Youth Informative Agency Bosnia and Herzegovina (OIA BiH)

OIA makes Youth Active, Cool and Sexy!

This non-governmental and nonpartisan organization is operating as an independent institute in the field of youth policy development, with the aim of improving the position of youth and increasing their participation in society. OIA cooperates through three sectors: Info Service, Youth Policy Sector, Capacity Building, with more than 70 government bodies and more than 200 youth organizations in B&H and the South East European region, as well as international organizations and young people


By SANJA KAVAZ
from Sarajevo, BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA



It was only couple a months ago that we found out from the Central Election Commission that 616.883 young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina have the right to vote. Sadly, it is one of the rare statistics about the number of young people that we, who deal with youth issues, have since the last population census happened long time before the refugees, war and great migrations.

The encouraging outcome of the elections that took place in October 2006 was that 47% of the young people decided to participate in the election process unlike the previous elections when we had only 25% of them at the polling stations. We thank the new Election Law and passive registration which contributed the fact that we now have the MPs who were partially elected by the young. Another important issue is that Youth Information agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (OIA) run a big election campaign titled "Shake up the country" which encouraged the young to vote thus striving for our better future. Throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina activists from OIA and more than 80 partner organisations had organized 94 INFO PROMOTIONS in 80 different cities during which activists distributed 264.093 different Info brochures, leaflets and the first B&H game I play, I vote, I win!, created by OIA members in order to explain the process of choosing and making decisions, so that the young people could be familiar with it when they get the chance to elect or be elected.

We would not make any comments on the outcome of the elections regarding the political parties that won, but the fact that the youth woke up and showed interest to take part in democratic development and decision making processes proves that the problem in this country is that nobody wants to offer anything to the young which are actually willing to participate!

Improving Position of Youth

What Youth Information Agency (OIA) has been stressing out for more than five years and from the very first day of its existence is that the governments and politicians in B&H hypocritically declare that the young people are passive and as such, a "problem of the country". Furthermore, they refuse to invest in the young, to support them and offer them bigger challenges.

OIA is a non-governmental and nonpartisan organization operating on level of Bosnia and Herzegovina as an independent institute in the field of youth policy development, with the aim of improving the position of youth and increasing their participation in society. OIA cooperates through three sectors: Info Service, Youth Policy Sector, Capacity Building, with more than 70 government bodies and more than 200 youth organizations in B&H and the South East European region, as well as international organizations and young people. OIA became a recognizable institution and a key factor in the development of youth policy in B&H by initiating about 70 institutional changes in the field of youth.

Nowdays, OIA is considered by many the central or focal point for informing on youth in B&H. This means that OIA collects and owns a range of information on youth in BiH (their position, status, needs), youth activism and youth organizations, governmental bodies that should deal with youth issues, international programs, youth policy in general and European standards, different seminars and gatherings for youth in B&H and the world, etc.

As the only partner from the Balkans of the European Youth and Counseling Agency (ERYCA), OIA powered up its Info service with the website www.mladi.info which had over 356.575 visits in the first two years of its existence and announced around 4.339 information. OIA has recently created a specialized web portal for youth workers www.porno.ba which so far had two issues and 15.921 visits. But there are also many other mechanisms that OIA practices such as study visits of young people to the national parliament, Info desks in four different cities, radio and TV shows on youth activism etc. According to numerous results on which media OIA's target groups use to get information, OIA's communication strategy is complied with their information fashions. Therefore, OIA uses TV and radio in accessing the youth and for the national broadcast (BHT1) produced 8 one-hour TV shows about youth activism with 400 participants from 30 different cities, 70 five-minute shows on elections and employment as well as many radio shows which broadcasted OIA's agency news. On the other hand, through the newspaper articles which report about street, lobbying or advocacy activities that OIA organizes, it sends its messages to the political and reading publics.

Central Point for informing on Youth

OIA aims to draw the public's attention to the position of bh youth which has never been worst, to their needs and concrete proposals for their realization as well as to assert themes which are less present in the public, because, sadly, there is always more interest for the so called 'high level politics' which don't say a word about young people of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

As an independent institute and the only think tank in youth policy field OIA analyses the development of youth policy, European standards and practice and experiences of other countries. Its Policy sector contains different actions from policy research and analysis in the youth field to creating policy documents and their lobbying with different governmental structures, civil society, international organizations, and the public.

Beside the youth policy advocacy, and information providing it is necessary to build the capacity of those that will participate in the process of planning and realization of youth policy. Therefore, OIA developed its Capacity building sector through which it applies the method of peer education - a method for youth to teach youth about certain themes. It has created a specific workshop 'Active youth' which offers analysis of youth position and possibilities for activating changes in 90 minutes of interactive work. The workshop was held more than 700 times so far with 15.000 high school and university students from more than 80 cities.

The best recognition for what OIA has been doing on the field of youth activism comes from the youth itself which is, day by day, getting stronger and better organized. According to Jan Zlatan Kulenovic, the Executive Manager, many youngsters now feel encouraged to approach and ask from the people on power something they need. "Besides that we keep them informed and that they use our booklets and manuals in order to found their own youth organization, find money and run projects, we also made them capable of talking to the authorities and representing themselves in the public. It is something that we are most proud of".

Membership

In BiH OIA represents the following regional programs: youthNET and youthEXchange.SEE, it is a member of the South-East European Youth Network (SEEYN) and the European network UNITED. OIA is the national partner for BiH of the European Youth Information and Counseling Agency (ERYICA). In 2004 OIA became Action Partner of the OXFAM International Youth Parliament from Sidney. From 2005 OIA is a National Coordinator for the European Governance Network (EGN). It is one of founders of the European Movement in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2006.