The opportunities for women in rural regions of Bosnia-Herzegovina are limited. This is especially true of women who survived the violent war in their villages in the 1990s, or who fled and returned.

15 years ago, AMICA e.V. began to set up self-organised contact points for these women in the Drina valley (Zvornik region) with returning women for meetings, continuing education and child care. AMICA e.V. was supported by the Baden-Württemberg Foundation within the framework of the support programme “Perspektive Donau” (Perspective Danube). The women were given psychological and legal support, as well as economic advice on earning their own regular income. The resulting rural women’s village cooperatives transferred their findings to the Prozor-Rama region in 2017.
The Prozor region in western Herzegovina, dominated by the hydropower industry, offers few other job opportunities. Strongly disadvantaged women live in its remote villages.
Thanks to investments in the dairy industry and further training, the self-organised cooperative “Mali Ženski Kutak Prozor” (Small Women’s Corner Prozor) was founded. It now supplies milk for Prozor’s famous hard cheese to a local dairy. The cheese can be found in supermarkets throughout the country as well as at local consumer fairs. The Baden-Württemberg Foundation visited the small dairy farm and the countrywomen on the occasion of the delegation trip of Minister of State Theresa Schopper in October 2019. The delegation was able to convince itself of the quality of the products and the good cooperation.

The joint production, sale and marketing promotes a sense of community among the currently 30 women of the cooperative. This gives them a “social”, future-oriented existence.

Sandra Takács, AMICA e.V.