Who are we

Genesis Project was founded by a group of local enthusiasts in February 1997. The end of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and devastation after the war led to the establishment of Genesis Project. Since then we have implemented numerous projects and activities.We are located in Banja Luka, and thanks to the municipality of Banja Luka, after eight years of operating in rented premises, we now have an office, owned by the city of Banja Luka, at our disposal. That helped us a lot and provided us with new options for the development of our work. Thanks to our mobile service the "Project Genesis" humanitarian organization operates at the national level, which means that different activities have been implemented in the territory of the entire Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Main objective of our work are

• To educate children and adults about child safety and violence prevention, with goal of injuries prevention.
• To educate children and adults about peaceful conflict prevention and resolution.
• To reduce the negative impact that mines, UXO (unexploded ordinances) and SALW (small arms and light weapons) have on children and their communities in BiH.
• To educate children and youth about healthy life styles.
• To spread the idea of interactive education through live (puppet) show performances depicting different educational topics (conflict prevention, mine risk education, environmental protection, children rights, prevention of addiction diseases, etc.).
• To educate children and adults about ecology and environmental protection.
• To educate children and adults about gender equality.
• To develop and support various co-existence initiatives throughout BiH.
• To help war traumatized children and their families.
• To overcome the ethnic segregation.
• To develop and support various co-existence initiatives throughout BiH.
• To implement and support different peace building initiatives.

Mission

Genesis Project is a non-governmental organization which, through its professional and dedicated team, helps children and adolescents throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina in fulfilling their rights to have a free and correct psychophysical development, regardless of their religious, ethnic or racial belonging whilst respecting their individual differences and potential.

Vision

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a free and open society that will enable every individual to develop and assert to their full capacity and to become a happy, conscious and free person, capable of thinking critically and acting creatively.

Dijana Pejić was born in 1974 in Banja Luka where she attended primary school and secondary school of electrical engineering.
Upon completion of Business School in Belgrade, she gained her undergraduate degree in economics in the Faculty of Economics in Kragujevac.
She has been active in the NGO sector since 1995, when she got a position of a project coordinator at the U.S. Committee for Refugees.

She founded the Genesis Project NGO in 1996 in Banja Luka. Since then she has implemented dozens of successful projects throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Being responsible for program management, financial management, designing projects and human resources, Dijana has been successfully manage a small team, which has been part of Genesis, for the most part, from the very beginning. The success story has been going on for 18 years, and its best evidence are the results achieved and the children's smiles elicited by Dijana’s team members wherever the road takes them.

Azra Talić was born in 1952, in Banja Luka, where she completed her elementary and high school education as well as the teachers' college. She continued her education at the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo, where she acquired a title of the professor in psychology and pedagogy.

In her extensive experience Azra worked as an educator and counsellor in a kindergarten and as a psychologist and counsellor in an elementary school. Her following position was in the CARE Canada organisation, as a psychologist.

She became part of the Genesis Project team in 1998, and she has been actively participating in numerous projects, being equally successful as a teacher and psychologist however as a poet too. Thanks to her imagination, a large number of songs and plays were created that a travelling interactive theatre of the Genesis team entertains and educates the little ones with all over BiH. And, in Azra’a imagination there is always room for new and creative ideas that are just waiting to come alive in some future project.

Draško Stojčević was born in 1975 in Banja Luka, where he completed his primary education and secondary school of electrical engineering and then the Faculty of political sciences, Department of Journalism and Communication.
Since the foundation of the Genesis Project, Draško has been a member of the team. While working in this organization, he attended a number of advanced seminars and completed the training for the SALW and Mine Risk Education Instructor. After training for the design and production of the one-minute films for young people, he produced a great number of one-minute films across Bosnia and Herzegovina. Within the projects he worked on and also successfully implemented, Draško was bringing joy to the little ones through various roles he has enlivened in a number of plays and TV serials. Pečurko (Mushroom man) in the "Game of forest dwarfs," associate teacher in "Whose are the angels", deminer in the "The strange trial" are just some of his roles. Always smiling and popular among children, is a recognizable member of the merry Genesis team and a traveling interactive theater.

Ljubiša Vasić was born in 1975 in Banja Luka, where he completed his primary education and secondary school of electrical engineering and then the Faculty of Philosophy.
He acquired the title of a class teacher in 2009, and for the work in the NGO sector he got further education both through seminars and trainings. Among other things, he completed the training for the SALW and Mine Risk Education Instructor. Ljubiša has been a member of the Genesis Project team since 1996. He has worked on the implementation of a large number of projects, and children and young people easily recognize him by a wide smile and a number of roles that embodied through entertaining and educational shows and TV serials of Genesis.
Professor Mudrić (Brainy) from the "Whose are the angels" TV series, a teacher from the "Forest School" TV series, Borko (Pine man) in the "Game of forest dwarfs ", a strict judge in the "The strange trial", are some of the roles that youngest ones remember him gladly by.

Saša Šarić was born in 1974 in Banja Luka, where he completed his primary education and secondary school of electrical engineering, after which he enrolled at the Higher Business School in Belgrade.
He has been part of the Genesis team from the founding of the organization, and through a number of seminars he was additionally trained to work on humanitarian educational projects.
He also completed the training for the SALW and Mine Risk Education Instructor and he attended the training on the design and production of one-minute films.
During his work in Genesis, Saša took part in the implementation of a large number of successful projects throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina - from educational workshops for children, through production of TV shows, to the prevention of peer violence. He is also active in fundraising.

Goran Radić was born in 1967 in Banja Luka. After completing primary education and secondary school of electrical engineering in this city, he completed several advanced seminars, as well as advanced training for project managers for MRE and firearms.
He gained his BSc degree in economy in the Faculty of eeconomy in Apeiron University, Banjaluka. After eight years of work in the "Rudi Čajavec" company, Goran has joined the Genesis Project team in 1998, initially as a volunteer and since 2003 as a full member. Among other trainings and seminars, he also attended the training on the design and production of one-minute films. He took part in a number of successful projects and his greatest contribution is emphasized through management of projects for mine risk education and firearms. Goran is actively working in the highly vulnerable mine-affected communities throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina and its primary mission is to educate children how to save their lives and have a carefree childhood while growing up near the mines and constant danger.

Dijana Miljatović was born in 1972 in Prijedor, where she completed primary and high school education, upon which she studied English language and literature at the Faculty of Philosophy in Banja Luka.
A large portion of her working life Dijana spent in the field as an interpreter, and in this capacity, she worked for the ICTY too. She is one of the cofounders of the Association of single parents, "Ponos" and a current chairwoman. She is also a coordinator of numerous humanitarian actions and within the association executes the function of a project manager as well as, when required, of the spokesperson.
She joined the Genesis Project in 2012, first as a volunteer, and since July 2013 as a permanent member. Employed at the administrative assistant, she is a necessary logistic support of this successful team.

Sandra Josović was born in 1977 in Slavonski Brod. She completed elementary and secondary school education in Banja Luka. She gained her BSc degree in political scientists in journalism and communications in the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade. As a journalist, she worked in several Belgrade media during her studies, and after returning to Banja Luka, she spent eight years in the Nezavisne newspaper, a year as a reporter and then as the editor of several columns and the Sunday edition. She continued her journalistic career on the website for health as a chief editor where she worked for two years. After this experience, she undertook the position of the Executive Director of the International Film Festival Kratkofil Plus.
She was joining the Genesis Project team occasionally as an associate and then as a new member in September 2013. Along the assistance in the implementation of projects, she is responsible for the design of portal’s content, as well as to communicate with the media.