“Fostering cooperative socio-economic development, reconciliation, and coexistence in Bosnia-Herzegovina.”
Anna-Claire Bowers
Tim Heine
Justin Painter
Mission Statement:
Pollination Partnerships International (PPI) is a non-governmental, non-religious, non-military and non-profit organization based in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The project seeks to establish sustainable economic reconstruction and development at the community level, while providing a space for reconciliation between the ethnic populations within Bosnia Herzegovina. Through the production of organic honey, Pollination Partnership seeks to support and encourage economic reconstruction that will address the nation’s major issues of unemployment, ethnic relations, and a need for indigenous funding for nonprofit organizations.
Introduction:
PPI is a Transnational Non-Governmental Organization with its main office based in Syracuse, New York. Presently, PPI intends to open a country office in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the capital city of Sarajevo. Project implementation will occur directly outside Sarajevo in rural communities. The pilot project will take place in the village of Sekovici.
It has been over fifteen years since the war in Bosnia ended, but the effects are still present. The Bosnian war had devastating and lasting social and economic impacts on the population, and the war-torn economy has struggled to recover. More than 100,000 people were killed and hundreds of thousands of people were displaced. In addition to continuing economic shortcomings, the country’s ethnic groups still remain divided and tensions endure. Today, the country’s residents are still categorized by their religious differences. Bosniaks are predominantly Muslim, Serbs predominantly Orthodox Christians, and Croats predominantly Catholic Christians.
It is recognized that each group may not be interested in actively participating in reconciliation efforts. In order to facilitate and create an incentive for reconciliation between Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats, PPI seeks to bring people together through the creation of a common interest for the community—to provide mutual prosperity through economic security and to foster trust and forgiveness between grieved ethnic groups through joint ventures.
Objectives:
1. Unemployed residents obtain living-wage jobs
Economic development in Bosnia has struggled to recover after the war, and high unemployment remains a major problem. Prior to the war, Bosnia’s main industries were based in agriculture and metal mining. PPI seeks to reestablish a sustainable source economic development and provide what many citizens need most—a living wage and means to provide for their families.
2. Ethnic groups interact peacefully and productively
PPI will deliberately hire workers from the country’s three ethnic groups: Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats. The Bosnian war in the early 1990s created divisions, mistrust, and animosity within communities across the country. This project will indirectly provide a space for communication and reconciliation by focusing on people’s needs. By satisfying these needs, people engage in small talk and work relationships that are effective in generating basic communication and in developing a sense of community. Based on expert advice from a Bosnian scholar, this method is believed to be more effective than programs that attempt to forcibly engage in dialogue concerning “who did what to whom.” The program will encourage all employees to be “forward looking” and build a positive future together.
3. Local resources are generated to meet local needs
This project will operate a beekeeping business that utilizes open fields and a large greenhouse located in Sekovici, a rural community with high unemployment. Lavender and other fragrant flowers that attract bees will be planted, and several studies have shown that Bosnia’s climate and soil are favorable for honey production. Surrounding agricultural ventures will benefit from increased productivity due to improved pollination. It is intended for this project to provide enough honey to eventually satisfy the majority of Bosnia’s internal needs for honey instead of relying on imported honey from China, where most of the world’s honey is produced. Additionally, there is a shortage of supply of organic honey, and this venture would have good market prospects in filling this niche.
Marketing:
The final product of the PPI joint venture in Sekovici will be an organically grown and hand-made craft honey from Bosnia-Herzegovina, which will be packaged and exported to the Western European market for sale. The product itself will be marketed in a way that emphasizes that it was locally produced and will directly benefit the economically disadvantaged communities in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Furthermore, the honey produced by the local community of Sekovici with the help of PPI will likely be more appealing to the European market than honey imported from China, as European consumers would more likely support a European enterprise and one that is environmentally friendly and sustainable for this region of Europe. Each jar of PPI honey will have a small tag attached to the lid that will provide details as to the purpose of the project, the methods of production, and the benefits the project provides to the multi-ethnic community.
Operations:
As detailed in Annual Costs and Annual Budget charts, PPI will be led by an executive board of three members: Anna-Claire Bowers (CEO), Tim Heine (CFO), and Justin Painter (CERO). The Executive Board will be responsible for acquiring the necessary startup funding from the previously-mentioned agencies, coordinating export of the final product to Western Europe, and publicizing the mission of PPI to the international community.
At the local level, the PPI joint venture will be led by one Administrative Support staff member and three Local Field Staff who will be trained in harvesting, production, and packaging methods for the product. Each of these Local Field Staff will then be responsible for training workers and coordinating production at each phase.
The Administrative Support staff member will lead the hiring team in addition to the three Local Field Staff. Hiring and employment of workers for PPI in Sekovici will be conducted along the following guidelines:
· PPI must employ a proportional number of employees from each ethnic group to the proportion of that ethnic group residing in and around Sekovici;
· Workers will be hired first on the basis of economic hardship, the purpose of this being to employ those individuals who are most greatly affected by continuing economic hardship;
· Hiring employees for PPI will also take into consideration applicants who are single head of households who have lost spouses in the 1990s conflicts;
· Potential employees need not have any particular skills to be hired, as the necessary vocational training will be provided to them upon employment;
· In each phase of production, there will be an equal distribution and mix of individuals from the respective ethnic groups, so as to avoid any factionalization that may occur if segregation or clustering techniques are used.
All remaining profits from the PPI joint venture, after compensating workers with their salaries, will be reinvested at the local level by expanding production capacity and hiring new workers upon each successive year. This will allow PPI to start with a relatively limited number of employees but grow with each successive year, allowing a greater number of individuals to acquire a steady source of income regardless of ethnicity, religion, or gender.
Sources of Funding:
PPI will generate funding for the joint-venture project in Bosnia-Herzegovina through three primary sources: USAID, the German GIZ, and the Balkans Reconstruction Fund. Given that each member of the PPI Executive Board are current employees of each of theses institutions, it will facilitate ease of access to funds. Additionally, PPI will exert significant effort to generate funding in the form of personal charitable donations from individuals around the world, as well as Bosnian, Serb, and Croat diasporas in Western Europe and the United States.
The Executive Board of PPI will lobby and request funding from the following organizations in the specified amounts:
· USAID for a one-year grant of $40,000;
· The German Agency for International Cooperation (Die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) in the amount of $75,000 USD;
· The European Agency for Reconstruction in the amount of $45,000 USD;
· Various private donations from nice people in the amount of $10,000 USD.
As all three of these organizations have expressed an interest in reconstruction and development in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Executive Board believes these agencies will be very likely to contribute these relatively small sums to the project. Further economic development and reconciliation in the Balkans will reduce the continuing financial needs that this region impose upon international donors, contribute to political and social stability as part of Europe, and in the long run will provide economic returns far greater than the initial investment.
Annual Costs
OPERATING COST BREAKDOWN FY 1Personnel / Q / USD per anno / effective cost
Executive Board / 3 / pro bono
CEO (ACB) / 1 / pro bono
CFO (TH) / 1 / pro bono
CERO (JP) / 1 / pro bono
Local Field Staff / 10 / 7000 / $70,000.00
Administrative Support / 1 / 20000 / $20,000.00
Insurance / $13,500.00
Sum Personnel / $103,500.00
Operations
Local Office / $5,000.00
Local Production Facilities / $30,000.00
Local Transportations / $5,000.00
Maintenance / $5,000.00
International Airfares / $10,000.00
Employee Training / $10,000.00
Sum Operations / $65,000.00
Total Cost FY 1 / $168,500.00
* The annual cost chart is elaborated under the assumption that the manpower of the Executive Board (Chief Executive Office, Chief Financial Officer and Chief External Relations Officer) will be provided pro-bono during the first fiscal year from the co-founders of the organization, Anna-Claire Bowers, Justin Painter and Tim Heine. The following year salary payments will be adjusted upon success of the initial stage of the project and the generation of auto-sustained funding.
Annual Budget
Budget Chart FY 1Income
Grant USAID / $40,000.00
Grant GIZ / $75,000.00
Grant EU Balkan program / $45,000.00
Private Donations / $10,000.00
Total Income / $170,000.00
Expenditures / See cost breakdown estimate / $168,500.00
FY 1 Net Operating Profit * / $1,500.00
*If the revenue and cost forecast holds true FY 1 net operating profit will be reinvested in either maintenance or expansion of production facilities.
Concluding statement
We are convinced Pollination Partnerships International will be a key element in a grassroots reconciliation movement, healing scars across ethnic lines that remain from the conflicts of the 1990s in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Aligned with our motto, “Fostering cooperative socio-economic development, reconciliation, and coexistence in Bosnia-Herzegovina,” PPI joint ventures will bring together people across religious, ethnic, and generational lines. By reinforcing the social integration of the workers across ethnic barriers the project would be a landmark project in the region, as current development and reconstruction projects are mostly mono-ethnic. Upon demonstrating success of the program in the first fiscal year, PPI will establish further joint venture projects in other villages surrounding Sarajevo and extend its operations into the more rural countryside. Due to the ecological sustainability of honey production and export, the project will have a socio-economic and reconciliatory impact, and will also provide positive environmental externalities and beautify the countryside which will also contribute to tourism revenue.
The project will be beneficial for the region and trustworthy for the donors, as the entire executive board will be donating its first year of service pro bono to the project, thereby creating a common ground between management staff and fieldworkers. Creating peace and inter-ethnic social trust in the Balkans is a major goal of both United States and European Union foreign policy. Hence, we are optimistic that the project will receive funding from USAID, the German GIZ and the European Balkan reconstruction fund, thereby allowing PPI to break-even in the first fiscal year of operations. Once the project is self-sustaining, there are expansion possibilities into further European markets, as well as American and Asian markets. Through the potential conglomeration of supply as well as converting industries a self-reinforcing virtuous circle of development could be created with an overall benefit for the broader region.
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