Build confidence
Practise communication, prepare a CV and get ready for a conversation with an employer.
WOMEN’S ECONOMIC INCLUSION
Opening pathways
to economic
independence.
Skills, practical support and opportunities for women across Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Implemented with local partnersand the support of Slovenia.
Ideas begin with an opportunity.Business bootcamp · Visoko · September 2025
01 / EMPOWERHER IN ACTION
OUR WORK IN NUMBERS
What the figures measure ↗26
Local workshops
Financial literacy, communication
and preparation for work
514
Workshop participations
496 female and 18 male attendances
across the recorded sessions
35
Training enrolments
Places recorded in vocational
and practical learning
11
Business initiatives
Women-led initiatives listed
in the support portfolio
Source: supplied activity tracking workbook, 2025–2026. Participations and enrolments may include repeat participants; they are not added together as a count of individual women.
01 / OUR APPROACH
Support that connects
learning with opportunity.
EmpowerHER combines local employability workshops, tailored vocational learning and support for women developing a business. The project prioritises women facing barriers to work, including women with disabilities and women in flood-affected communities.
Learn practical skills
Access learning matched to individual needs, from digital tools to sewing and specialist services.
Develop an idea
Test a business concept, understand costs and prepare a practical business plan.
Put it into practice
Connect selected business initiatives with equipment, materials and mentoring support.
02 / OUR REACH
One programme.
Many local connections.
Explore where participants come from and where support was delivered. Select a map view, then choose a place to see the recorded activity.
Participant origins
Circle size shows the recorded count
Boundaries: Natural Earth · Place centres: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
How to read the map
The origins view counts 475 named entries with distinct participant codes in the supplied register. Codes have not been deduplicated against personal identities. The map plots 459 entries at identifiable place centres; 16 entries are outside Bosnia and Herzegovina, have no location or need location clarification. All 475 remain available in the location selector. The other views show activity locations and the business support portfolio. A place of residence does not imply that a workshop took place there. Individual addresses and personal contact details are not shown.
03 / SUPPORT IN PRACTICE
From a workshop
to the next step.
Real activities and examples from the project records show the different forms support can take.
KONJIC / FINANCIAL LITERACY
Practical knowledge,
close to home.
A local session with the women’s association NERA brought financial literacy and household money management to Konjic.
18participations recorded
11 February 2026
11 February 2026
The session forms part of the programme’s local workshop delivery, alongside CV writing, interview preparation and communication skills.
Women-led business initiatives
Examples from the support portfolio. Their inclusion records support, rather than verified business survival or income growth.
KONJIC 01
Psychological and
educational services
An initiative focused on counselling and educational support for children with disabilities and their parents.
Business development supportVITEZ 02
Home-based
production
Support for a woman-led domestic craft activity, connecting an existing practical skill with business development.
Equipment and materials pathwayJABLANICA 03
Local dental
services
A supported initiative to establish a dental practice in a community affected by the 2024 floods.
Business development supportPARTICIPANT STORIES
Four women.
Four ways forward.
From preparing for a new profession to finding employment and developing a business, these stories show what tailored support can make possible.
SELF-EMPLOYMENT / BIHAĆ
Anela Dedić
A greener offer.
A stronger livelihood.
Anela expanded her existing guesthouse, Prenoćište Aman, with an electric bicycle rental service. After a business bootcamp in Visoko, her plan was selected for support to purchase two e-bikes.
The service welcomes overnight guests and other visitors. It adds a new source of potential earnings, makes the guesthouse more competitive and strengthens Anela’s self-employment through a more sustainable tourism offer.
2electric bicycles
6,000 BAMequipment support
More about Anela’s story
During the three-day bootcamp, Anela worked on business planning, market research and costs. Financial support then helped turn the idea into a service that complements her accommodation business.
With mentoring and advice, she prepared rental conditions, safety equipment and rental agreements in Bosnian and English. She promoted the offer through the guesthouse’s online profiles and informed the Bihać tourist board.
The e-bikes connect active holidays and greener mobility with opportunities for Anela to earn a living through her own work.
Project story and photographs provided by Caritas Bosnia and Herzegovina.
PREPARING FOR A NEW PROFESSION
Anđela Spasojević
Turning curiosity into QA skills.
Through EmpowerHER, Anđela trained in software quality assurance, working with JavaScript, Playwright and Scrum. Technical learning, mentoring and communication skills helped her build confidence and prepare for a new professional direction.
More about Anđela’s story
Moving from manual testing to automation was a challenge she tackled through practice and support from trainers. At the time of her March 2026 story, she was preparing to seek a junior QA role and develop her automation skills further.
Source: YourJob / Caritas BiH · 11 March 2026
FROM TRAINING TO EMPLOYMENT
Alena Vuk
Making a skill her profession.
Alena completed sewing and tailoring training at Nahla through EmpowerHER. With practice on industrial sewing machines and patient support from her trainers, she gained a certificate and went on to find work in a curtain-making business.
More about Alena’s story
Although she already had some sewing experience at home, Alena wanted stronger professional skills. Practical demonstrations and steady encouragement helped her progress. Her July 2026 story describes growing confidence, continued learning at work and a long-term ambition to develop her own business.
Source: YourJob / Caritas BiH · 14 July 2026
GROWING A FAMILY BUSINESS
Ševala Hodžić
More room to grow.
In Donja Orahovica near Gračanica, Ševala received a motor cultivator, a new greenhouse of around 200 m² and refurbishment of an existing 100 m² greenhouse. EmpowerHER support improved the conditions for her family’s vegetable production and created capacity to develop the business.
More about Ševala’s story
Her business plan focuses on fresh local produce, including peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers. It sets out ambitions to broaden the range, reach more customers and build links with shops and hospitality businesses.
Source: Caritas BiH · 9 April 2026
04 / PROJECT MILESTONES
How the work developed.
Testing business ideas
A three-day bootcamp in Visoko brought business planning, financial thinking and pitching into one learning process.
The first support round
The 2025 narrative report records 17 applications and six women selected for dedicated start-up support.
Learning across communities
The activity workbook records 26 workshops in 11 location labels and a portfolio of 11 business initiatives.
FROM THE FIELD
A closer look at the work.
Original project photographs
05 / LEARNING AND NEXT STEPS
What the experience
helps us improve.
Lessons identified in the 2025 narrative report guide the next stage of work.
Keep support locally accessible
Small groups and field delivery help women take part in learning closer to their communities.
Continue mentoring after selection
Business ideas need practical follow-up as women work through costs, customers and day-to-day decisions.
Follow employment and business progress
Employment, income changes and business survival need follow-up at six and twelve months. Activity counts alone do not establish these outcomes.
06 / REPORTING NOTES
The evidence behind
the presentation.
This first English edition brings the supplied records into a visual report. Each indicator keeps its original unit so partners can interpret the results correctly.
2025–2026 activity tracking snapshot
The 26 coded workshop rows total 514 participations: 496 female and 18 male attendances. The vocational sheet records 35 training places across 26 populated training records, including individual and group courses. Enrolment does not mean completion. Eleven entries appear in the business support sheet; this does not mean eleven new businesses have been independently verified as operating.
The participant register contains 475 named records with distinct codes. Activity counts can overlap and are not added to estimate unique beneficiaries.
2025 narrative report and different reporting periods
The supplied annual narrative report is labelled 1 April–15 November 2025 and describes more than 150 women reached, 24 vocational participants and six applicants selected for business support. Some activities described in the report fall after its stated end date. These figures are therefore retained as report-specific statements and are not merged with the broader tracking snapshot.
Source documents and project framework
Sources used: Activity tracking EmpowerHer(4).xlsx; EmpowerHer Annual Report 22.11.25; Empower Her hr verzija; Vloga za sredstva iz razvojnega sklada 2025–2026; and 000 PROJEKT FINALNO. The original project framework sets a goal of supporting the economic inclusion of 300 disadvantaged women over 24 months. A target is not presented as a completed result.
Photographs and brand assets come from the supplied EmpowerHER project folders. Activity photographs document project delivery. Named participant stories use the accompanying photographs supplied with those stories, with source links for the published YourJob and Caritas BiH articles.
IN PARTNERSHIP FOR WOMEN’S ECONOMIC INCLUSION
Implemented by Caritas Bosnia and Herzegovina in cooperation with Caritas Slovenia, with support from Slovenia.