Bosnia and Herzegovina : civil education program for 1999-2000

From 7/99 to 12/99, IFES staff focused on civic action initiatives -- assisting local representatives in prioritizing needs, formulating requests, and presenting these requests to their elected officials. In January 2000, following USAID approval of a project realignment, offices were established in Bihac and Bijelinja, and activities focused on voter education in preparation for the April 2000 municipal elections. Under the supervision of an expatriate office manager, a staff of 30 national trainers implemented a program of voter and civic education seminars and civic action initiatives in 62 municipalities in the Republika Srpska (RS) and 6 of the 10 cantons of the Federation comprising 40% of the country. In all, project staff conducted 7,542 civic education seminars that reached 106,361 citizens directly; distributed 111,142 election-related literature throughout 62 municipalities, in addition to 120,000 pieces of privatization information material; and established 350 civic initiative groups that achieved over 100 verified cases of action by elected authorities. The project also hosted visits from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Head of Mission, the U.S. Ambassador to BiH, the former USAID Mission Director, the former U.S. Ambassador to BiH, the GAO, the Brookings Institution, and the Office of the High Representative (OHR) and others; and contributed to OSCE"s Permanent Election Law Information Campaign (PELIC) by organizing the training of community facilitators, conducting over 160 roundtables, and polling more than 600 residents for the OSCE election survey. In addition, IFES teams held 1,556 sessions on privatization with 21,152 citizens and provided two sites to test the new open list ballot to be used for the first time in BiH elections in 2000. As a result of IFES intervention, citizens in the project area have become involved with the democratic process beyond simply casting ballots in elections. Local communities have seen that they can have an impact, that their local representatives can be held accountable. Due to their efforts, much needed work has been accomplished: roads, schools and clinics have been rebuilt, and utilities have been improved or provided. Involvement in the democratic process at this grassroots level is necessary if the tenuous peace that continues to hold in BiH is to become permanent. (Author abstract, modified)