Historical developments

Volunteerism has a long history in Bosnia and Herzegovina, linked to strong community solidarity. Family members and neighbors supported those in need (e.g., organizing big social events such as weddings or funerals). This well-rooted custom is called “moba” and was particularly common in rural areas. Traditionally, religious institutions also encouraged volunteerism. The four primary religions represented in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Islam, Orthodox, Catholicism and Judaism) formed “the basis for certain social norms such as mutual help and voluntary work for the benefit of the wider community”, and organized assistance to the most vulnerable. This tradition continues today, with volunteer activities organized by a wide range of civil society organizations.

After World War II, in the newly founded Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, religious groups lost their role for the support of volunteering which was managed by the State. However, community volunteer opportunities continued to exist, particularly for young people, although they were unrecognized legally. State authorities organized and controlled unpaid work through several government associations, for example, the Socialist Union of the Working People of Yugoslavia (SSRNJ). Work was organized on multiple levels of state administration. Children and youth participated in mainly environmental activities through obligatory school programs; members of the Union of the Socialist Youth (SSO) participated in popular Youth Working Actions (Radne akcije), which supported large-scale community works that involved construction and reconstruction. Youth participation was viewed as highly positive, although most so-called “volunteer” work was organized by the central government and lacked social or democratic involvement or community ownership. Understandably, since that time, volunteerism has been viewed as reactive not proactive, which, in part, explains why the Bosnia and Herzegovina voluntary sector is underdeveloped. After the 1990s conflict and during successful implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement, civil society development and volunteerism focused on humanitarian aid for reconstruction and development. Since Bosnia and Herzegovina local and entity governments have limited resources to provide social services using existing infrastructure, non-governmental and voluntary sectors assumed a major role in social services and community development activities.

From 1995 after the end of conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and together with the processes of civil society development and democratization, volunteering has become more popular, especially amongst youth. According to the Socio-economic Perceptions of Young People in Bosnia and Herzegovina published by United Nations Development Program in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNDP BiH) in 2017,  13.8% of young people took part in some of the voluntary activities in the last 12 month. This is a huge improvement compared to National Human Development Report - The Ties That Bind: Social Capital in Bosnia and Herzegovina published by the UNDP, where around 4, 5% of Bosnia and Herzegovina citizens stated that they were doing or have done some kind of voluntary work in 2008.

Main concepts

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, volunteer work is not a new concept, it has deep cultural roots.  However, a strategic and structured approach to volunteerism has yet to be developed, including a national framework with robust legal and institutional guidelines.

There is no national law on volunteering that gives the definition of volunteerism and the Law on Volunteering in Republika Srpska, Law on Volunteering in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Law on Volunteering in Brcko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina define volunteering as: organized activity in the interest and common benefit of the Republika Srpska/Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina/Brčko District that contributes to improvement of living quality, active citizens’ participation and development of more humanistic and more equal democratic society. 

Law on Volunteering in Republika Srpska

The Republika Srpska People’s Assembly adopted Law on Volunteering in 2008 (Official Gazette of Republika Srpska, No. 73/08). In 2013, the Republika Srpska People’s Assembly adopted a new Law on Volunteering (over 50% of previous law has been changed – Official Gazette of Republika Srpska, No. 89/13) that is viewed as the most flexible and adequate Law on Volunteering in the Balkan region. The new Law has been drafted to respond to many disadvantages identified as obstacles to adequate Law implementation.

The Law covers the basic definitions related to volunteering, conditions for volunteering, principles for organizing volunteering, conditions for volunteering contract, rights and obligations of volunteers and volunteering organizers, recognition, support and development of volunteering and penalty provisions for possible situations of law violations.

The terms “volunteer” and “volunteering” are used only by this Law, but there are still different understandings of what volunteer or volunteering is. That is the consequence of previous Labor Laws (at all governmental levels in the country) that also used this term for non-paid internship. The present Labor Law is not using this term anymore, however the Law on Volunteering defined the cases that cannot be defined as volunteering:

• Practical work and professional development without employment contract (non-paid internship, defined by the Labor Law),

• The performance of services or activities that a person is obliged to provide to another person,

• Execution of courts and other decisions of the competent authorities,

• The performance of services or activities common in the family, friendly and unneighborly relations,

• The performance of services or activities that relates to donation of properties and money or providing the properties for usage free of charge.

The Law defines volunteering as organized activity in the interest and common benefit of Republika Srpska that contributes to improvement of living quality, active citizens’ participation and development of more humanistic and equal democratic society. Nevertheless, the Law highlights three ultimate characteristics of volunteering as activity:

• It is done by free will and on voluntary basis,

• It provides aid to another person, or it is for common benefit and interest,

• It is not motivated by gaining financial benefits or any other materialistic benefits.

According to the Law, a volunteer can be any person, domestic or foreign, aged 15 and above. Therefore, the Law covers youth volunteering (youth aged 15 – 30), even that is not explicitly defined as such. However, there are also strict principles that define which conditions should be met to engage the juveniles as volunteers (aged 15 – 18).

Regarding the timeline of volunteering, Law defines that volunteers can be engaged at a maximum of 30 working hours per week.

The organizers of volunteering may be any legal person registered as citizens’ association or foundation, any republic or local governmental body, public institution, private institution that works in area of health and education and any religious community. In addition, the Law also recognized trends in developed countries such as corporate volunteering, and therefore it also defines which conditions should be met to engage profitable companies as volunteering organizers.

The Law recognized importance of establishing the effective mechanisms of promotion and information sharing, resource development, networking, and coordination in the field of volunteering. Therefore, the Law defines local volunteer services as structures with role of informing and connecting the citizens interested in volunteering with adequate volunteering activity or volunteering organizer. These structures can be established only within the non-profit legal person, and it provides its services free of charge.

The volunteer contract is not obligatory written form that defines contractual rights and obligations between volunteer and volunteering organizers. However, it is obligatory when beneficiaries of volunteering activities are recognized as part of vulnerable groups of citizens (children, persons with physical disabilities, people with mental difficulties, elderly, medical patients, and people who completely or partially lost their working capabilities). Also, the volunteer contract is obligatory when volunteering organizers engage juveniles as volunteers.

As the Law on Volunteering in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is similar to the Law on Volunteering in Republika Srpska, only the differences between these two Laws will be highlighted. The Law on Volunteering in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been adopted in 2012. 

The Law covers the basic definitions related to volunteering: conditions for volunteering, principles for organizing volunteering, support measures to volunteering, volunteer contract, rights and obligations of volunteers and volunteering organizers, conditions for conclusion of volunteer contract, managing the records on volunteering, reporting on volunteering, using the volunteer ID, issuing the confirmation letter on volunteering, administrative control on the Law implementation and penalty provisions for possible law violations.

Differences between the volunteering laws in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska:

• Religious communities, private institutions operating in the field of health and education and profitable sector (corporate volunteering) are not defined as volunteering organizers under the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Law.

• The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Law defines that “long-term volunteering” is continuous volunteering activity longer than 240 hours in a period of minimum three months. This type of volunteering is recognized as official working experience proved with the confirmation letter issued by the Ministry of Justice as administrative control body, after the end of volunteering activity. Therefore, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Law defines that each organizer of long-term volunteering is required to obtain accreditation for conducting the long-term volunteering valid for period of five years and issued by the Ministry.

• The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Law defines volunteer ID as the personal document of volunteers engaged only in long-term volunteering activities. The confirmation letter on volunteering is not obligatory document, and it is issued upon request of a volunteer for any type of volunteering (short or long-term).

• The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Law defines that volunteering organizers are obliged to submit annual report on volunteering to the Ministry of Justice.

• The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Law defines a volunteer contract as obligatory in all situations and volunteering organizers are obliged to submit a copy of each volunteer contract to the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Ministry of Justice (in case of long-term volunteering only).

• The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Law defines only the Reward for volunteering and recognition of long-term volunteering as working experience and mechanism for recognition, support and development of volunteering.

The Brčko District Law on Volunteering  is adopted in 2018.