Hello dear reader!
If you are reading this blog, know that I will tell you why you need to do an internship in the YB Team, otherwise known as the best team. 😉 Fortunately, you currently have an open call to which you can apply and join our team: Apply for a paid internship at Youth Bank. Read the terms and conditions, and I hope my blog will inspire you to apply 😊
In order to get an internship in the YB team or in some other program, you do not need any paper or connections because we provide opportunities for young people. All you need is the desire to work and learn something completely new. Trust me, you are neither aware of what you will learn. The YB team is not only the best team in the Mozaik Foundation, but it is also the team that, in my humble experience, gives the most opportunities and knowledge. First of all, I want to introduce you to some basic concepts such as internship and Youth Bank.
- Youth Bank is a program withing the Mozaik Foundation that is spread through the network of Youth Banks, of which there are as many as 51. Youth Banks support projects and micro-businesses of informal groups in local communities where there is YB in partnership with the municipality/city.
- Internship is paid and lasts 3 months, through which you acquire and improve knowledge in various fields and it is never boring. 😊
Readers I hope you are interested for a story that will be like a roller coaster with a lot of excitement, because my internship is like that.
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When I say internship, I always think of professional development related to the profession I am studying, but this internship is not even similar to what professors teach me in college. I got the opportunity to do my internship on the first of September, when all the beginnings start. New school year new me. 😃 When I arrived at my internship, it was like a fell from the sky – new people, new space, everything new, but there was my colleague Mediha who showed me to the whole process in a short time. Although she is not my mentor, I felt like she was because we were together all the time. Unfortunately, COVID-19 forced many people to work from home so I haven’t met most of the team members in person, but there are operational meetings where you see all the people, that’s the advantage of Zoom.
Activities of the YB team are mostly administrative and all processes are cyclical. The first thing I experienced at the very beginning were the signing of contracts ceremonies with the BiH campaign (national call for towns/cities in BiH that do not have the Youth Bank). When there are signing ceremonies, it means that you prepare contracts, field, write checks, etc. When I talk about it now it doesn’t sound scary, but trust me when that moment comes you get a little lost. The signing ceremonies are not only held in Sarajevo, but throughout Bosnia, so my colleague, and now a great friend of mine, Mediha and I visited Herzegovina. In addition to the contract signing ceremony that took place in Mostar (there were 11 groups), we also monitored all projects supported by YB.
Work in the YB team, like I said, is very dynamic and hardworking; each month relies on another month of work. Our field work continued, but this time with the monitoring we had, we continued to visit central and eastern Bosnia. It is a wonderful feeling when you come to a community and see what young people have done. I am proud of all the realized projects, but especially of the projects that were realized in YB Rudo, where I am also the coordinator.
As the end of the year approaches, the business heats up slightly. At the end of activity, we have results that reflect the same. My internship did not end in November, it was extended until the end of December. It’s just a reflection of the fact that the work and effort paid off, and it always pays off. I have been here for two months, people know me, I fit in, my work environment is beautiful. I look forward to each new day, because this is a job at which I have a smile on my face every day and I looked forward to each working day.
As I said, towards the end of the year, everything is heating up and work is speeding up, we are having ceremonies and promoting the results. In order to organize one ceremony, there is a whole mechanism that works for the preparation of all events. As our team has 7 members, each of us has a task that is like a gear in that machinery. November and December are the months when debts are “collected”, posters are prepared for ceremonies (then it’s really stressful), the field work is prepared. Those are the two craziest months on the roller coaster, but also the two, in my opinion, the most beautiful. When you sum it all up, you see that it’s all an experience and something that will make you a new person, and it certainly made me a new person.
Sometime before the end of the year, when everything calms down and you think it’s time to say goodbye, your Secret Santa delights you with a new proposal to continue the internship. That moment of happiness should be repeated over and over again, because it is the most beautiful New Year’s gift that could be received.
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After the New Year’s holidays, new work activities begin. January and February passed in preparation for the Annual Conference, which left a great impression on me. The conference itself brings a lot of work, but when everything is over and you look at what you have done, you will be overjoyed! Each person in Mozaik had their own task and responsibility that they had to fulfill. My task, in addition to the preparation itself, was to be a representative of Youth Banks and to talk about what we do in the field, and I was joined by Armin Softić, coordinator of YB Kladanj, a person who started a microbusiness with his wife – “Rosa – dodir prirode”.
When you think that the stress has passed and that the work obligations will be reduced, a new work victory occurs. A team that works successfully and achieves good results must have a good leader to follow and be an incentive for the achieved results to be presented in the best way, our program director Željko made sure that all this was done in the right way. When we achieve a result with joint efforts as a team, we get praised which is an additional motivation for further work, and this month, when the real challenge started, there was no lack of motivation.
The first call was announced in 46 Youth Banks, which was a continuous task for each of us, as I mentioned earlier, everything is cyclical. So, after that call, 474 applications for projects and 100 microbusinesses were sent. When we have somehow mastered this process and invested all our time in it, the best part of the internship begins, and that is the field trips and tours of the Youth Banks!
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Dear reader, I started this story with the internship, it is time to finish it. In this blog, I shared my experience in these eight months of what was done, but also what you learn. Trust me you won’t regret it if you apply and give it a try. I wish you, the future intern, all the luck in your work and a lot of patience. What I want to say in the end – the people you will work with Željko, Armel, Mediha, Sanja, Helena, Srđan and Mahir will help you feel like part of one big family and will help you in every possible way. They are really good people and give them a chance to teach you what they know because their experience is really great and for you it will be immense. And finally, I want to thank my team for giving me the opportunity to learn and grow with them, special thanks goes to Mediha, my mentor and friend. 🧡
