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J-fund
The J-fund in Bosnia & Herzegovina
The Jfund active in Bosnia & Herzegovina since 2005 working in cooperation with the "Melaha micro-credit fund" situated in Sarajevo. The Jfund has strong cooperation with the Jewish communities in Bosnia and works with cooperation with different associations for disabled persons. In Bosnia & Herzegovina the Jfund has assisted over 30 different projects creating employment possibilities for more than 90 disabled persons. Following are a few of the stories;
1. In village Knespolje, near Siroki Brijeg, West Herzegovina, there is a small plastic recycling center on the Glavina family estate, working under the auspices of Utjeha, association of persons with special needs. Open since 2005, the center employs only persons with special needs. They operate plastic grinding machines producing pellet which is then used in the extruder to make different types of plastic pipes. Mrs. Tatjana Kosak, herself a person with serious deformities is the leader of this family company. to read more please press....
2. In addition to educating and training persons with muscular dystrophy, our main business and source of income are printing services. We print books, brochures, advertising material and so on. Thanks to the Jewish Community of Banja Luka and the JFund, we were able to upgrade our equipment and raised the quality of our services to a higher level. to read more please press....
3. Actually, this recently renovated and furnished restaurant with a decades-long tradition is only an economic base which should generate money for a project I’ve been trying to realize for a long time already. My intention is to found a big outdoor school at Mrkovici, a beautiful wooded mountain near Sarajevo and to employ there persons with special needs who would work with children with special needs. There are many children in our city that have lost one parent or both parents, as well as many children with special needs, either born with a disability or deformity, or disabled due to the war. to read more please press....
4. Established this year, the Regional Environmental Office (REK) is a specific agency engaged in development of environmental protection projects. Although local communities do have legal responsibility to develop an environmental protection program and are required to have a development document, officially called Local Environmental Action Plan, or LEAP, only 35 out of 148 municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina have completed this task. to read more please press...
5. There is a modest and dilapidated prefabricated hut in Beogradska Street 8, Banja Luka, which would not be unusual at all, (such buildings can be found in all our cities), if not for the fact that it houses a small enterprise called GRISS founded by the Humanitarian Organization Partner. Nor would this be unusual either, except that this company employs solely and exclusively persons with grave physical disabilities. All twelve employees are persons with special needs, and the director himself, Mr. Zeljko Mastikosa, is a person with dystrophy. to read more please press....
6. About forty kilometers from Doboj, in direction of Tuzla, the wooded slopes of Mount Ozren gird the shores of a small artificial lake. A spacious, two storey building is being built into solid rock on the shore. Rough construction works have been completed, and now rustic doors and windows are being installed and concrete walls are being covered with stone and wood panels. As planned by the owner, Mr. Stanoje Radeljic, skilled workers are constructing in the shade of centennial pine trees, a restaurant and a motel, Orlovsko Jezero. to read more please press....
7. The name Librag is an abbreviation for ‘deaf locksmith and tinsmith workshop’. Established in 1996, this small organization employs only seven persons, who are all either born deaf or have serious hearing impairment. The head of this organization is Mrs. Jasminka Karahasanovic, a civil construction engineer who herself uses a hearing aid in daily communication with her family, employees and business associates. ‘This organization has been established with a basic goal to educate, train and eventually employ persons with hearing impairment. to read more please press....
8. Seven kilometers from the center of Doboj, on a long-abandoned, weed-grown fire-fighting reservoir surrounded by pine forest, a delightful artificial lake and beautiful picnic spot have been created by ingenious and hardworking entrepreneurs, as well as Sport and Recreation Center ‘Goransko jezero’, named after the lake. Having visited the lake on a November morning, we realized that tourist season was over long ago. The place was quiet and peaceful, and the only sounds that could be heard were those of hammer and of construction works coming from the log cabin restaurant. We were received by Mr. Borislav Babic, a co-owner. to read more please press....
9. The fundamental idea behind the project is to collect both wild grown and plantation grown herbs and process them to obtain quality essential oils, which are in high demand, as well as scented water, a by- product of the process. Some time ago, I perambulated the hills, meadows and pastures and found out there was plenty of wild sage (Salvia officinalis), heather (Calluna Vulgaris), juniper (Juniperus communis), lemon balm (Mellisa officinalis) and many other medicinal and ethereal herbs. Having plenty of unused agricultural land on our estate, we plowed 20 dunams (4.9 acres) and plan spring-sowing of lemon balm, sage and lavender (Lavandula latifolia). to read more please press....
10. Our Company name is DES, which stands for People with impaired hearing’ says Mr. Dzemo Basic, a longtime director of the company which employs a large number of deaf and hard of hearing persons. ‘We employ more than 98 persons with special needs. Beside providing manufacturing and services we also train young individuals with hearing loss. After a successful completion of a three- year- traineeship they are awarded a certificate of proficiency in graphic arts, photography, apparel and textiles, engraving or seal making’. to read more please press...
11. There is a small beauty salon in the basement of the Mlađenović family house, in the suburb of Banja Luka, called Dara Hair and Beauty Salon. The Mlađenović family had fled Croatia during the war, leaving all they had behind and bringing along only their work skills. In the years after the war they erected a new house through diligence, and founded a new beauty salon. Beside the owner, Mrs. Goranka Mlađenović, this small family firm employs 6 more persons, out of whom two are persons with special needs: Miss Zorica Pozderovic is a deaf masseur and Miss Slađana Dželaja, a war amputee, is a make-up artist. to read more please press....
12. Tracking the flow of JFound credit funds, we arrived at Café Delfin on a gloomy and rainy Sunday morning. The outdoor chairs and tables were put away beneath the eaves. Inside, in a small but recently white -washed and refurbished restaurant, everything was bright and clear. The owner of this lovely café, Mrs. Elvira Salcin was attending to customers. We started a conversation about cost-effectiveness of this kind of business, since cafes in Sarajevo can be found around almost every corner. to read more please press....
13. Big Auto Company from Doboj, Central Bosnia has been operating in the used car market since 2005. We talked with Mr. Sorel Blagojevic, one of the partners in this privately owned company which in this time of global economic crisis faces many problems. ‘We import used cars from the European Union, service them and resell them through our agency. In addition, we issue vehicle registration certificates and run a car wash service which is primarily used to prepare and beautify the vehicles for sale.’ to read more please press....
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