Svitac 2013 Annual Report children’s play · Svitac 2013 Annual Report This year at Svitac we...
3
Svitac 2013 Annual Report This year at Svitac we celebrated our 15 th Anniversary. We did this by continuing to provide a wide variety of stimulating activities to youth in and around Brčko, Bosnia. We also shared our birthday with our British donor-partner Firefly International, which was founded alongside Svitac by Ellie Maxwell in 1998 to help sustain our work. On average we worked with 100 youth every month. Our year-round programme of arts and language classes, workshops and lively community events provide opportunities otherwise unavailable to young people who grew up in the trauma of war – and the shadow of an incomplete post-war recovery. These opportunities also prepare them better in their search for a job in a region plagued by high unemployment, and are a positive way to spend time while looking. Classes last year included English, German, French and Spanish, as well as drama, music, Fun Club children’s play sessions, yoga, arts and crafts, Origami Zoo Club Workshops, Daydream Factory creative arts team- building workshops, a Green Fingers Club and Explorer science clubs. We also held parties for kids in Brčko such as our Halloween and New Year’s parties. During our Summer Camps we were able to bring together hundreds of young people through arts and crafts, language and music activities. Presentations were made about the home countries of participating international volunteers. Arts and crafts projects included a Time Travel art project and the creation of a Mosaic led by a British Art4Space volunteer. At the end of the camps we again organised an annual Children’s Day alongside other Brčko District NGOs. This day served as a finale where we presented the results of our summer camp classes, while we made kids smile with face painting and piñatas.
Svitac 2013 Annual Report children’s play · Svitac 2013 Annual Report This year at Svitac we celebrated our 15th Anniversary. We did this by continuing to provide a wide variety
Svitac 2013 Annual Report This year at Svitac we celebrated our
15th Anniversary. We did this by continuing to provide a wide
variety of stimulating activities to youth in and around Brčko,
Bosnia. We also shared our birthday with our British donor-partner
Firefly International, which was founded alongside Svitac by Ellie
Maxwell in 1998 to help sustain our work. On average we worked with
100 youth every month. Our year-round programme of arts and
language classes, workshops and lively community events provide
opportunities otherwise unavailable to young people who grew up in
the trauma of war – and the shadow of an incomplete post-war
recovery. These opportunities also prepare them better in their
search for a job in a region plagued by high unemployment, and are
a positive way to spend time while looking.
Classes last year included English, German, French and Spanish,
as well as drama, music, Fun Club children’s play sessions, yoga,
arts and crafts, Origami Zoo Club Workshops, Daydream Factory
creative arts team-building workshops, a Green Fingers Club and
Explorer science clubs. We also held parties for kids in Brčko such
as our Halloween and New Year’s parties.
During our Summer Camps we were able to bring together hundreds
of young people through arts and crafts, language and music
activities. Presentations were made about the home countries of
participating international volunteers. Arts and crafts projects
included a Time Travel art project and the creation of a Mosaic led
by a British Art4Space volunteer. At the end of the camps we again
organised an annual Children’s Day alongside other Brčko District
NGOs. This day served as a finale where we presented the results of
our summer camp classes, while we made kids smile with face
painting and piñatas.
Some of our activities have branched out into the wider
community, such as a BookEaters Club promoting reading at the local
library and English language lessons provided for local police. Our
offering of annual events included Anti-Racism and Anti-Fascism
Days designed to promote tolerance, while international volunteers
helped a local organisation Amika run a Human Rights Day for young
people. We also brought short films from around the world to Brčko
by hosting the Future Shorts Film Festival. Entering its third
year, participants in the festival screen short films four times
per year. It has been well attended by our community and allows us
an opportunity to showcase creativity by putting on arts
exhibitions at each showing. The most popular short film during the
summer screening, as voted on our Facebook page, was ‘Slitage /
Seeds of Fall’. We continue to host international volunteer
instructors through the European Voluntary Service (EVS) programme
and through Weltwarts (German Voluntary Service). These volunteers
bring in new ideas and perspectives adding to our efforts to build
bridges locally and internationally between communities. Those
volunteers are offered the chance to gain work experience and learn
the local language, in exchange teaching classes for youth through
us.
Last year we welcomed young volunteers from the UK, Latvia,
France, the Netherlands and Germany. We also expanded our ability
to send local volunteers abroad by strengthening relationships with
both Don Bosco Netherlands and Friedenskreis Halle e.V. Germany. As
a result, in 2014 we will send our first three local volunteers for
placements of up to a year in Germany, the Netherlands and
Slovenia. This is in addition to the small number of local
volunteers we have sent in the past to the Netherlands for one
month stays. In a region where opportunities to leave are limited,
these placements can be life changing. Locally, we took part in
government discussions as a Commission for Youth was established,
and have been in talks with Brčko District’s Counsellor for Youth
to discuss ways to improve support for young people. Our team also
attended seminars in the Balkans organised through the European
Youth in Action Programme (SALTO). The seminars covered topics like
improving volunteer employability, leadership and campaigning. They
were good opportunities for us to network and to develop the skill
base of our team.
In 2013, Svitac had an operating income of 85,856 BAM against
expenses of 98,995 BAM. That compares to 2012 operating income of
132,772 BAM versus expenses of 102,309 BAM.
