The final event for UPSHIFT workshops held during 2023 in Bosnia and Herzegovina brought together 70
young people aged 13 to 24 from 23 local communities across the country. Participants spent three days
learning together, socializing, exchanging ideas, and presenting all the work they had done in the previous
year.
The UPSHIFT program aims to empower and educate young people to devise solutions for issues in their
communities. In 2023, a total of 123 young individuals learned the UPSHIFT methodology in three
UPSHIFT workshops.
- Joint UPSHIFT Workshop Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republic of Serbia
- eUPSHIFT Step Further
- eUpshift Youth for Clean Air
At the "Terme Ozren" complex from January 24 to 26, we gathered the winners of UPSHIFT to present
everything they had accomplished during the implementation of their projects.
On the first day, representatives from UNICEF Bosnia and Herzegovina, Veronika Vashchenko (Deputy
Representative UNICEF) and Amila Madžak (Adolescent Development and Participation officer at UNICEF
Bosnia and Herzegovina), addressed our UPSHIFT participants.
"It is my great pleasure to greet you all on behalf of UNICEF and congratulate you, as your idea is one of
the 800 ideas that were successful and secured grants. Each of you has identified various problems in
your local communities and contributed to their resolution. What is crucial to me, as a long-time member
of UNICEF worldwide, are projects like yours that seek the genuine involvement of young people, their
participation, and addressing issues in local communities. You approached us with very diverse ideas
that included environmental protection, health issues, educational projects addressing significant
problems, and these projects are a great inspiration to me. What is highly important to UNICEF is to try to
assist young people and prepare them for the job market, to train you in life skills such as critical thinking,
teamwork, peaceful conflict resolution, effective communication, and working with various digital skills.
UNICEF expresses special gratitude to the Genesis Project as a partner of UNICEF. As a partner, Genesis
is an example of excellence in the partnership that UNICEF has nurtured for many years," said Veronika
Vashchenko.
Following that, UPSHIFT participants attended a Financial Literacy education session and learned several
crucial aspects about their finances, income, expenses, savings, and many other economic concepts. The
most interesting part of the first day followed, which was a Financial Literacy quiz consisting of 20
questions. UPSHIFT participants scanned a QR code and participated in the quiz using the Metri app,
where scoring was based on both knowledge and the speed of response. In the end, the top performer
was Adna Tunović with 15,947 points, winning a bag full of sweets as the main prize.
On the second day, thirteen winning teams from the three UPSHIFT workshops during 2023 presented
their projects and shared the results of their work, partners, and future plans for their projects with others.
One of the UPSHIFT workshops in the previous year was "Youth for Clean Air," and for that reason, we
provided our UPSHIFT participants with an education session titled "Air Quality in Bosnia and
Herzegovina." The lecturer for this session was Enis Krečinić from the Federal Hydrometeorological
Institute.
The UPSHIFT program originated in UNICEF's Office of Innovation and is implemented in 38 countries
worldwide. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, UPSHIFT is implemented by the Humanitarian Organization
Genesis Project in collaboration with the UNICEF Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with financial support
from DP World and the Embassy of Sweden in Sarajevo.