Golden Youth Team from Teočak

Students of Mixed high school in Teočak, gathered in the "Golden Team" came with the project idea on "Intergenerational solidarity" with which they wanted to influence the improvement of the quality of life of people of the third age in their city within the joint UPSHIFT workshop for Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina which took place in Šabac, They were among the winning teams, and through the implementation of the project they managed to animate the entire local community and gather more than 40 volunteers to realize all the planned activities for more than 60 pensioners from Teočak.

"We chose this topic to help elderly people and show them that they do not need to feel lonely. We are thrilled that we made our dear grandparents’ days brighter. As a team, we all knew we would succeed and there was no doubt that everything would go as planned," says team member Mersiha.

In Teočak municipality, there is no adequate institution that deals with the care of elderly and frail persons, and in addition, there is a lack of educated personnel who can provide palliative care services, and no volunteer center that could provide support to this population. All this was a reason enough for this group of young people to try to do something for their elderly fellow citizens, says team member Adnan:

"We chose this theme precisely because of the lack of activities for the elderly population. For them, this is a change that has not been seen in Teočak before, we think that we made their lives more interesting and active. We all have wonderful experiences from the workshops, we learned a lot about things like knitting, drawing, and organization of events itself. We also carry beautiful emotions, as it was truly lovely to see someone of 70 years old singing and painting on glass at the same time," says Adnan.

During May and June, over 60 pensioners had the opportunity to participate in workshops such as "Healthy and Active Aging," where doctors from the Teočak Health Center gave lectures and conducted sugar and blood pressure measurements. This was followed by workshops "Learning Knitting/Small Technology School," "Intergenerational Creativity," and "Playing Board Games," where young and elderly together decorated glass using decoupage techniques and enjoyed various board games. At the end, everyone visited the Ethno Village "Stanišić" near Bijeljina where they continued socializing and shared experiences from all the joint activities.

"I felt proud and happy because we all enjoyed the workshops and social gatherings together. At the beginning of the workshops, everyone was curious about what to expect from the remaining gatherings, so they stayed with us until the end," says Mersiha, while Beriz adds that everyone carries wonderful emotions and very useful experiences that will help them in their further development.

In addition to gathering around 40 peers, students of Mixed high school Teočak and Elementary School "Teočak", and training them in basic skills through educational workshops, the "Golden Team" managed to include numerous other individuals and organizations from Teočak in all activities. They organized a round table where they presented the "Intergenerational Solidarity" project, described their achievements in detail, and shared their vision for upcoming project activities aimed at encouraging intergenerational solidarity, resulting in an agreement that will enable similar activities to be organized in the future:

"Alongside the school principal, pedagogue, and volunteers, the round table was attended by representatives of the Women’s Association, Pensioners’ Association, Red Cross, Social Work Center, Health Center, and the municipality of Teočak. A memorandum of cooperation was signed with all our partners, which strengthened the joint approach to enhancing connectivity between different age groups in the community. The agreement signifies a collective commitment to creating a more inclusive and collaborative environment between young and elderly individuals," says team member Enna.

After the project concluded, members of the "Golden Team" along with women from the Sniježnica community organized a charity event where they raised 6,000 BAM from the sale of cakes and crafts made during the workshops, which were donated for the treatment of their peer.

"In addition to the success of the project, I am extremely happy that through the humanitarian action we managed to collect additional funds and contributed to the community. It's a great addition to our work!" says Adnan, while Mersiha was particularly delighted that the citizens of Teočak responded in large numbers to the campaign.

Members of the Golden Team say that their participation in the joint UPSHIFT workshop was a great and significant experience from which they gained a lot of knowledge and skills, as well as friendships with young people from BiH and Serbia, with whom they remained in contact even after the workshop:

"The organization was excellent, as were all the accompanying elements. I think it would be hard to find experiences like those I gained through UPSHIFT and the workshop in Šabac elsewhere. Stage performance is no longer a problem for me, project planning, budgeting, and managing resources are just some of the experiences we all gained," concludes Adnan on behalf of the group. Their participation in UPSHIFT has also impressed school pedagogue Ivana Marić:

"Participation in the UPSHIFT workshop in Šabac provided my students with an excellent and unusual opportunity to acquire new, informal knowledge and skills in an environment that is, above all, friendly, motivating, inspiring, encouraging, supportive and fun. With the support of mentor Tanja Šnjegota and the entire Genesis Project team, Enna, Mersiha, Beriz, and Adnan learned to analyze problems from their local community, identify causes, determine consequences, and design the best ways to solve them. We were all very proud and happy when their project 'Intergenerational Solidarity' was named one of the top five from Bosnia and Herzegovina,” says Ivana Marić, adding that what impressed her the most was that students were not provided with solutions throughout the process, but came to them on their own:

"It allowed the students to implement numerous project activities, firstly to plan and organize, communicate and implement meetings with partners and users, sign memorandums, and plan budgets and all essential items. The entire process, from participating in the workshop to completing project activities, meant acquiring skills that cannot be learned in the classroom, developing self-confidence, creativity, and resourcefulness, thinking about problems in new ways, and, last but not least, making new friendships. It is an experience we would certainly repeat!"

The UPSHIFT program was created in the UNICEF Office of Innovation and is being implemented in 38 countries worldwide. UPSHIFT in Bosnia and Herzegovina is implemented by the Humanitarian organization Genesis Project in partnership with the UNICEF Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina.