Transcultural Psychosocial Educational (TPO) Foundation's mission is to contribute, through the partnership between civic society and academy, to the development of a democratic civil society, increased awareness on gender equality and personal accountability. This mission is pursued through three main programs:

Education, Learning and Living – ELLi programme provides media literacy through various educational programmes aimed at equipping youth to make ethical decisions and nurture their humanness and spirituality in order to transform their lives and communities.  Values and ethical education utilize an innovative approach to intercultural learning in a value-based and high-quality education program for teachers and youth.

Peacebuilding and Reconciliation – PaR programme stands for gender equality diplomacy in peace and reconciliation processes with particular emphasis on the UNSCR 1325 on women, peace and security. Through various platforms and interdisciplinary learning, it provides valuable knowledge, skills and competencies for efficient social engagement of women and youth.

Leadership for Equality – LifE programme advocates for civil, political and economic rights of women and youth. The foundation build capacities for civic engagement and advocacy for policy changing and community development. The LifE programme teaches how to identify strengths, passions and skills.

Strategic areas and goals

• Education: Cooperation with universities and other organisations in implementation of the education reform in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
• Research: evaluation of current situation in the areas of education, human rights, gender equality, with the purpose of creating adequate policies and specific project activities.
• Gender equality: Promotion and implementation of local and international standards on gender equality and support to state mechanisms for equality.
• Advocacy: strengthening of democratic civil society and awareness-rising on the importance of active citizens’ involvement and participation in decision-making.
• Capacity strengthening: Support to education reform, health care and social rehabilitation.
• Intercultural dialogue: Promotion of intercultural dialogue, peace and reconciliation in cooperation with NGOs, both from Bosnia-Herzegovina and beyond.

Main projects

Social Inclusion of Women Returnees: Empowerment of women returnees in communication, reconciliation and peacebuilding processes, in order to empower them to deal with various administrative requirements and issues installed by the government and institutions. Based on the findings, TPO developed training packages and materials for education of women and girls in six municipalities. More than 600 women returnees were included in this project.

Awareness-Raising on Gender-Based Violence and the Role of Women in Inter-religious Dialogue: ''Test on Dialogue!'' campaign was launched as part of the project and its main goal was to test how ready society is to accept the other and different, and to learn, grow and act for a broader public benefit. More than 200 women and men in 8 municipalities were included in the project implementation. An 8-day education on dialogue and violence was held for 15 NGO representatives.

Role of Women Empowerment – 101 Reason to Vote for a Woman: Over 2000 women in 36 municipalities and 105 rural areas were empowered and educated on civil and political rights. They were also educated on how to use their votes in attempts to initiate necessary changes, influence the rise and greater political impact of women in political life of BiH.

Contribution of Constitutional Reform in BiH – Equal Opportunities for Men And Women in Politics: The overall goal of the project was to empower young politicians to pursue gender politics and provide support to young female leaders to be more competitive in politics, as well as to raise awareness among female electoral body in rural areas about the importance of their active participation in public life by using fundamental human rights and freedoms. More than 600 citizens were educated about constitutional changes in their local contexts.

Gender Inclusive Communities in BiH: The main objective of the project is the empowerment of both men and women to become active citizens advocating creation of gender inclusive communities, directed toward the needs of women. More than 120 young people in 8 municipalities were empowered for leadership in their local communities, pursuing gender policies in leadership.

World Peacebuilders: Implementation of UN Resolution 1325 through the Example of Women Peacebuilders: The importance of women in peace and safety, and special needs of women and girls in negotiation and peacebuilding processes were the focus of the project. Six workshops in 6 cities were held, based on the narratives of women Nobel Peace Prize winners.

Initiative for Creative Dialogue and Education: Promotion of human rights, gender equality and peace-building through various research, educational and negotiation activities will be supported by the network of NGOs and individuals from BiH. More than 1500 children and young people attended workshops organised as part of this project on the above-mentioned issues, including gender based violence.

Psychosocial Support in BiH: The goal of this project was psycho-social support for people affected by the floods in May, 2014. The cooperation with civil associations and their volunteers – unemployed psychologists, social workers and pedagogues was made in 15 cities across BiH. More than 200 children were provided with psychosocial support and 60 volunteers from the University of Tuzla were educated.

Global Ethics at School: Integration of Global Ethic into Educational Structures and Processes in BiH: The Initiative ETOS is the result of TPO’s long-term effort to create inclusive and available space for dialogue, critical thinking and exchange of information pertaining to problems and specific context of the BiH educational system. They consider that it is of crucial importance to start the process of integration of different educational materials on ethical values through various subjects so that staff and students will have the opportunity to encounter different theoretical concepts of ethical norms and standards and put them into practice towards minority communities and individuals. More than 400 secondary school teachers attended the workshops implemented in 4 BiH cantons.

Economic Stability as a Contribution to Peacebuilding in Local Community: The goal of this project is multiethnic cooperation through economic empowerment and peace-building in local community, i.e. in northern BiH which was severely affected by the floods in May, 2014. More than 50 women were educated on how to write business plans, as well as on the main precepts of the UN Resolution 1325, according to which they are supposed to develop their own peace initiatives. Interethnic cooperation, economic empowerment of women and their inclusion in peace-building are the key elements of this programme.

Networks and partners

Partners: USA government, Norwegian government, Swedish government, Swiss government, German private foundations, UN Women

Networks: Ministry for Education of Canton Sarajevo, Ministry for Education of Canton Tuzla, Ministry for Education on Canton Mostar, Ministry for Education of Canton Zenica, University of Tuzla, University of Zenica, University of Sarajevo