Colorado Rotary clubs play major role in grant to keep rural girls in Bosnia in school to reduce human trafficking risks

 Colorado Rotary clubs   play a major role in  a Rotary International grant to promote basic education and literacy for rural girls in Bosnia. Keeping girls in school has the added benefit of reducing the number of girls who are at risk for  becoming  victims of  human trafficking.

The $45,275 grant , recently approved by the Rotary International Foundation, Evanston, Illinois,  will employ workshops,  campaign style outreach, and mentoring programs, to promote gender equality and  basic  education of girls. The  Rotary International Foundation  grant reviewer called the project  “innovative and an important effort”.

 The lead club and largest single contributor  was Denver Rotary (31) .  Also contributing cash toward Rotary International matching funds  were Rotary clubs of Boulder, Summit County (Frisco), Breckenridge Mountain, Denver Mile Hi, Grand Cayman (British West Indies), Mostar (Bosnia),   and the Rotary clubs   Winter Park/Fraser, Granby, Grand Lake and Kremmling .  Total cash contributions from Rotary Clubs was $16,850 which were matched by Rotary District 5450 ($10,000) and the Rotary International Foundation, $18,425

 Felicia Muftic, a member of the Denver club, and a resident of Fraser,  served as the project grant writer and champion, with assistance from husband Dr. Michael Muftic, a native of Croatia, a country  that neighbors Bosnia. The Muftics have been frequent visitors to Bosnia over the past forty years. Felicia Muftic first visited Bosnia in 1959 during her junior year abroad in Germany and completed  independent studies in Balkan history in her senior year at  Northwestern University.

 Bosnia has become  a major source of human trafficking as girls seek alternatives to poverty, widespread domestic violence, and lack of education needed  to become employable.  Large  numbers of girls in rural Bosnia do  not  complete elementary school, according to  United Nations agencies.. One result is that Bosnia has become  a major source of human trafficked girls  in recent years as travel restrictions were lifted.

Rural cultural prejudices held by all ethnic groups  in Bosnia  give preference to  educating boys, especially   when resources are tight.  100,000 Roma (commonly called gypsies in the U.S.) natives of the area, provide no education whatsoever for their girls.  Adding to the problem, the Bosnian federal government had prosecuted no traffickers in recent years  and local laws treat juveniles 14 years old and older arrested for  prostitution and begging as perpetrators, not victims.

 Bosnia  (formal name: Bosnia and Herzegovina or BiH) was part of the former Yugoslavia and  hosted the Sarajevo 1984 Winter Olympic games. Sarajevo is Bosnia’s capitol. Bosnia’s population is similar to Colorado’s though it is one fifth in area.  Between 1990-1995 it exploded in a horrific civil war between  ethnic groups that resulted in coining  the term “ethnic cleansing” to describe tactics used by combatants during the conflict.   Government gridlock due to continuing political quarrels between ethnic groups,  corruption, and a deteriorating economy, with    unemployment of over 50% in cities and 80% in rural areas, has made  Bosnia  the poorest country in Europe.

The Rotary Club of Mostar (Bosnia) will implement and oversee  the grant, contracting with non profit Novi Put  to provide educational and advocacy  and hands on execution of the grant.  The grant will focus on the canton (state)  surrounding its main city, Mostar. Novi Put has been designated by the Bosnian Ministry of Security as an anti human trafficking partner.  Novi Put (translation: New Road), also provides advocacy services for promoting education, and is a counseling agency for domestic violence and child abuse in Mostar.

“The impact of recent flooding in Bosnia may slow down implementation planning, but the target area for the grant seems to be less affected and we expect the program to be ready to go at the beginning of the coming fall’s  school year”, said Muftic.

The grant approved by Rotary International is a Global Grant,  a new program  initiated in 2013 for larger grants.  Among its areas of focus is promoting basic education of girls and gender equality.   The most famous  face of gender equality and promotion of education of girls is Malala Yousafzai,  a Pakistani teen nearly killed by the Taliban and nominated for a Nobel Prize . Malala’s father was one of the first  members of a Rotary Club in Pakistan’s Swat Valley.