College education for 10 talented students in BiH

BOSANA FOUNDATION

Scholarship and Personal Development Program

Quarterly Report

January –March 2019

Executive Summary:

BOSANA’s fundraising efforts have gotten off to a great start this year. During the second half of March we have marked our 10^th Annual Benefit with our most loyal volunteers, donors and supporters. To celebrate this important milestone, BOSANA invited Amira Medunjanin, a renowned singer from Bosnia and Herzegovina who performed with Bojan Zulfikarpašic, Nikola Stajic and Pero Krstajic. Amira is a singer, humanitarian and a true amabasador of traditional Bosnian song called sevdalinka. It was a magical night, filled with emotions and positive energy. When we started planning the benefit, we set a goal for ourselves to raise $100,000 for our 10^th Anniversary. With the help of our donors and sponsors we are thrilled that we were able to achieve our goal and reach $100,000.  In addition to our annual benefit, two former Bosana students organized fundrasing events on behalf of Bosana.

Our current BOSANA students are also working on the final stages of their project “Pairing Youth – Empowering Coexistence” with Youth for Peace as our implementing partners. This project is financialy supported by the US Embassy in BiH- Economic Support Fund.

Students and Program Update:

Beginning of the calendar year marks the end of the first semester (fall) and the beginning of the exam season. BOSANA students have finished their classes for the fall semester; they have also taken their midterms and final exams. Some universities have started with the spring semester at the end of March while others will be starting in the next quarter. Thus far, students have reported good outcomes and all of them are on good track for the next part of the academic year. We still have several students that are trying to schedule their thesis defense, and hopefully in the next couple of months we will have new graduates. The students finishing their thesis have completed their requirements and now they are only waiting on the committees to give their availability.

Highlights of the quarter:

We are excited to be able to report that we have positive news about our students:

• Josip started his Erasmus exchange program in Poland at the end of February. He is currently in his first year of graduate studies and this exchange program will enhance his knowledge and broaden his horizons.

• Anela Z. majored in genetics. She received her bachelor’s degree and last year master’s degree as well. Right now Anela is venturing into digital world of data in relation to her study of genetics. She published an article on “Big data” and genetic research.

• Two of Bosana students organized fundrasing events for Bosana. Amir, our former student started Facebook campaign, asking for donations on his birthday instead of gifts. Esma K., our former student and a loyal vlunteer, who always makes sure our designs and graphics are amazing, organized a fundraiser in Sweden. We are so proud to see how much Bosana’s support meant to our students and to have our students raising funds on behalf of Bosana for the new generations.

• Nermina P., Bosana’s first generation student and Amila B. Bosana’s third generation student attended our 10^th Annual Benefit in Los Angeles. They have given their speeches on behalf of all Bosana students thanking our sponsors and donors for their continuous support. Both Amila and Nermina talked about the significance of Bosana during their education, how much Bosana meant to them and how much it still means to have support and lifelong friends they have through our annual student gatherings. The audience was able to learn directly from our students what it means to be a recipient of our scholarship.

As mentioned in previous reports: Bosana students are still working on the third phase of the project “Pairing Youth – Empowering Coexistence”. Implementing partners of this project are Youth for Peace BiH. US Embassy in BiH is the financial supporter of this project.

The objective of the project, which will last for 10 months, is for thirty (30) BOSANA students from different ethnic backgrounds and different parts of BiH to be trained to understand and deal better with current complex conditions of the BiH society to create, promote and live their own narrative of coexistence as young citizens of this country, while also having the opportunity to multiply the newly gained awareness by sharing it and their experience with 600 high-school students across BIH in the cities and communities where BOSANA students live or study.

Our students have started sharing their experiences with highschool students in their own comunities. This phase of the project is ongoing, due to different availabilities of educators and students. In order to fully complete the implementation, students need to receive official approval from schools and municipalities. All groups of students are now working on the third phase of this project.

“Students for Humanity” project is still going strong. New Bosana students also signed up for this project and all the students are still very much excited to set aside part of their monthly scholarship for their own humanitarian projects. This year, even students that have graduated in the past year have decided to contribute to this project.

Last quarter students helped their fellow student in Tuzla with her college expenses and now Bosana students are looking for a new beneficiary that will benefit from this project.