Young Leaders for the Future: Volunteer Initiatives that Inspire

Across towns, cities, and communities throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, participants of the Young Leaders for the Future programme are demonstrating that change becomes most visible where people choose to act together. What connects them is not only their volunteer engagement, but a shared understanding that trust, solidarity, and dialogue grow from everyday acts that strengthen their communities.

Although each volunteer initiative has its own dynamic and specific character, taken together they form a broader narrative: young people who, through practical work and mutual cooperation, are laying the foundations for communities that are fairer, more inclusive, and more resilient. This is also where their most meaningful contribution to peacebuilding lies - not in grand declarations, but in dedicated work within their communities and in strengthening the fabric of togetherness. 

In Teslić, the volunteers’ first step was simple: bring young people together for an informal conversation. The “Info Café” at Radolinka beach became a place where youth could openly discuss the challenges they experience in their environment, and what they need in order to participate more actively. In a pressure-free atmosphere, among equals, a readiness emerged to hear other viewpoints and consider different perspectives. This small yet important space of trust showed that dialogue is the starting point of any process a community wants to advance, and it set the tone for all activities that would follow across the country. 

Continuing their search for ways to connect people, volunteers in Mostar organised a literary evening on the Small Stage “Karel Čapek” at the Mostar Puppet Theatre. The gathering created an opportunity for young authors to share their texts, experiences, and reflections on the world around them. The audience responded with questions, encouragement, and discussion. Through literature and conversation, diverse perspectives found a common space, reminding us that art and culture can serve as practical tools for fostering understanding, mutual respect, and appreciation. 

This openness to others continued in Gornji Vakuf–Uskoplje, where young people, through the initiative “Behind the Surface”, sought to understand the concerns, hopes, and sentiments their fellow citizens carry, those that often remain unspoken. Through mirrors with messages, short interviews, and anonymous notes left by passers-by, they explored the micro-narratives that shape everyday life in a community. The result went far beyond a creative activity: the volunteers recognised the importance of being present and listening, because it is through this kind of attention that shared spaces begin to form. 

From such understanding naturally comes the impulse to support those who need it most. In Bosanska Krupa, a visit to a home for children without parental care provided an opportunity for volunteers to deliver school supplies, but also to offer their time. Through play and conversation, they witnessed firsthand how attention and small gestures can make a meaningful difference in someone’s day. 

In Zvornik, the same story continued through a creative workshop for children with developmental disabilities. Children, parents, and volunteers shared a bright, playful, and welcoming space. The workshop served as a reminder that inclusion is not only a principle, but a lived practice, and that a community grows stronger when every child feels seen and supported. 

In Tuzla, the focus shifted from relationships among people to our relationship with the environment - another shared good that belongs to all. The eco-workshop at the House of the Flame of Peace raised questions about plastic use, waste, and possibilities for changing individual habits. Young people took part in games, discussions, and a clean-up action, demonstrating that caring for the environment is not only an ecological but also a social matter: the way we relate to the space we share inevitably affects the quality of our collective life. Change starts with small steps, and the first ones are always easier when made side by side. 

Volunteers in Milići used their initiative to spark public conversations about women’s reproductive health, a topic often left on the margins. Through educational materials, a visible presence in public spaces, and conversations with community members, they helped create an environment in which this topic could be approached with more openness and understanding. In communities where women feel encouraged and supported to seek information and prioritise their health, quality of life grows, trust strengthens, and social relations become more stable. 

A similar spirit of unity was felt in Doboj, where volunteers, alongside youth activists with disabilities, their peers, and teachers, planted flowers and greenery, improved the schoolyard, and supported the equipping of a sensory room. Through their joint effort, each participant was equally valued, and inclusion took shape through concrete experience. The activity helped build bonds among young people and left a visible, lasting mark on the school they share. 

In Glamoč, solidarity took on a deeply practical form. Volunteers organised the humanitarian initiative “A Package of Kindness”. Together, they collected groceries and hygiene products, prepared “packages of kindness”, and delivered them with care to elderly community members and families in need. Peace is nurtured through precisely such quiet gestures, those that cultivate empathy, protect dignity, and remind us that no one should ever be overlooked or forgotten. 

In Stolac, volunteers devoted their time to caring for stray dogs – innocent beings without a voice, yet with needs as real as our own. After visiting a local animal welfare organisation and learning about the challenges it faces, the young volunteers mobilised a donation campaign and collected 150 kilograms of food. They demonstrated that empathy is not a selective trait; it either exists or it does not. A community that cares for its most vulnerable and silent members shows that it has the capacity to care for everyone. 

All these values - dialogue, understanding, solidarity, empathy, respect for diversity, and care for the environment - came together in Mostar during the joint volunteer action marking United Nations Day. The revitalisation of the inclusive sensory park Kantarevac, the planting of flowers, and the workshop on the role and responsibility of young people in society symbolically connected volunteers from across Bosnia and Herzegovina. The joint activity showed that when young people unite around shared values, their differences cease to be barriers and instead become assets - bringing a diversity of perspectives, experiences, motivation, and positive energy. 

Observed together, these initiatives reveal a simple yet essential truth: young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina understand profoundly what their communities need. They choose dialogue over distance, solidarity over indifference, and initiative over waiting for others to act. This is where their true role lies - not in grand undertakings, but in the consistency with which they bring people closer every day. 

Their activities show that trust can be rebuilt, that social bonds and cohesion can be strengthened, and that peace can be cultivated on very simple yet solid foundations: understanding, respect, and a willingness to act. This is not a finished story, but a process that continues to grow and expand month by month, in every town and every community where young people come together and take initiative. 

If the future of the country depends on those willing to work together, then these young people have already demonstrated that this future can be brighter, more stable, and more just than we often allow ourselves to imagine. 

The Young Leaders for the Future programme is part of the broader Dialogue for the Future 3 (DFF3) project, implemented by UNDP, UNICEF, and UNESCO in cooperation with the United Nations Resident Coordinator, and in partnership with the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The project is funded by the United Nations Secretary General’s Peacebuilding Fund (PBF).