From August 1 till August 5, 2019, CARE partner organizations Youth Power from Mostar, Association XY from Sarajevo and Perpetuum Mobile from Banja Luka held a Leadership Camp at Sutjeska for youth from Mostar, Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Jablanica, Bijeljina, East Sarajevo, Travnik, Brcko, Tuzla and Zenica.
Next to the workshops that had goal to increase knowledge and skills on leadership and prevention of violent extremism, young people also had the opportunity to try a team building competition. Six teams of 60 young people battled for the title of best, all with the aim of promoting healthy lifestyles.
Nedim Mičijević, Youth Power Program Manager, said that this is the fifth year of the camp of Leadership in Sutjeska.
“This year we are celebrating a anniversary – 5 years of organizing a camp of this kind in Sutjeska. We are pleased to have young people each year who are eager for new knowledge by actively using the already acquired knowledge of team building activities. “
According to the leader of the program area Health and Healthy Lifestyles, Feđa Mehmedović, few organizations in BiH and the region can boast of the results achieved by CARE International and partner organizations of the Association XY, Youth Power and Perpetuum Mobile.
“”Thousands of young people across BiH and the region have become advocates for healthy behaviors through participation in the “Be Male Clubs” activities, and the educational tools we have developed in collaboration with key educational institutions are now globally known and proudly awarded for the title of the world’s most innovative and best-performing programs for youth. We have succeeded in changing the attitudes, knowledge and behavior of several thousand young people who, with acquired competences, can live better, healthier and better lives. Their parents are grateful and every day more and more of them insist that their children should be part of the Young Men’s Initiative program.
Teachers are also grateful and significant number of them across BiH, Serbia, Albania, Kosovo and Croatia with a strong motivation approach to these methodological training and then implement the activities according to the model we have developed. Ministries are also grateful to us for investing collective expertise and vast experience in supporting the capacity development of the education sector, “Mehmedovic said.
Leadership Camp is a traditional camp attended by the most active members of local communities, young people, who have made an exceptional contribution and showed leadership skills in activating and affirming their peers in relation to violence prevention and health promotion.
The activity was implemented as part of the YMI – Young Men Initiative project: “Promoting Healthier Lifestyles among Young People in Bosnia and Herzegovina by combating Gender Stereotypes II”, supported by the Governments of Switzerland, OAK Foundation, Austrian Development Agency and CARE International Bosnia and Herzegovina.