History of Svitac

Svitac (Firefly Bosnia) is a multiethnic youth arts organisation in Brcko, Bosnia.

Svitac was founded by Ellie Maxwell in 1998, following her having spent time working in the Croation refugee camp at Varazdin and at Mladi Most & Terre Des Hommes youths projects in Mostar. The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) were keen for reconciliatory youth work to happen in Brčko as part of the reconstruction and reconstructuring of society. The project started with two international members of staff, and was funded by students at Edinburgh University. Projects were run in languages, photography, sports, a youth magazine and infomation technology. Within two months, the first Bosnian staff members, Senka Blagojevic and Samir Muller, joined.

There is a crying need for creative outlets for the youth of Brčko. Firefly’s programs fill as much of this need as they can, and are limited only by resources…
I cannot overemphasize the respect that the local community and NGOs have for the work done by Firefly Youth Project’
U.S Ambassador Robert Farrand, Office of the High Representative, Bosnia

By 1999 the first stage of Svitac’s cultural exchange programme took place, with children from Mostar and Brčko taking part in music and drama camps on the Croatian coast, as did the first Brčko festival (Brčkofest). Later that same year Svitac was awarded three years’ funding from the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund to cover administrative costs in Bosnia and the UK. In December the UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) asked Svitac to run its two centres in outlying areas of Brčko District (Brodusa and Dizdarusa).

Soon after it’s establishment. Svitac was handed over to local management in Brčko, and our much needed programmes of inter-ethnic youth work and on-going arts-based reconcilation projects continue there.

Svitac also hosts many international volunteers who run their own projects and support ongoing workshops. Local volunteers act as one-on-one support for their paired international volunteer, offering advice, helping with diverse workshops and translating. In return they learn new ways of working, practise their English, make links with other countries and cultures.

Svitac is supported by a number of organizations, including Firefly International, The European Commission, Trust in Children, WeltWärts, as well as a large number of individual donors.