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Center for Balkan
Development
2 CLOCK TOWER PLACE #510
MAYNARD, MA 01754
Tel: 978-461-0909
Fax: 978-461-2552
[email protected]
www.balkandevelopment.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 12, 2002
For more information, contact Glenn Ruga, 978-461-0909 or [email protected]

Boston-based development and advocacy organization to receive $135,000 grant from World Bank to implement model development project in Bosnia.

BOSTON–Friends of Bosnia (FOB) has been awarded a $135,000 grant from the World Bank to implement a year-long model development project in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina beginning in September. Christopher F. Bragdon, FOB’s Director of Bosnia Projects, conceived of this unique project, called “The New Initiative”, to challenge the culture of dependency that has developed in Bosnia since more than five billion dollars in aid has been poured into this nation since the end of the war in 1995.

Friends of Bosnia, headquartered in the South End, is one of the first, and one of the last remaining, US-based NGOs continuing the work of rebuilding a multi-ethnic democratic Bosnia. The organization was formed in 1993 shortly after the genocidal aggression began in Bosnia to provide aid and to raise awareness in America about the conflict in the former Yugoslavia.

This innovative community development model called "The New Initiative", brings together Tuzla's non-profit organizations, the municipal government, and private businesses to contribute to public infrastructure projects. By providing volunteer labor to these projects, the community organizations earn funding for their own projects. Tuzla's contributing businesses, in return for their contributions, receive marketing opportunities. The city receives free labor for public projects. With local investment and local leadership, this model is self-sustaining beyond the initial international funding. While this project will create jobs, generate revenue for community organizations, and improve public infrastructure, the underlying objective is to create a sense of accomplishment and generate a collective spirit of self-reliance.

Last summer FOB completed a pilot project in Tuzla using this model. With the help of two NGOs, (The Tuzla Center for Information Technology and the Tuzla Association for the Deaf) they refurbished the central park in Tuzla. The NGOs received $1000 to purchase equipment for their organizations, helping them to become self-sustainable. Unlike the United States, non-profit organizations in Bosnia receive no public support and find it nearly impossible to receive charitable donations from within their communities.


For further information about Friends of Bosnia, The New Initiative, and the celebration, see FOB’s website at www.friendsofbosnia.org.