Bosnia & Herzegovina
In the past two decades, Bosnia and Herzegovina has seen dramatic socio-economic changes but has also been hit hard by the global economic crisis. Many children are malnourished, don’t go to school and can’t get treatment when they’re ill. Large numbers of children are at risk of mistreatment and exploitation.
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We’re enabling disadvantaged children to access education.
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We’re reaching vulnerable children through protection services.
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We’re supporting children and their foster families.
Save the Children in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Watch a TV ad from our campaign to get ALL children in Bosnia-Herzgovina into school and learning. In this advert, Elmir, a 10-year old Roma boy, asks the world to enable him and his peers to go to school, so that one day he can be a doctor!
Save the Children in Bosnia and Herzegovina
We set up our first Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) office in 1993, and have been working since to ensure children get a good quality education, regardless of their background. We’ve been working to keep children safe by helping to develop systems of child protection and by combating child trafficking.
We’re enabling children to get a good-quality education
Many children in BiH are kept out of school by poverty, poor health, discrimination, and a lack of teacher training.
Working alongside schools, communities and local NGOs, we're addressing why children from Roma communities, refugee children and those with disabilities are not in school. We've also introduced new learning and teaching methods and trained hundreds of teachers.
Read more about our education work.
We’re working to ban corporal punishment
Although banned in schools, physical punishment of children is still considered to be acceptable by many people in BiH, an attitude we're working to change. We recently supported a conference attended by government representatives, NGOs and civil society groups, to establish a Framework Curriculum for the Prevention of Violence.
We’ve helped children from four schools raise awareness of the issue of violence in school with their peers, teachers and parents through workshops and events.
We’re improving children's care and helping to keep children safe
Many children with disabilities, Roma children and children whose parents aren’t around or who can’t cope are being looked after in homes. Where possible, we're promoting family-based care as an alternative and we're improving the quality of care these children receive.
We're assessing the needs of vulnerable children in BiH and developing tailored protection services. We also helped establish the first National Network of Fostering Associations.
To learn more about our work in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as our work in other countries in the region, download the South East Europe regional brief (PDF 92KB).
Latest news
- Monday 12 November 2007 Stand Up and Speak Out
- Young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina speak out against poverty.
