Una-Sana Canton, Bihać, Bosnia and Herzegovina (July 15th, 2021)
On July 13th, 2021, the Congress of Bosniaks of North America successfully completed the “New Leaders of Una-Sana Canton” program, which launched on June 10th, 2021. This year’s program took place in Bihać, Bosnia, and Herzegovina, and was attended by 15 working professionals who successfully completed the program. The aim of this program was the transfer of knowledge and best practices from the U.S. to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce (Naples, FL) has successfully run a similar program in the U.S. for the past several years. The Congress of Bosniaks of North America, through the effort of its Director of Homeland Relations, Mr. Hasan Kajtezovic, was able to bring together the Chambers of Commerce from Naples, FL and Una Sana Canton and facilitate the transfer of knowledge and best practices between the two organizations. The program is supported by the USAID “Diaspora Invest” project.
The main goal of “New Leaders of Una-Sana Canton” was to establish a strong local leadership network between all participants in the program as well as to foster cooperation for the benefit of the whole community. The program consisted of six weekly sessions on various topics, where participants were introduced to the organization, operations, and functioning of the ten participating institutions, where they were briefed on projects and opportunities for joint cooperation. This year the programed topics emphasized were: Economy and NGOs; Tourism and Environment; Arts and Culture, Health and Media; and Local Government.
Due to the successes and increased interest in this program, Congress of Bosniaks of North America is planning to expand this program to other Chambers of Commerce in the region.