The Global Fund For Children

Growing a New Generation

• By Joseph Bednarek on November 7th, 2011
• Category: Blog, Europe and Eurasia

Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina – It’s Halloween today but business as usual at the headquarters of Usdruzenje Nova Generacija (New Generation Association) in Banja Luka. The president of the organization, Bojan Arula, introduces me to some of the young boys who come every day to the day center for a meal and activities. Aleksandar, Djordje, and Danilo come from difficult circumstances, with parents who are alcoholics, living with disabilities, or absent altogether. Nova Generacija provides a safe space for these boys and for other children whom the staff finds on the streets or who are identified through the Center for Social Work in Banja Luka. Later in the day, these boys will go to school, which they are attending regularly for the first time in their lives. The boys are smiling and obviously close friends, although they are different ages. With a little encouragement from Bojan and from Masha Mirkovic, the executive director of Nova Generacija, the boys answer some questions about their time at the organization’s day center. They have been attending the center for several months, and they enjoy painting and learning English, or “just about everything,” as one of the boys says.

In the late 1990s, in post-war Bosnia, a group of students began volunteering together to help the city of Banja Luka’s numerous street children and other vulnerable kids, many of whom were suffering from post-war trauma. In 2002, the now more experienced young adults registered their nascent organization as an NGO. The year 2012 will mark the tenth anniversary of Nova Generacija as a registered organization, and after nearly ten years, the organization is growing stronger as a voice for and protector of Banja Luka’s vulnerable children. Nova Generacija’s longtime Older Brother–Older Sister mentoring program continues to offers the city’s children leadership from their near peers, and the organization’s day center provides 60 children a month with a safe space for meals and educational activities. Building on these two successful programs, Nova Generacija is poised to start several new projects in 2012, including a safe house, or shelter, for children who have been victims of sexual abuse. This shelter will be the first of its kind in Bosnia and will protect children while they receive psychosocial counseling and find permanent housing and foster families. Nova Generacija is also set to replicate its day center model and create a day center for autistic children, also a first for Bosnia. Currently, the organization also serves as a nexus for 150 youth and student volunteers in the city, who help with the day center, serve as mentors in the Older Brother–Older Sister program, participate in activities related to the World of Children children’s rights events, and donate their time to retired people in the city.

Nova Generacija has established itself as a trusted part of the community, despite post-war political uncertainty and difficult economic conditions in 2008–2009 during the financial crisis. As Bojan states, “Without The Global Fund for Children’s help, we might not have survived the [economic] crisis.” Not only has the organization survived, but it is serving as an exemplary model for providing professional care to vulnerable children in Bosnia.