In the village of Here, the "Little Women's Corner" began its work: A place for gathering, association, and empowerment of women

In the village of "Here", located in the municipality of Prozor-Rama, these days busy preparations were underway for the opening of the "Little Women's Corner", a place that in the future will gather all the women from this village, as well as from the nearby villages: Šćipe and Kuta, in order to improve the life of their community through joint work, ideas and actions, but also reminded them of the importance of connecting women, who, in small places like these, are most often the pillars of the whole family.

"Little Women's Corner" is part of the project "Stand up: for greater social protection", which has been implemented for the fifth year in a row by the Local Democracy Foundation from Sarajevo, with the financial support of AMICA e.V., Freiburg and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of the Federal Republic of Germany (BMZ). . As part of this project, numerous activities have been realized so far, and one of its goals is to empower women, victims of war, to become active members of local communities.

The women from these villages, who during the 1992-1995 war, were left literally without everything, and had to build their homes from the ground up, as well as families and social relationships, did not have a common space in which to spend time, and share all the happiness  but also sad moments. Until now, they gathered in different private houses, and they lacked a place where they could all come together and spend as much time as they needed. The construction and opening of a facility such as "Little Women's Corner" is, they say, the happiest event in their lives, because they finally got a place where they can gather, socialize, work, learn, empower and bond with women from other villages, but and other cities in BiH, all with the aim of stronger and better action, economic independence and reconciliation. The opening of the corner was attended by more than 20 women from these three villages, aged 35 to 70 years. They were happy to share their impressions with us.

- I am glad that we came in such large numbers and I want to thank everyone who participated in the creation and opening of this space of ours. This is an object worth its weight in gold. We received something priceless and of great importance for our women, who work hard on the production of all domestic products and the production of various BiH products. traditional and unique items, but quite often, they support the whole family. Here we will be able to agree on all future collaborations such as our preparations and trips to fairs, a unique presentation on the market, or cooperation and connection with women from nearby Catholic villages. I want us to use this space together in good health and happiness for years to come and share it with women from all the surrounding towns - said Edina, and Zahida joined in with her words of thanks, revealing what "Little Women's Corner" means to her.

- I know that this space will give us many beautiful moments. I will spend time here with my neighbors and friends. Finally, we have a place where we can display our handicrafts and where we can make homemade products from organically grown fruits and vegetables. Only by working together can we encourage greater changes and apply for various incentives in our municipality, in order to become economically independent, but also contribute to the development and prosperity of our local community. I invite all the women from the surrounding towns to join us - said Zahida.

Vernesa, another resident of the village of Hera, did not hide her happiness at the opening of the "Little Women's Corner".

- I want to thank the donor, who has done so much for us and our children during the last five years. They also made our villages visible. Before, I had the feeling that we were forgotten by everyone. Today I know that is no longer the case. We tried to make the opening go smoothly. Each of us contributed and I want to thank everyone for that, especially the donor and Sandra Takacs, without whom this would not have been possible - said Vernesa.

The coordinator of the "Stand up: for greater social protection" project, Lejla Šadić, organized regular workshops during the previous years with the aim of educating and economically empowering women from these places. Unfortunately, there was no specific space where these workshops took place, so the "Little Women's Corner" will be used for these activities as well. On the opening day of the corner, Lejla also held the first workshop on the topic "Sense of community and belonging", and each of the participants of the workshop presented and shared their opinion on the importance of their joint action and wrote down how they felt about the beginning of the work of this facility.

The opening of the "Little Women's Corner" is just one of the many successfully implemented activities within the project "Stand up: for greater social protection". As part of the project activities, a special focus is placed on the youngest population, in order to improve their living conditions, such as paving roads and organizing transportation to and from school, etc. And great joy was brought to their little hearts by the opening of a modern children's playground, located next to Kutak itself, where children from all the surrounding villages can play.