Office of Transition Initiatives BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA RESILIENCE INITIATIVE (BHRI) QUARTERLY REPORT (FY 2019 Q3, April 1 – June 30 2019)

I. Context

Quarterly (BiH) and other countries in the Quick Facts Western Balkan region continue to face major challenges, including socioeconomic gridlock, perceived corruption within a 25 Cleared Grants wide range of sectors, unresolved legacies from the 1990s conflicts, and youth disenfranchisement. At the same time, a hardening of positions across communities along ethnic lines 8 Completed Grant limits the ability of key decision makers to respond to challenges with solutions that benefit all members of society. 17 Closed Grants These factors have led to an increase in different forms of violent extremism (VE), both ethnic and religious in nature, $ 8,266,873 placing already precarious intra-community relations in BiH, post-war arrangements and, ultimately, peaceful coexistence in Total Amount Obligated the country and the surrounding region at risk.

32,812 This reporting period was marked with a continued stalemate Total Planned Beneficiaries regarding the formation of the state-level government. As of June 30, the Council of Ministers of BiH has not been formed, Areas of Operation nor were a few lower level governments, following the general elections in October 2018. Instead, the major political parties Region continued advocating for policies that create division. A few Region controversies were raised around the judicial apparatus of BiH, Brčko District however, no significant changes were made to their structure as Canton of yet. Also, during this period, relatively small-scale citizens’ Region protests took place in Banja Luka and . Cross-border Herzeg-Bosnia Canton migration through BiH remains an issue with the potential to Herzegovina-Neretva Canton escalate. BiH’s institutions continue to struggle to come to an East Sarajevo Region agreement on how to respond to the influx and to decide on Region appropriate locations for migrant centers in the country. In May, authorities struggled to effectively manage heavy flooding due Region to ambiguity over jurisdictions and political infighting, raising Canton serious concerns over the ability of the country to manage Una-Sana Canton crises. -Doboj Canton In this context, the Bosnia and Herzegovina Resilience Initiative (BHRI) implements small grants to deliver high-impact programming designed to reduce the threat of violent extremism in BiH and strengthen voices and alternative narratives that challenge divisions and extremism. BHRI aims to: increase community resilience to radicalization and violent extremism;

strengthen voices and alternative narratives that challenge divisions and extremism; and strengthen the ability of institutional and community actors to mitigate and respond to escalatory violence.

II. Project Updates

A total of 54 activities were under implementation across BiH during the reporting period, with three highlighted below.

Set in Stone – Discovering BiH through Stećak: Stećak (or in the plural stećci) are medieval tombstones that lie scattered across BiH. Appearing in the mid-12th century, they are a testament to a common Bosnian identity that predates the arrival of the three main religions in BiH today. The epitaphs on them are mostly written in the unique, and now extinct, Bosnian Cyrillic alphabet. As of 2016, stećci were inscribed on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List. There are remains of stećci in several municipalities across BiH, including some municipalities which today are divided along ethnic lines. BHRI is using stećci to get youth from these communities together to discuss the common history and shared heritage of BiH. Through supporting a local organization experienced in the promotion of cultural heritage, BHRI identified local leaders who established youth clubs in their communities that now focus on promoting and preserving stećci. Engaging young people with stećci enables them to challenge divisive identity narratives that drive extremism in BiH. A web page dedicated to stećci has also been created (https://stecakmap.info/) to promote the work of the local teams across the country. Their Facebook page has over 1,300 followers, who can now all access stories about stećci that focus on coexistence and shared heritage. This project supports BHRI’s efforts to enable target audiences to question and reject extremist narratives that seek to sow divisions in BiH.

Stepping Up Social Work to Prevent Radicalization in Bihać: Bihać and the Krajina region are not only acutely affected by the current migration crisis but are also some of the most vulnerable areas to radicalization and VE in BiH. Some of BiH’s most influential VE recruiters and radical influencers come from Krajina. As Krajina still grapples with unreconciled grievances from the war in BiH, the multiple pull-factors into VE that are present increase risks around the radicalization of young people. Through this pilot activity, BHRI increased the capacities of the Center for Social Work (CSW) in Bihać to identify and prevent radicalization among young people. The CSW hired two additional staff members to work specifically on this issue, while BHRI engaged an international consultant to deliver trainings and guidance on how to work with, and identify, vulnerable youth. The training, consisting of 6 modules, was especially designed to enhance the ability of CSW staff to conduct community outreach, establish contacts with stakeholders, assess radicalization risks within individuals, as well as to prepare and implement activities to prevent radicalization. The pilot has proven successful and could potentially serve as a model for additional CSWs as frontline institutions in preventing radicalization and be replicated elsewhere in BiH. While fostering a strong partnership among local stakeholders, this activity will help key actors take proactive steps to address violent extremism.

3D Youth Clubs - Dedicated, Determined and Driven Youth: and are two neighboring municipalities in eastern BiH (Zvornik is in and Kalesija is in , Federation of BiH) that still suffer from strained community relations following an incident of violent extremism in 2015 that effected both communities. To increase youth resilience to radicalization and violent extremist influence, BHRI supported a local NGO in establishing and running two youth clubs. Two informal youth groups from Zvornik and Kalesija were provided with space, equipment, and training to bolster their activism and run the youth clubs in their respective local areas, but also learn from each other. Most activities for youth in these municipalities are controlled either by ethno-national political elites or radical actors, while those youth who do not want to be affiliated with these groups lack alternatives. This support will empower participating youth to positively influence the situation in their communities and to create new opportunities for themselves and their peers, particularly those vulnerable to negative influences.

III. Programmatic Highlights

Networking Awardees: This quarter was marked with the first BHRI networking event where awardees working on similar issues have been brought to one place to share their experiences, exchange ideas, and develop joint initiatives. For the first time, ten BHRI-supported media outlets gathered in Banja Luka to take part in a media training held by local experts. As a result of this networking event, several initiatives were raised, such as the creation of podcasts and joint web platforms. BHRI-supported media outlets are working hard on strengthening voices and alternative narratives that challenge divisions and extremism on local or regional levels. Following the success of this event, BHRI will look to network other awardees and partners in the upcoming period, especially youth centers and Centers for Social Work.

Internal Rolling Assessment: During the reporting period, an internal rolling assessment (RA) was held. The RA reviewed the program strategy, including previous and existing activities, in order to formulate conclusions about lessons learned, challenges, and successes. Regional Action Plans, amplification of program impact through social networks, and the scaling up of the current initiatives were all highlighted for discussion.

Follow-On Activities: In parallel with networking events, BHRI is increasing its follow-on activities by building upon the entry level activities where the program identified effective partners and increased its understanding about community dynamics, VE issues, and effective programmatic approaches. A number of activities have also now been replicated throughout the country and some research projects have been expanded to encompass several additional locations. Similarly, the program is doubling down in its efforts to highlight positive local narratives that reject radical and extremist narratives and for that purpose, BHRI began contracting digital media companies experienced in media campaigning during the reporting period.

Regional Action Plans: In order to further BHRI’s understanding about regional contexts and VE dynamics in its programming areas, Regional Action Plans were updated to reflect local contextual analysis and better define program approaches moving forward. Regional Action Plans are brief documents that explain the background of the region in terms of why the program is there, to highlight special contexts, pose questions, define challenges, and plan for activities to be implemented. Regional Action Plans were updated for Una Sana Canton, Banja Luka, Zenica, Prijedor, and Birač.

Monitoring and Evaluation: The BHRI M&E system has been adapted with the integration of the Most Significant Change (MSC) methodology for data collection and analysis. MSC can help identify unexpected changes and unintended consequences and delivers a contextually rich picture. It is particularly effective where change is hard to measure with quantitative indicators, such as in PVE programming. MSC encourages all actors to be receptive to change as a result of the activity or a set of activities. These changes can be seen in personal, relational, community or institutional domains. Envisioned and/or captured changes are shared with the program by all actors (partners and beneficiaries) and cumulatively analyzed to depict changes with strong contribution of the program and those with less obvious and unintended association to the program.

Over 20,000 youth beneficiaries reached: While the program is reaching its 100th project to start (expected early in the next quarter), BHRI has already reached more than 20,000 youth through its activities. This has been achieved through work in 56 municipalities with 69 partners.