In 5 days I will be in Istanbul presenting the work of Youth Voices of Bosnia and Herzegovina to other YV from all over the ECA (Europe and Central Asia) region.

I spend my days doing presentations for health, civil engagement, youth policies and general activities the group has done for the past 3 years.

I have been a member of this group at the World Bank since July 2004 and have been through ups and downs with these 15 members. We are like a big family now, representing the Youth of Bosnia and Herzegovina, various NGOs, associations, minorities etc.

We are very diverse yet respect the gender balance, and come from different religious, national, educational backgrounds, representing both urban and rural parts of B&H and are all very active in our community lives.

So what do we do that’s so great?

We channel information from the field to the WB and try make them put the youth issues into their agendas and integrate tackling those issues into their projects and programs.

We basically promote the problems young people face on three levels: youth policy (including health), education and employment.

We are (apparently) the best case practice amongst all the YV groups in the region and are supposed to present our work and ideas, action plans, prior activities as well as future plans to the other groups in 5 days.

YVG is a cool activity I have been engaged in ever since my MCP term. After AIESEC I am settling for this kind of community work, consulting the people who can really make a difference on where the difference has to be made.

It’s a cool job.

PS I am still officially looking for a traineeship in AP.