Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, hides many hard-working women fighters for human rights who push the boundaries every day by supporting women individually and groups of women.
It was extremely difficult to choose one such woman, with whom I would round off this painful and difficult year 2023, which consequently affected women the most. That’s how we came to Seida Sarić, who has been a 30-year campaigner for human rights, specifically for women’s rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Seida Sarić, director of the Association “Women for Women International” , started her work back in 1994 during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Engagement and work in the international organization CARE International is the real reason why Seida continued her career in the non-governmental sector. She considers the experience gained during the war period to be her “privilege” because she had the opportunity to help vulnerable categories of the population, more specifically the elderly and infirm who were alone in besieged Sarajevo. Thus began the journey and personal mission of supporting those who need support.
In 1998, Seida became the director of the American organization for women, Women for Women International (at that time Women for Women in Bosnia and Herzegovina), created with the aim of providing support to women in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was extremely important for Seida, because in her heart and soul she always supports women and their empowerment, so she accepted this opportunity to continue her career in this field with great enthusiasm and dedication.
The organization Women for Women International/Žene za Žene International was among the first organizations that dedicated itself to working with women in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the first to start working with women from rural areas. Seida says: “We were the first to go into small local communities – the most remote villages – to support women. That was a big surprise to many, especially men who told us “help us and we will help our women”. Soon, through our serious work and our projects, we won the trust and respect of everyone, both women and their families, as well as representatives of the community and local authorities.”
The long-term work of the organization Žene za Žene International is very significant. More than 35,000 women were educated through the basic project. Today, the participants of the basic program are members of their local associations, which were created thanks to this program. The women, participants in this project, continued to act in their communities through local associations that they founded themselves under the mentorship of Women for Women International.
Since 2009, Žene za Žene International, under the leadership of Seida Sarić, provides active support, primarily technical, to local women’s associations in establishing a structure, creating a mission and vision, writing projects, networking, cooperation with local authorities, sustainability of the association and everything that was important for associations. Support to associations continues today.
In order to connect local associations that were established as a result of the activities of the Association “Women for Women International” in 2018, the Network of Associations of Women for Rural Development was formed .
The network of women’s associations for rural development consists of 17 members with a total of 1000 women. Every year, the number of members of the Network increases. In 2023, we started working with 15 new associations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which will join the Network after comprehensive theoretical and practical education organized by Women for Women International. New associations that are being reactivated are inspired by the work and activities of the members of the Network, and are coming forward so that they too can become members of the Network.
After many years of joint work and learning, the members of the Network have significantly strengthened and positioned themselves in their communities. They are actively involved in the production of various products. They initiate structural projects in their communities. Three associations own professional fruit and vegetable processing plants, several of them own smaller fruit and vegetable processing plants and dryers, and almost all members of the Network have sewing salons. The Association Most from Jablanica registered the LLC MOST and began commercial operations.
“Because of everything that the associations achieve both independently and through the Network, we at Žene za Žene International are very proud to have contributed to the creation of such an active Network and we are extremely proud of everything we have done!” concludes Seida.
In addition to working with women and associations in rural areas, Žene za Žene International is also known for organizing a one-year Democracy Academy program for young women. This year they organized the eighth Democracy Academy for young women . Participation in the Academy is intended for young women aged 18 to 35. They go through several training modules in the field: democracy, human rights, political system, communication skills, and writing and implementing small project proposals. Throughout the entire process of work and learning, they are mentored by experts from Žene za Žene International, as well as a volunteer program in local associations. The Academy of Democracy for Young Women is a combination of theoretical and practical approach and preparation of young women for future engagement in political or activist life, as well as sensitizing for women’s rights and gender equality.
“We started the Academy with the goal that when young women come to a decision-making position tomorrow, they have a vision that they need and must support women from rural areas. We know that there is an extremely small number of women politicians who show understanding and knowledge about issues that are extremely important for women, such as why is it important that budgets include issues that are important to women, such as culture, education, sports, etc. We hope that when some of the young women who graduate from the Academy become, for example, minister that she can understand the needs of women in various spheres of society, and that she has the ability, desire and ability to help them. Many participants of the Academy who have graduated from university did not have the opportunity to learn about the topics covered by the Academy.
Sara, a participant of the 3rd generation of the Academy, told us “This is not the Academy of Democracy, this is the Academy of Life”. Statements like this give us even greater inspiration for further work and creating opportunities for women to achieve their greatest potential,” says Seida.
Since 2016, the organization Women for Women International has been an independent organization that became an associate member of the now global organization Women for Women International from the Country Office Women for Women International.
After the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine in 2022, Women for Women International, due to its work experience and the high standards it has established, hired Women for Women International to manage the Crisis Response Fund for Ukraine. Seida says: “With this Fund, we are supporting three organizations, two in Ukraine and one in Poland, which have staff from Ukraine and work with refugees from Ukraine. We provide them with funds for work and technical support. From March 2022 until today, through the projects of our partners, direct assistance was provided to 3,500 beneficiaries of the program for women and children . Also, in May 2023, we organized a study visit of the representatives of these three partners to Bosnia and Herzegovina so that they would have the opportunity to learn from Bosnian organizations that have immense experience in working with war victims. We visited civil society organizations in various parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” explained Sarić.
For Seida Sarić, this job is part of life. When I asked what Seida does when he gets tired, Seida says that he rests through dancing, traveling, socializing, yoga, etc. And when I asked “what would Seida do if she had the chance to be born again”, Seida told me that she had not thought about it, but that she was very satisfied with what she was doing and hoped that the satisfaction would be even greater in her further work with women. .
“I feel good! Bearing in mind that there are an awful lot of problems in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is very important to me that we are part of the solution,” concludes Seida.
Women for Women International together with members of the Network organized an event on the occasion
March 8 – International Women’s Day. A thousand women from various areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina gathered for a peaceful walk through Sarajevo, after which the event “Successful and Solidarity” was held in the iconic Youth Center , where women showed the importance of solidarity and celebrated their successes.
Seida Sarić, tireless and optimistic, walks with her team of women where “rarely anyone goes”, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. villages. There, they actively work on the education of women, breaking patriarchal norms and the stigma that still thrives in rural areas with a much stronger intensity. She gathers them, educates them, teaches women to network, to connect, to “move mountains” so that the sun can break the darkness. While she is there, I am convinced that Seida will push forward, as a leader, strongly, self-consciously, where we often forget that there are some women who work hard. Coincidentally or not, Seida will remain in civil society for a long time, both at local and higher levels, among “our BiH women, especially women from the countryside”, because as Seida herself says, “I stayed in civil society on purpose.”
This story was written thanks to the generous support of the American people through the “LOCAL WORKS” program of the American Agency for International Development in Bosnia and Herzegovina (USAID). The author and “Network for Peace Building” are solely responsible for the content of the story. The views expressed in the story do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
