Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Population:
- 4.6 million
- Capital city:
- Sarajevo
- GDP per capita:
- $ 7,764
- HDI ranking:
- 76 out of 182 countries
- Life expectancy:
- 75 years
VSO has been working in the Balkans since the mid-1990s, supporting partners working social service delivery and community development across the Balkans region. Although our international volunteer programme in the Balkans closed in March 2005, we now focus on the supporting national volunteering in the region.
Our partner in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is Omladinski Komunikativni Centar (Youth Communication Centre) (OKC). This non-governmental organisation (NGO) was established in 1997 by group of students from Banja Luca University. It was set up in response to the apathy and pessimism that was prevalent in young people in BiH after the war. OKC has been our strategic national volunteering partner since 2005, building on a successful earlier international volunteer placement and common development goals.
OKC’s national volunteering programme started with the Local Voluntary Service in Banja Luka that places community volunteers in NGOs and state institutions. With VSO's assistance, OKC has subsequently built a countrywide network of 11 local volunteer centres across the country. OKC is also the official national volunteer centre for BiH.
Since 2006, the local volunteer centres set up by OKC successfully engaged more than 2,000 local volunteers (mainly young people) to undertake volunteer placements in various NGOs and public institutions dealing with social vulnerable groups.
