YOUTH WORKERS IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
The April story about youth workers takes us to the northeast of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to the heart of Semberija with Ivana Krunić. Ivana is from Bijeljina, where she completed her formal education. She is an economist by profession, although, as she says, she has never essentially dealt with economics, formal education was still an important starting point for her current profession.
“As a young person I gained experience and acquired knowledge through non-formal education, I became more involved and became part of those who share their knowledge and experience with other young people. Socializing with young people and the desire for change in society have turned into serious work on creating policies towards young people, often criticizing those who make decisions on behalf of young people, and uniting more young people because we believed in the strength we have. At some point in our “growing up”, we all realize that the rebellion we had is no longer enough. The true desire for change needed to be turned into support for those who continue where some of our generations and generations before us stood. Some new young people and some different needs are coming.”
During 2018, Ivana attended the Training for professional youth associates organized and conducted by the Institute for Youth Development KULT and then, as she says, she first encountered the concept of youth work.
“At the training, I actually started to think even more intensely about who I am and what I do. It was then that I realized that I was a youth worker by profession. I would say that the idea of doing youth work did not come as a decision but more as a combination of circumstances and interests that I had at the time.“
The training was marked, says Ivana, by innovative methods, a human approach and dynamic work that fulfilled her expectations.
“Excluding knowledge and information, a significant part of the training for me is the experience of other persons in youth work. They helped me to better understand the opportunities and contexts in which both young and professional associates can be found. I would repeat some segments like movies you want to watch again or a book you would read again. The more things you think about in your head, the more you start to interpret them differently and experience them perhaps in the right way, or from more angles. I would say that it is an important process that must be passed in order to be better understood over time. That is the process that training should challenge in us. “
In February 2019, she successfully completed the training and became a certified professional youth associate. The most important thing she brought from the training, she says, are people.
“People are always the most important. All the experiences we gain are due to the people with whom we communicate, exchange views, cooperate, admire them, identify with them, people that stir different emotions in us or none at all. “
Ivana directs the acquired knowledge, skills and experience in providing support to marginalized groups of young people. For six years she has been working in the Association of Citizens for the Promotion of Roma Education “Otaharin”, within which she is involved in designing programs and activities aimed at better understanding the needs and problems faced by young Roma.
“In the beginning, it was a special kind of challenge, considering that this is a marginalized group of young people in the true sense of the word. But the most wonderful thing is when you mix and match all these young people in a camp that lasts for five days and realize that in fact only “adults” create barriers and that there are no obstacles or differences between young people. That energy that carries young people is actually the most beautiful thing in working with youth. “
In the following years, she sees herself in the youth sector, inspired by the energy of young people with whom she makes changes and still doing what she loves the most.
“I see myself as a calmer, more patient and wiser person who does not spend energy on “all the fights with windmills”. In a professional sense, I love what I do and my gaze doesn’t reach beyond that. As for the youth sector itself, I am a traditional type and I would prefer to see the youth sector as a recognized body that functions at the level of local communities, cantons, entities, and not just as a community active on screens. The pandemic is a great excuse for the representatives of the institutions to spend another few years doing nothing to improve the quality of life of young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
Her message to young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina is that they are young, rebellious and brave only once in their lives.
“When you are young, everyone forgives you for everything. Don’t be afraid to be loud. Whatever group you belong to, NGO, foreigners, be brave. Be the initiative for change that we all need” – adds Ivana Krunić, another inspiring youth worker who with her efforts and engagement makes changes in her local community, but also in the lives of young people with whom and for whom she works.
