It’s true – a new inspiring story is born during each visit to the Institute.
We engage closely with all our visitors, we pay attention to the curious individuals exploring the Institute’s premises, we listen to the needs of both individuals and organizations and we proudly uphold our values, which inspire and sustain new initiatives.
We ended the month of April by welcoming representatives of Citizens’ Association of Grahovo to our offices. If we hadn’t spontaneously decided to ask the guests for their first impressions and experiences after the last session, this story might not have become one of mutual motivation, shared emotions, and honest opinions. Or maybe the words would have still come naturally, flowing one after the other, without prompting, without anything previously written, memorized or rehearsed.
This situation reminded us of the importance of giving people the space to talk about themselves, their organizations, and their employees. It allows them to share their current feelings, thoughts, motivations, and the inspiration they share with the communities they visit and work in, and the people they meet.
Since the beginning of the Job shadowing program, the Institute has been selflessly providing this important space, continually boosting employee motivation. With each visit, people become more connected, more aware of the importance of their work, and immensely proud of themselves and those who inspire them.
The Institute for Youth Development KULT offers our support and encourages all organizations to act as a support system in their communities. Providing the opportunity for representatives of organizations to learn about the procedures at the Institute allows us to come up with new ideas and opportunities together. All previous visits have proven to be very useful because partner organizations often decide to implement what they saw and learned during the visit.
In addition to new information, experience, and knowledge, we also share different emotions, kind words, and honest opinions: “I have known about the Institute for 20 years. People from the Institute came to visit us, and we had meetings and different activities together, but I’d never been to your offices. I wasn’t expecting this. I expected fewer people, and I thought we would sit in a room and have people coming in to explain things to us. I wasn’t expecting something this impressive. You gave us the opportunity to really work with you, to visit your offices, to meet the people behind everything you do. It was the first time I experienced something like this, the first time after 25 years in the non-governmental sector that I visited some great people and saw them work together. After all those years, I saw the other side of the NGO sector, and it filled me with positive energy and motivation to act. After spending all day here and meeting so many people, I’m not even tired. Those people knew exactly what we needed,” said Danka Zelić, executive director of the Association of Citizens of Grahovo.
“I came here without any expectations. I was particularly surprised by such a positive approach to an outsider – someone who comes from a different organization. Typically, we are accustomed to organizations being very closed off, but you have opened your doors to us. I felt really comfortable, I felt at home. It’s unusual, but in a very good way.” said Josipa Mihaljević, a volunteer.
When we asked what they’d be taking away from this experience, Danka told us with a smile: “So much that I don’t know how we’ll fit it all in the car. You can’t get this anywhere else.”
And no, it’s not about anything material or tangible; it’s not about promotional materials or equipment. This is a short story about people who love what they do work, about the sincere intentions of the Institute to truly be the support that others need, to motivate and create – for today, for tomorrow, for all those whose lives will be touched by the dedicated work and efforts of these people and their organizations. This is also an important story about a partner organization that left Sarajevo full of motivation, fresh ideas, and determination to improve people’s lives.
The Institute for Youth Development KULT has developed the concept of Job shadowing, which will provide civil society organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina with a new perspective of organizational development. This concept is commonly used in professional development and involves observing everyday activities, work environments, and the application of various methods and models of work in practice.
The visits of partner organizations to the Institute for Youth Development KULT proved to be a perfect opportunity for learning and motivating each other. This is yet another reason to continue hosting these visits and support the strengthening of organizational capacities to empower civil society organizations to create opportunities for a better community.
We would like to thank our guests for their visit, kind words, and motivation!
You can read more about the concept of Job shadowing HERE, and if you have any questions, you can email us at selma.sljivo@mladi.org.
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