Day celebration had the coverage of numerous media representatives who followed the whole content of the celebration such as RT RS, BHT1, Pink, Hayat, Crnogorska I (Montenegro I), Crnogorska II (Montenegro II), Gastro Art and the Tourist World from Serbia, Tourism plus from Croatia and many others. Many important guests from the country and from abroad participated on this celebration, some of them are: the Ambassador of Slovenia in BH, the General Consul of Serbia in BH, the Deputy Ambassador of Croatia in BH, the Regional co-ordinator for Southeast Europe from the Embassy of Denmark in BH, Delegates from the House of Nations of the Parliamentary Assembly of BH, Ministers from the RS National Assembly, Charge d’affaires and the Chief of the Ambassador’s Cabinet in the Embassy of Spain in BH, the Honorary Consul of Spain in BH, the Second Advisor of the Embassy of Hungary in BH, the Advisor of Commerce of the Embassy of Hungary in BH, the Chairman of the House of Representatives of the BH Parliamentary Assembly, the First Deputy of the House of Representatives of the BH Parliamentary Assembly, the Mayor of Municipality Tivat, the Assistant of the RS Minister for Commerce and Tourism, the Chief of the Regional OHR Office in Mostar, representatives from the Chamber of Commerce of Norway and Sweden in BH, the Vice-President of the Metropolis Cetinje, municipal representatives from the Eastern Herzegovina region, the General Manager from the Metropolis Cetinje, the Director of the motel Glava Zete from Montenegro, the Deputy Mayor of the Municipality Herceg Novi, the Director of the Italian Co-operation in Sarajevo, OSCE representatives – offices in Mostar and Trebinje, representative from the Tourist organisation from Tivat, representatives of EUPM from Trebinje, representatives of the LOT Brigade from Trebinje, the Director of the Chamber of Economy of Serbia in BH, the Main Priest of the Islamic Community Trebinje, representatives of the RS Chamber of Economy, the President of the RS Kayak Club, representatives from political parties – municipal committees in the Eastern Herzegovina region, Delegate of the BH House of Nations, the Director of EFCO in BH, as well as representatives of various institutions and organisations from Eastern Herzegovina.

The whole programme was realised according to the plan with a great support from all guests who welcomed these activities. Guests from neighbouring countries expressed their will to continue the already started cross-border co-operation. It was not only media representatives and honoured guests who came from the neighbouring countries but also participants of the programme. We had participants from Montenegro who participated in the “Gastro show – Trebinje 2007” and on the Round table but also in the tasting of food and drinks and as street dancers. Beside this, we had also other guests – successful people from Trebinje who live in Serbia (the sculptor – Mišel Vukasović and the painter Predrag Popara) and the world painter Muratif Ćerimagić Zelo who lives and works in Germany. This was the first time after the war that he came here to exhibit his works. We have to stress the importance of the presence of numerous honoured guests but particularly of representatives from neighbouring countries (Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro) because this is very important for the development of cross-border co-operation whereon our organisation is working for already several years. Their presence is also important regarding the fitting of the tourism component – the gastro culture in order to contribute to the visibility of development possibilities of this region to influence directly the reduce of poverty and the development of economy. Finally, the basic human rights are the freedom of movement (in our case this is the contribution to the stability in the region through the development of inter human relations and cross-border co-operation) and the right to work (creation of pre-conditions for the development of tourism and promotion of cultural heritage).

There have been 15 different activities that were organised in these three days whereon participated more then 500 participants from the entire BH but also from Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro – professionals and amateurs.

“TELEDOM-LJUBINJE”

supported by Fondation MOZAIK

An information center in the underdeveloped municipality Ljubinje which were provided free services in various fields: economics, computer science, women’s and children’s human rights and others.
During these years we did a series of humanitarian actions in support of vulnerable categories as well as a series of actions aimed at the encouragement and empowerment of women victims of domestic violence.