BILD
97 Hasana Brkica
Tuzla 75000
Bosnia and Herzegovina
ph: 00387-35/286-777
fax: 00387-35/286-777
email: info@bildbosnia.org
Building Human and Social Capital
through Community Service
 project funded by  World Bank  Ithaca Noon Rotary Club  South East Europe |
Through our community service program, BILD gives people the opportunity to earn equipment and material for their organizations.
We believe that straight charity is often harmful to a person’s spirit and self-respect, and can cause a debilitating sense of dependency as well as resentment.
Therefore, rather than using a traditional model of direct aid (i.e. simply giving equipment to community organizations), we give people the opportunity to earn equipment and material for their organizations by working with us on community service projects.
We believe that by working together, we can build healthy honest relationships, in other words, social capital. With productive social capital, our investments of physical capital will not lead to dependency but rather will lead to self-reliance and sustainable results.
Through working together on community service projects, we build confidence and trust; we give people a chance to develop team work and leadership skills; and we see who we can work with us productively and be true partners in our development projects.
By completing projects such as cleaning rivers, restoring parks, and improving neighborhoods, we create a sense of accomplishment and a spirit of self-reliance while being of service to the members of the greater community.
When people earn equipment for their organizations by working on community service projects, they then have a strong sense of ownership and are willing to continue investing their own time and resources to make their projects self-sustaining.
Hence through community service projects, we cultivate the values, principles, and commitment necessary for successful sustainable projects.
The sense of accomplishment gained through community service projects is fertile ground for creating and strengthening honest, productive relationships.
Edis, Nijaz, and Edin from the Tuzla University student organization USRGGF plant trees and earn equipment for their organization.
Leadership-by-example is a core principle of BILD.
BILD's Executive Director digging a hole during a community service project planting approximately 200 trees throughout the city of Tuzla.
Community service projects help our organization gain acceptance and support from the local community.
Here is a section of a river in the city of Zvornik before and after one of our community service projects during which 25 volunteers worked for one day. The results were impressive and motivated the neighbors to plant flowers along the river.
Zvornik can be a difficult place to work because of a high degree of suspicion left over from the war. However, once local citizens that we are not just talking and really do want to make a difference, our programs are accepted and supported.
