Build a Village: Balkans
Ruins from the war.
Photo: CWS
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Church World Service (CWS) is launching a multi-year integrated community development program, Build a Village: Balkans, in the Municipality of Bosansko Grahovo, Canton 10, Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH).
The multi-year Build a Village: Balkans program will improve the livelihoods of targeted rural communities with high concentrations of returnees in a sustainable, holistic, and participatory manner through an integrated community development approach. CWS and local partners will work alongside organized community groups as they identify and prioritize local needs and design responses that leverage local resources and technical assistance from CWS to address hunger and poverty.
The Build a Village: Balkans program will target an economically disadvantaged area of Bosansko Grahovo municipality located in southwest BiH. The municipality, which suffered from massive destruction resulting from war, is one the neediest. Despite considerable reconstruction, most villages still lack electricity, running water, or health service. Employment is virtually non-existent, especially for returnees. Despite this overwhelming need, the municipality remains hugely underserved by humanitarian agencies.
Villagers will learn skills in self-employment or securing employment, and creating a range of self-reliant livelihoods through income generation activities with help from CWS and local partners the Refugee Return Service and Grahovo Women's Association. Diversifying livelihoods, improving food access in marginalized communities, greater access to health, and improving access to education for women and children are all benefits of the initiatives.