Svitac (Firefly Bosnia) Project Report – June 2021

Staff: Gordana Varcaković, Dina Vošanović, Miloš Popić, Sanjin Vošanović

Local volunteers: Adin Midžić, Mira Božić, Merima Hidanović, Almira Čehić, Lejla Pešić, Amer Omerović, Zorana Nemček

‘EVS/ESC’ volunteers: Angela Claire Stoddard, Malcolm Thomas Lowe, Havva Nur Parakazan, Ayşe Isceli, Simge Kılıç, Ayşenur Ulutaş

ON-GOING PROGRAMME

Culture and Art Diversity around the World – Includes Language, Art&Crafts, Music, Drama, and Sports workshops from Monday to Friday
- Standard and Conversational Language workshops – English, German
  - I love English – English workshops for children, teenagers and young people
  - “Lasstuns Deutsch sprechen!/Pričajmo njemački!“ (“Let’s speak German”) – German workshops for children, teenagers and young people
- Art&Crafts workshops – practical arts and crafts workshops for 15+
- Music workshops – samba, guitar for children and young people
HIGHLIGHTS ON MONTH’S ACTIVITIES
- This month has brought great heat but also a return to normal life as the number of infected has been drastically reduced. Most of the measures were abolished, so the liveliness returned to the city’s streets and the youth centre, considering that a larger number of participants were allowed to participate in the activities again. After a long period of time, there was a live event (a finale of a project “Tolerance and cultural diversity through music, art and languages) where guitar participants played in front of a live audience. For some of them, this was a brand-new experience. Our Active Youth group recycled old clothes into new and useful items including a pillow cover, a facemask and a phone wallet. They discussed the environmental benefits of recycling clothes, as new clothes use a lot of water to produce, and the benefits of sending less waste to landfills. International volunteers have been doing a lot of different daily activities and they focused on different things (e.g. supporting online activities, promotion of the organization through social media).
- About 140 participants regularly attended Svitac’s (Firefly Bosnia’s) activities in June. Participants were aged between 4 and 30 years old. The youngest and the oldest participants attended Culture and Art Diversity around the World workshops and English/German conversational workshops.
  - Younger group – They made bees, ants, jellyfish, headbands, postcards, rockets octopuses from cardboard and paper, sea creatures of plasticine and coloured rainbow with watercolours. In the English, German and Turkish language workshops they learned about the alphabet, count from 1/10, words related to insects and sea creatures. In the Music Workshops, they learned the song ”English Letter Song” and repeated ”Kad si srećan” (When you are happy), ”Zakleo se bumbar” (Bumblebee swore) and ”Carstvo i drugarstvo” (Empire and friendship) by Brako the Cube. Highlight with the younger group was recording a short video for the Global Day of Parents when participants talked about how much they love and respect their parents.
  - Older group – They discussed the following topics: illegal child labour, volunteering in the local community, summer activities and jobs. In this way, we want to provide young people with a safe and neutral space, where they can express their opinions and express positive and negative emotions, without fear of condemnation. In the Language Workshops, the group learned new verbs and adjectives, how to describe time and leisure activities as well as vocabulary related to environmental protection. Besides, they practised daily communication and worked on different projects and presentations. Samba group started to work on a new musical idea (writing lyrics, arranging and working on melody, harmony and rhythm). The highlight with the older group was the workshop for World Environment Day when they talked about the alarming ecological situation and ways to protect our natural resources.

EVS/ESC, WELTWARTS AND OTHER VOLUNTEERS’ PROGRAMMES

In June, Svitac (Firefly Bosnia) very much appreciated the collaboration with 6 EVS/ESC volunteers from UK and Turkey.
Sending EVS/ESC and ‘Weltwärts’ – Thirteen volunteers from Bosnia are doing their service in Germany, Slovenia, Turkey, Croatia and Poland (2 – 12 months).

MEETINGS and PRESENTATIONS

Svitac’s (Firefly Bosnia’s) staff continued to attend regular monthly meetings with the youth centre coordinator and the other NGOs based in Brčko. The purpose of the meetings was to discuss conditions and schedules for the continuation of centre activities.
Svitac’s (Firefly Bosnia’s) representatives attended an Online meeting of organizations active in the European Solidarity Corps Programme in the Western Balkans. The main aim of the meeting was to support accredited organisations in their efforts to be active in the European Solidarity Corps Programme and develop quality in work with ESC volunteers and impacting their local communities. The meeting was organised by SALTO South East Europe Resource Centre Slovenia and was attended by representatives from about 45 organizations in the Western Balkans.
Svitac’s (Firefly Bosnia’s) representatives attended the multi-stakeholder consultation meeting on youth work and international youth cooperation in Bosnia and Herzegovina organised by SALTO Slovenia. The main aims of the meeting were to support quality partnerships and projects that are developed within the Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps programmes, to contribute to further develop youth work and its recognition in the participating countries and to give more visibility to the experiences and expertise that have been and will be further developed in this field.
Svitac’s (Firefly Bosnia’s) representatives attended a training organized by Sanchild, Switzerland in partnership with the Western Balkans Alumni Association (WBAA) and Rotary clubs from Sarajevo and Geneva. The training was attended by local young activists and NGO workers, and the goal was to help them implement their projects and make positive changes in society.

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