Dijana Pejić is executive director of Genesis Project, a civil society organisation based in Banja Luka Bosnia and Herzegovina working with and for children from marginalized groups and children with disabilities.

Dijana is Alumni of NGO Academy’s Social Innovation and Management Programme and has participated in numerous workshops of NGO Academy’s Regional Programme.

In our video interview we asked Dijana about the origins of Genesis Project. Watch and learn how the war in former Yugoslavia influenced Genesis Project 25 years ago,  what role Star Trek played at that point and how the organisation’s mission was transformed into activities on the ground  over the past years.

During her participation in the Social Innovation and Management Programme 2016” Dijana worked on the development of the project “One-Minute Junior Movies” and of course we were curious how the project materialised.  Hear more about this empowerment method and see how children contribute to find solutions for local problems (Min 08:55).

Challenges

Even though nobody particularly likes challenges, they are responsibly for a steep learning
curve within organisations. Learn about Genesis Projects’ challenges in the following video.

Covid-19

Genesis Project works with children and teachers and we wanted to how the pandemic influenced Genesis Projects’ work with these target groups.

Dijana’s Tips and Tricks

Dijana is a dedicated person full of positive energy. We asked her what she recommends to other NGOs and Civil Society Organisations.

NGO Academy

Last, we asked Dijana how NGO Academy Programmes were able to help the Genesis Project
develop new and existing projects and to increase impact in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Thank you Dijana for the valuable insights!

About Genesis Project

Genesis Project is a non-governmental, non-profit humanitarian organization, set up in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in June 1996, with the main goals to educate children and adults about the tolerance, coexistence, child safety, violence prevention and injuries prevention. The Genesis Project is working in the field of conflict prevention and peacebuilding, also promoting the environmental protection, gender equality and healthy life styles.

Visit Genesis Project website for more information.
Recommendation: Have a look and watch some of the One minute movies

About NGO Academy Member Stories

NGO Academy currently has more than 560 member organizations operating in 14 countries including Austria, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia. All these organizations are giving impulses for civil society and they are the heart and soul of the NGO Academy Network. Year after year, we see great social innovations and projects coming to live in NGO Academy Member organizations. With NGO Academy Member Stories, we want to open the floor to these projects, enable organizations to learn from each other and to connect our NGO Academy members.