Social service providers in BIH: How far did we come in the first two project years

National conference of CSOs, members of IRIS network and national network of social service providers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was successfully finished today in Banja Vrucica, Teslic. Around 50 representatives of these organization and national and local government officials gathered to discuss results of the first two years of existence of the only regional network of social service providers – IRIS.

Participant of the one-day conference „ Positioning the National network in the field of social services“ concluded that civil sector and CSOs became inevitable government partner in the field of social care. Further more, one of the main focuses, in this area, will be connecting the public and civil sector with the aim to improve provision of social services in BiH. Representatives of IRIS network members got a chance to learn more about standardization and licensing of social services, accreditation of their progremmes and experiences of the similar types of organizations from the region.

„ In the first two project years we succeeded to connect over 30 organizations who provide various types of social services to vulnerable groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Throughout our conferences and training programmes 100 professionals improved their knowledge in the areas of social management, development of new services, advocacy campaigns, financial and organizational management, and also exchanged experiences and good practices. Iris network became great support system for these grass root organization which enabled them to develop new and improve existing services in their local communities“ said Mrs Biljana Zgonjanin, president of LIR civil society and coordinator of national network of BiH.

Members of BiH national network signed the Declaration of joint values which will also be a guide for future members of this network. One of the main objectives of the project „Improving the provision of Social Service Delivery in South Eastern Europe through the empowerment of national and regional Civil Society networks“ in the next two years is broadening regional network IRIS and national networks in the Balkan region.