Advocacy training, certificates awarded

Award of certificates for advocacy training

On Friday, 28. February 2014., representatives of ten NGO organisations from Bosnia and Herzegovina were presented with certificates for the finalised advocacy training. This marks the end of the first phase of the project “Strengthening Civil Society Organisations Activism in BiH”, implemented by Oxfam BiH and supported by the British Government.

Certificates were presented by the Deputy Head Ambassador of the British Embassy in Sarajevo, Mrs  Christine McNeill. On this occasion, Mrs McNeill emphasised :

“It is our pleasure to support projects aiming to strengthen the democratic processes through which the voice of the people is clearly stated and recognised by those who make decisions. Those ten organisations finalising their education today are just a small part of that process. We hope that all of them will use their newly obtained knowledge and in that way contribute to the establishment of the dialogue between the citizens and their government representatives. Latest events indicate that such projects are needed for BiH society now more than ever. Only constructive and open dialogue can lead to good results.”

The aim of the training is to strengthen NGOs as the facilitator of  positive dialogue between the citizens and decision makers and enable the application of their local initiatives in the general policy making, in order to improve  life conditions for all BiH citizens.

“Each of our organisations has already done some advocacy work for different goals. This training was a unique opportunity to find out what we have been doing good, as well as to realise the mistakes we made on the way, and how to draw useful lessons from them. This was also an opportunity to hear useful advice from the experts and practitioners, as well as to meet other colleagues, exchange experiences and establish cooperation on initiatives that our organisations are implementing.“, said Nikolina Talijan, training participant, representative of Perpetuum Mobile – Centre for Youth and Community Development Banja Luka.

During the second phase of the project Oxfam in BiH will, through mentorship, continually support the cooperation of the NGOs on different initiatives, where they will be applying their knowledge gained at the training.