Commmunity entrepreneur fund development in Bosnia

On September 25, 2006 NDS was contracted by Church World Service to work with its partners in Bosansko, Grahovo, Bosnia-Herzagovina to create income generation projects in this region which is still struggling to emerge from the recent civil conflict. This is part of a larger is part of a larger initiative, “Build a Village”, which seeks to improve the livelihoods of individuals in targeted rural communities with high concentration of returnees in a sustainable, holistic and participatory manner. The multi-year Income Generation program will focus on stimulating economic development, increasing income, attaining food security and creating employment in the municipality through various sustainable activities based on identified and prioritized local needs.

The program will be developed based on best business practices and models, including market strategies, business planning process and implementation procedures. In addition, CWS hopes to use the knowledge gained and work product resulting from this contract for similar income generation projects in which CWS is involved.

The objectives of the contract are as follows:

To assess and analyze the situation in the municipality of Bosanko Grahovo using, but not limited to, review of existing program documentation, secondary data, needs assessment and field visits.
Advise CWS staff and local partners on the best appropriate income generation activities and models.
Assist in designing and developing multi-year Income Generation program, which will incorporate ideas and feedback collected by CWS project team in Bosansko Grahovo.
Develop a “Master Proposal”, for use in fundraising activities.
Design templates e.g., business plan, business assessment tools, and other relevant templates, which can be used by CWS and local partners to build local capacity to plan and run business activities.
Assess local training needs.
The contract was secured upon the successful completion of a greenhouse assessment project for Church World Service in the department of Totonicapan, Guatemala.