Essay about the association
On July 28, 1994, 58 citizens of Sarajevo – intellectuals, theater, art and literary employees, soldiers and police officers and ordinary citizens formed the Foundation / Association “Education Builds Bosnia and Herzegovina”, with the mission of children victims of war – our lasting concern, which is a crucial vision that discerned the essential consequences of the war – the destruction of educational institutions and the collapse of the education system.
After 27 years of work, in 2021, the initiator of the idea, one of the founders, and our long-term executive director Jovan Divjak left us. In memory of him, the Association changed its name to Association “Education Builds Bosnia and Herzegovina – Jovan Divjak”.
In the twenty-nine years of its work, the Association has been at the daily service of children and youth victims of war, children and youth with disabilities, as well as talented children / youth, children / youth of the Roma national minority and those in social needs. The association – with open doors, fully realized the basic part of the mission – we were first moral, and then material support to children, youth and their parents / guardians in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- 8.164 annual scholarships, including scholarships for 2.077 pupils and students of the Roma national minority, in the amount of 7.425.825 KM (EUR 3.796.764,04)
- 4.587 beneficiaries participated in educational projects in 18 European countries, Canada and Uruguay, and on Boračko Lake in BiH, and the total value of projects amounted to 1.212.238 KM (EUR 619.807,48);
- 46.637 children and young people from the user groups received clothing, footwear, school supplies, laptops, sports equipment, gift packages, food and various educations worth 3.201.801,71 KM (EUR 1.637.055,22);
- For 1.163 beneficiaries, mothers and young people, we organized psychosocial workshops worth 1.007.901,14 KM (EUR 515.331,67)
- The Association supported twenty-two schools in BiH by donating various school and sports aids, IT equipment, books and renovated school buildings and sports halls with a total value of 420.580 KM (EUR 215.039,14);
We have existed for twenty-nine years and are achieving our goals thanks to a large number of donors, sponsors, members and friends from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Europe, the USA and Australia – individuals, groups, non-governmental organizations, institutions.
The association is not on the budget of state institutions, so it provides funds for scholarships and other activities through: membership fees, organizing philanthropic cultural events (concerts, exhibitions, etc.), publishing activities, educational projects, donations from businesses and individual contributions. It is important to mention that the Association has its own property and material and technical resources, which enables uninterrupted work with users.
The most important activities realized by the Association:
- Project “Support to the activities of the Association with a focus on overcoming the post-traumatic consequences of children / youth and parents / guardians” (women of Visoko, Hadžić and Sarajevo, and young people – OGBH scholarship holders) (20 years)
- Calendar printing and sales (24 years)
- Project “With education in the future”, scholarships for children and youth of the Roma national minority (18 years)
- Summer educational camp “Boračko jezero” (18 years)
- Winter educational camp in Sweden (organized by AlpinaScand Sarajevo ’84 – 7 years)
We are proud of the fact that many in the Association have recognized its human importance – the most valuable of all capitals is the one invested in man. Significant funds from which young people have received scholarships for many years, such as the Pavao Jusuf Urban Ibruljević Fund, the Tanja Mihać Fund and the Kemal Hasibović Fund, are particularly noteworthy.
In 2021, we were proclaimed the Association of Special Importance for the City of Sarajevo and the Association of Public Interest for the Municipality of Novo Sarajevo. We are also proud of the fact that in 2016 we received the Sixth April Award of the City of Sarajevo. In addition to this, we are holders of the Freedom Award (International Center for Peace), Plaques of the Ministry of Education and Science of FBiH, Golden Plaques of the Municipality of Novo Sarajevo 2010 and 2021, Plaques of the Congress of Bosniak Intellectuals, Acknowledgments of the University of Sarajevo, BH Telecom Awards for Proud Partners and over 100 letters of thanks from partner organizations and schools. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Association of PE BH Post Ltd. issued a postage stamp “25 years of the Association Education Builds BiH”.
