Having someone to guide and support them on the path to employment and personal development can make all the difference in a young person’s career and future. That’s exactly what employment mentors do. They’re not just there to help with job hunting, but also to provide encouragement, support, and inspiration. Through an innovative approach known as social mentoring, employment mentors are helping transform individual lives while strengthening communities and laying the foundation for sustainable youth support systems in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Emrah Tepić has a Master’s degree in Political Science. His thesis focused on the socio-political status of persons with disabilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Emrah was born in Bihać, but has lived in Sarajevo with his family for nearly two decades, where he completed his primary and secondary education at the Center for Children and Youth with Visual Impairments.
Thanks to a friend who works at the University of Sarajevo’s Student Support Office, Emrah was introduced to the social mentoring program.
“My friend mentioned that I’d be paired with a mentor who would help me learn and build my confidence. My mentor was Naida Kokić. When I met Naida, I didn’t just meet a mentor – I met a friend, an advisor, a protector. She became like a second mother to me, my fairy godmother. Beyond the knowledge she gave me that will help in my career, we also found time to talk about life and the things that mattered to me. After each conversation, I felt like I was being born again,” said Emrah, beginning to share his story.
“This program and Naida weren’t just helpful for my career. This was a turning point in my life,” he says proudly.
During the program, Emrah had the opportunity to improve his English, and he made the most of it, completing three full course levels. He also participated in Career Day and connected with various guest speakers.
“One of our speakers was psychologist Naida Pervan, who shared important insights about career development and the job market. We visited a company that manufactures and sells cars, where I saw firsthand how following your own path works. The owner of that company was a perfect example of that,” Emrah recalls.
For Emrah, meeting and building a relationship with his mentor was the most important part of the process. He also values the many new connections he made and the chance to complete the English course, something he had been wanting to do for a while.
“Thanks to Naida, I also became familiar with platforms like LinkedIn and tools like ChatGPT, which I now use daily,” he adds.
Emrah is currently doing an internship at the Municipality of Novi Grad Sarajevo.
“I have two months left. The mentoring program came at just the right time – exactly when I needed an internship opportunity. After finishing my studies, I was in limbo for a while, hoping for a chance, and nothing was coming. I started to feel disappointed, and then I was introduced to social mentoring,” he says.
Alongside his internship, he’s currently studying for the professional civil service exam and learning about relevant laws and regulations. Social mentoring helped him see not only what he’s capable of, but how to go about it.
“I already had confidence before this; I just needed someone to give me a push. Naida was that person. She reminded me of what I’m capable of and helped me stay focused on my strengths.”
What he highlights most is the instant connection with his mentor, because she wasn’t afraid to work with a person with a disability. “We just clicked from day one. What meant the most to me was realizing that she wasn’t scared of what this partnership might involve. A lot of people are afraid to work with someone with a disability, and they don’t hide it.”
Finally, Emrah says, “I always say there is no need to be afraid of working with people with disabilities. That kind of cooperation is always a learning experience. And that learning goes both ways.”
The Institute for Youth Development KULT is a partner in the regional project “Social Inclusion of Disadvantaged Groups in the Western Balkans (SoRi III)”, which is implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Institute is developing a social mentoring approach for work integration, based on the methodology created by the Association for Research, Communication, and Development PUBLIC from Skopje.
