Centre for Development and Promotion of Voluntary Work

About this grant

By mobilizing human resources within Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Centre for Development and Promotion of Voluntary Work enables communities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to address critical community and social needs. The Association for Psychosocial Help and Development of Voluntary Work created the center in 1998 to promote self-help techniques and volunteerism, especially among young people in war-affected communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.Multiyear funding will enable the association to develop the center’s capacity to support existing and promote new volunteer programs in local communities and schools in Bosnia; encourage volunteerism in the nonprofit sector in Bosnia; advocate for public policies that support volunteerism and incorporate volunteerism into public institutions; and share knowledge with NGOs and schools in Serbia and Kosovo.During the past five years, the center has implemented volunteer programs in more than 40 secondary and primary schools and in other public institutions and communities involving more than 6,000 volunteers. More recently, the center has promoted volunteerism among the elderly, mobilizing more than 700 elderly residents in villages and communities surrounding Grancanica, Bosnia.