Visit of the i-diaspora team from Kladanj to the headquarters of the organization in Bern
On the way to Bern, the delegation from Kladanj visited our fellow citizens who live and work in the Italian province of Treviso, the Ćorović and Hotović families, with whom they exchanged opinions on past cooperation and future projects.
During their stay in Bern and its surroundings, in the small town of Murten, where the delegation was located, the team from Kladanj got acquainted with the cultural and historical monuments of the city, which has 54% of green areas in the inner city core, which is rare for any capital city, which is in accordance with the policies implemented by the Swiss government, regarding the preservation of the environment and ecology.
The host of the business visit, Mr. Burić, presented to those present the administrative system of Switzerland and the mode by which, within the common state, 26 cantons of different national composition function with a high degree of political, economic, cultural and any other independence. The delegation from Kladanj visited the City Administration of Bern, as well as state institutions located in the capital - the Federal Parliament.
A positive example of civil activism was also experienced, where a delegation from Kladanj attended a peaceful, non-violent demonstration in which thousands of women participated. In the center of Bern, women's associations organized a protest against patriarchy, as well as a protest in which special emphasis was placed on the affirmation of women's rights.
A meeting was held with representatives of the i-diaspora living in Switzerland in the wonderful surroundings of the center for social activism, which the Bern City Administration has made available to various associations and freelance artists. The opportunity was used to present the previous work and some of the 26 projects that the team in Kladanj implemented during 2021, as well as to present plans for the future period. Our diaspora from Switzerland was presented with gifts made by members of the "Woman to Woman Kladanj" Association, and modalities for specific future cooperation were agreed upon.
During the visit, large economic, cultural and regional centers such as Zurich, Lausanne and Geneva were visited, and on this occasion the team from Kladanj learned about the new system of building apartments, where the users are also investors. It is precisely in these locations that people live according to the standards of citizens, not according to the standards of buildings and investors. In these facilities, there are common rooms such as a kindergarten, restaurant, garden, rooms for work, rest, recreation, games, etc.
In Zurich, the role of host was taken over by the Nukić family, which has supported and followed the work of i-diaspora from the very beginning.
Everything that is good for the common man is based on a high level of trust that is present everywhere, as the delegation saw for itself during a visit to a "zero-waste" store without salespeople, which is located in the headquarters of one of the city's social centers.
The concept consists in the fact that local producers bring their products, display them in the store, and customers select products using a self-service system, weigh and pay at the cash register located on the counter without any human supervision. Also, within the same building, there are boxes for vegetables that farmers deliver to customers/families known in advance.
The team from Kladanj left Switzerland full of positive impressions. In the end, it was concluded that people in Switzerland are extremely relaxed and that they literally enjoy life. They are determined and dedicated to their work, and they built the system and the state and thus ensured that they had a pleasant environment for life.
During the return to BiH, France was also visited, more specifically the Berković family, who warmly welcomed our team and conveyed their observations about the work of the i-diaspora in Kladanj, and gave them several suggestions for improving future work.
From all of the above, it can be concluded that visits of this type are useful in many ways and can greatly contribute to the future cooperation between representatives of local activism (such as the Kladanj team) and our people who currently live and work abroad. Also, on this occasion, many positive examples of the arrangement of local environments were observed, which could be applied at our local level in the future.
The team from Kladanj, on this occasion, expressed special gratitude to the executive director of i-diaspora, Nikola Burić, for his hospitality.
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