Bosnia and Herzegovina: Civil Society & Inclusive Governance

Between 50 and 125 million Europeans are threatened by energy poverty. Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the most affected countries. To support sustainable energy solutions in the country, PIN is helping local authorities learn how to choose and sustainably finance green solutions for their citizens.
In May 2019, PIN Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with 16 expert partners, launched a two–year European Union-supported project called SMARTER Finance for Families. Under the auspices of Horizon 2020, the EU’s research and innovation program, the project aims to make “Green Homes” and “Green Mortgages” more widely available to consumers in 12 European countries. PIN’s work is to make these accessible to lower income beneficiaries in Bosnia and Herzegovina and beyond.
After months of data-gathering, we supported the development of 12 country-specific guides explaining the financial, energy and health benefits of green buildings. Developers and investors will be able to read about good practices from their own countries in their local language.
Public authorities interested in solving the energy poverty issue in their communities will be able to benefit from a catalogue showcasing successful projects from all over Europe, as well as briefs explaining how SMARTER can help design and launch subsidized green mortgage products for low income families.
Equipped with credible data, PIN advocates for financially inclusive products and supports the development of new projects addressing energy poverty in Bosnia and Herzegovina and beyond.


Interested in learning more? Explore some of our key documents or visit the project website.

• 2 pager for developers of pilot projects for low income families
• Catalogue of energy poverty projects
• Green Homes & Green Mortgages: A Toolkit for Residential Investors & Developers ENGLISH, CZECH, BSH

 

This project has received funding from the European Union‘s Horizon 2020 Coordination and support programme under grant agreement No 847141.

The cover photo is only illustrative.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the main problem in dealing with persons with disabilities (PwD) is the predominant emphasis on segregation and institutionalisation without adequate personal approach and individual care. Upon admission to a residential institution, people are often stripped of legal capacity and, along with that, of the possibility to decide about their own lives. Persons with disabilities are denied the opportunity to integrate into the society and the mainstream society is deeply biased against them.

In the years 2015-2018, People in Need, together with three selected local NGOs (SUMERO in Sarajevo, Sunce in Mostar and Zajedno in Banja Luka), sought to change this system through deinstitutionalisation and to run an awareness campaign to help the public to overcome their prejudices. As part of their joint project, People in Need mainly provided transfer of the Czech Republic's know-how and examples of good practice in this area. One of the main outcomes was the support to its clients to move from residential institutions to independent (community) housing that can provide them more dignified social conditions and that increases their chances of self-realisation. Some of the clients used opportunity to upgrade their professional skills, gained new work experience and applied it on the labour market.

The activities of PIN continue in 2019. Students of law, psychology and social works from the Universities in Sarajevo and Banja Luka will be better educated in the field of self-advocacy of PwD. They will also establish a direct cooperation with PwD who are fighting for their rights. Together, the students and self-advocacy groups will create the educative materials and, through media, work on raising awareness within the Bosnian society. Next activity planned is to establish a negotiation process about self-advocacy legislation with the politicians on the entity level.
 

The 3-year project seeks to improve public space and its use in Mostar through mobilising citizens and supporting citizen-led initiatives that contribute to the shared civic, cultural and economic life of the city. The project also aims to support citizens and local authorities to effectively use new skills, tools and mechanisms to address priorities in an inclusive, gender-sensitive, participatory and systematic manner.

My Work, a project based on the previous experience of People in Need in Bosnia and Herzegovina, focuses on local people with mental and psychosocial disabilities. PIN helps to promote social inclusion, improves job opportunities, and strengthens the position of people with mental disabilities and their rights in society. The partners of this project are the local non-profit organization Nešto Više and the ProReha association. The Czech expertise with integration of people with disabilities into the labor market is mediated by the non-governmental organization Rytmus, o.p.s. s, which has extensive experience in this field.

Since 2018, People in Need has been working on the development of good government standards and capacity building in Bosnian municipalities. For the first project, which was implemented in 2018 (for 7 months), People in Need focused on experience sharing and know-how transfer between Czech and Bosnian municipalities. Three micro-projects that specialized in the mainstreaming of good governance standards and the enhancement and effectiviness of public administration were implemented in the Bosnian municipalities of Livno, Mrkonjic Grad and Maglaj. The main goal of the project was the preparation of individual plans for developments in the field of energy efficiency, renewable energy, waste water management and solid waste management. Local Bosnian municipal staff had the opportunity to cooperate with Czech experts and share their experience with the Czech municipalities during expert visits and study trip to the Czech Republic. The project also strengthened international cooperation between the two countries and their engagement in international structures.

The activities of People in Need continued in 2019. This time, the project focused on supporting well-functioning municipal self-government and continued to strengthen good governance standards in the Laktaši, Livno, Maglaj and Jezero municipalities of Bosnia and Herzegovina through expert cooperation on sustainable development planning.